Agassi-ng away

No more Agassi at Wimbledon. He gracefully flying kiss-cum-bowed out of his way today losing in the third round to Nadal. Its the end of an era. The last of the Emotional Ones gone from the most emotional of Grand Slams.

As the now bald and seemingly sober Agassi thanked the crowd at Wimbledon for embracing him over all these years, the memories that come back are not of his great wins at Wimbledon, but of his great chemistry with the people there. Who can forget him lifting up his shirt and asking a ball girl to wipe with a towel?And why was not anyone astonished when the girl obliged?His wild hair and ways will live on as memories of an era where tennis was not all surgical precision as it is now. It was a game. People had fun watching it, playing it.

It seems that the new players have very little emotional appeal.I am not saying they are not great players. Far from it , some of them are brilliant. But why cant I remember anyone's style or distinguish between them ? Why don't they express their personality on court? Maybe its because the game has become so competetive that players cannot afford emotions. It would be a waste of energy in a world where winning is everything.

Today I saw a rare sight. I saw the normally 'dignified' spectaors at Wimbledon cheer at the top of their voices, whistle, even catcall to Agassi. I saw an always stoic Steffi Graf hide her emotion behind her sunglasses at the way the Wimbledon crowd expressed their affection towards him.

I suddenly realized that everyone had forgotten the man who won- Nadal. And then I realized that there is some truth to the cliche. Winning is not everything.