andre again

It's over. andre agassi's professional tennis career bowed, blew a kiss, and eased behind the curtain of time as so many others have before.

his departure was a bittersweet moment. it was bitter to see it end, to know center court would never again behold that particular set of skills that is or was, andre agassi. it was sweet though, to see his emotion at the end of the defeat, and to hear such a classy and poignant speech.

the end of the match was rather sudden. throughout most of the fourth set, it looked like agassi would force a fifth one against 25-year-old benjamin becker. it was becker who hobbled a bit and tanked when agassi served. but then with andre serving at 4-4, becker broke agassi's serve with ease, firing returns into corners where andre was not. next game becker served out the match and the men were shaking hands at the net.

then the most interesting stuff started happening. andre took his seat courtside and the crowd of new yorkers stayed standing and continued cheering. they clapped in unison, as if being cued, and hollered a bit for about 10 minutes. all the while andre fought back emotion, rubbing his face like a child and dabbing his eyes.

did andre cry because of adulation lost? did he cry because his ego would miss the affections of so many courtside tennis fans?

andre is a man in the way whitman and emerson were men. he is graceful and open. his retirement is a gift to all who witness it because it is of our nature.

like andre's career, we end. and this is why andre cried, even if it was on an instinctual level, even if it was subconscious. our mortality may be at the root of all of our laughter and tears but today's event crystallizes that idea.

humans are for seasons. our lives are marked by them, beginnings, middles and endings. the famous phrase says, "this too shall pass," and it describes everything. from the ignorance of our youth to the glory of our prime to the pain of twilight, they all pass and they can all be dissected into smaller parts but why we shed a tear in the privacy of our own living room while watching andre shed tears in front of a world of people is because we relate.

the career is over and time marches on. this is the melancholy of life, the negative within the positive, the proof of balance. we should not cry that it comes to an end, rather we should be aware of the temporal nature of it all and strive to make the most of it.

andre taught us this lesson with his actions today, which is of course the best way to teach. he spent his career straining to be the best tennis player in the world, not because, (and like so many,) he needed the glory and recognition, but because he always knew it would come to an end. instead of competing to pass the time or even to earn a living, andre competed to be the best, knowing the reward was in the work.

andre agassi was not the best tennis player ever. only for moments was he even the best in the world. and this may be the greatest aspect of his legacy. it was when he lost that andre showed us all the way. when the bigger and stronger pete sampras would break him in tiebreaker after tiebreaker of grand slam finals, andre flashed class and grace as he spoke well of pete and accepted 2nd place with aplomb. when federer soundly beat him at last year's us open, or when nadal beat him in montreal in the run-up, agassi smiled for the gift of being able to play tennis at this level and for a handsome living, spoke well of his opponents and accepted his place and moved on. today he shook becker's hand and wished him well and lived up to his own example of dignity.

andre gave a speech to the crowd and to all who watched on tv around the world before heading into retirement. he spent almost all of it thanking the crowd for their support. and that is as it should be. too many times we think public figures make us but they don't, we make them. (contrast and compare andre agassi to barry bonds for a vivid example.)

andre is beloved above sampras, above federer and above others from across the landscape of sport despite his record of having achieved a career grand slam but otherwise paling next to the achievements of others. this is grace. his grace, and ours.

like today's match, andre's career ended with a winning feeling.

"The scoreboard shows that I lost today," he said. "But what the scoreboard doesn't show is what I feel."