Agassi’s Hopes Drift Away with a Gust of Wind

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The New York Sun

The wind got to Roger Federer first yesterday, but it dealt a decisive blow to Andre Agassi.


Fighting through flying hot dog wrappers, blown towels, and gusts that reached 39 mph, Federer, the world’s best player, lost the fourth set but played the elements perfectly in the fifth. He emerged with an epic 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 victory in a U.S. Open quarterfinal match that began Wednesday evening but was suspended by rain with Agassi trailing two sets to one.


On the crucial break point in the final set, Agassi, the wind at his back, charged a short Federer slice that had been blown back toward the net. He lifted it into the wind and it flew out, and with it went all the built-up tension. Federer, who had brought the game back to deuce by flicking a high lob into the wind, served out the match in an instant.


“It was over in a hurry,” Agassi said.


“The difference today was that I was up two sets to one,” Federer said. “He made one mistake and he loses the match. I make one mistake and I lose only one set.”


Rather than a continuation of Wednesday, yesterday’s match was a different contest altogether. The humidity and mist were gone, and instead the wind whipped through the U.S. Open grounds, at one point ripping open the sheet-metal frame that surrounds the giant television atop Louis Armstrong Stadium.


Tournament officials quickly cordoned off the area with orange tape as the grounds crew used a mechanical lift and a mop to push the facing back into place and secure it.


In Arthur Ashe Stadium, the air crackled through the chair umpire’s microphone and snapped the flag that flies above the court. Bottles and cans blew around in the stands and various metallic clanking noises rippled through the stadium. The ball boys could hardly close the umbrellas that shield players from the sun on changeovers.


On one side of the court, Agassi and Federer could take their mightiest cuts and expect the ball to land in. On the other, any shot hit with force sailed long. Some shots that would normally bounce high hugged the court, while others retreated to the net once they came in for a soft landing.


Both players struggled with the wind at their backs, especially on their serves. Federer said he tossed the ball behind him and hoped it would blow forward to the right spot. While both players hit for the lines on Wednesday, yesterday, as Agassi put it, “hitting the ball in the dead center of the court was a great shot.”


“This was as bad as it gets,” Agassi said. “I mean, I think anything more than this, there would have to be some serious consideration into postponing matches. At some point, if chairs are starting to blow over, that’s a problem.”


Indeed, a flying object created a distraction with Agassi serving at break point in the third game of the fourth set. A strong gust flipped over the wooden box that covers Cyclops, the machine that calls service faults. Agassi paused and bounced the ball a few extra times as a ball boy raced to the box. Staring defeat in the face, Agassi won that point and the game.


A few games later, Agassi took control of the fourth set. With Federer serving 3-4, Agassi worked his way through six deuces in an 18-point game. On the final break point, Agassi closed out an intense rally with a forehand cross-court that clipped the let cord and fell over. He served out the set from there.


In the fifth, though, Agassi could not put any pressure on Federer’s serve. The top seed lost only four points in five service games and didn’t face a break point. And when Federer got his chance in the eighth game, he pounced.


“He can sort of hang in there and then if you drop your intensity just a touch, or if the wheels come off for a second, he can really capitalize,” Agassi said.


Agassi, 34, said that he would not think about retirement as long as he could still make the game’s best players work for their points. He did that and more yesterday, but walked away disappointed.


“I came out here today feeling like I was playing the better tennis,” he said. “But he dealt with it better than I did.”


In the second match in Ashe, Lleyton Hewitt had no trouble with the wind or his opponent, the resurgent Tommy Haas. Hewitt controlled the points from the outset and scored a 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 victory. He enters the semifinals without having dropped a set.


“I really didn’t let it worry me at all,” said Hewitt, the fourth seed and 2001 champion. “I took my time when I needed to and played percentage tennis.” As far as unforced errors, Hewitt’s percentage could not have been much better. He made only 10 for the match, and just one in the third set.


In another match that was continued from Wednesday evening, Tim Henman closed out Dominik Hrbaty in four sets, 6-1, 7-5, 5-7, 6-2. Hrbaty tosses the ball extremely high on his serve and he was undoubtedly hurt by the playing conditions.


Henman, who had been struggling with a stiff back and nearly lost in the first round, reached the semifinals here for the first time and will face Federer next. Agassi said Henman would have a chance, but Federer’s firepower would make him the favorite. Unless, of course, Mother Nature intervenes again.


“If there’s wind like this, everybody could stay home and we could just flip coins,” Agassi said.


The New York Sun

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