Tennis: French Open, Men's singles championship, FirstRoundResults: Once again the clay at Roland Garros showed its contempt for seeding and for the lame.
Adhering to its never-changing policy of survival of the fittest, Andre Agassi, brought almost to a standstill by a chronically inflamed nerve in his hip, followed Anastasia Myskina as the second big name to depart, again with barely a flinch.
It was one of those days when Philippe Chatrier Court, the biggest of the show courts at Roland Garros, was full; a day when a cold wind swirled and transported the red dust around the court. Under those conditions the 36-year-old Las Vegan rarely looks comfortable, even against an opponent 13 years his junior, Jarkko Nieminen, an opponent who have never won a title, compared to Agassi's 59 championships.
It was one of those days when Agassi may have had thoughts running through his head that this season was perhaps a step too far in a bright career that has now become historical. Not only did the American, by stepping on to court yesterday, set an Open era record of 58 for the most Grand Slam tournaments played, beating the 57 by Michael Chang, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl and Wayne Ferreira, but he arrived as only one of five players to have won each of the four Grand Slam events.
Agassi has being carrying the injury for some time, and although cortisone injections have given some relief, the problem is with him for good.
"When I go home and I'm walking three blocks to the restaurant, you wouldn't know that I'm a professional athlete," he said afterwards. "Cold temperatures are much worse for it. I've a better understanding now of why people move to live in Florida."
His joking aside, the inevitable issue of Agassi's career end came into the discussion. Heis now faced with a maximum of three cortisone injections a year to allow him to play pain-free. He acknowledged he has an important decision to make, although not one to be taken in haste. He's not ready to put his racquets away just yet.
"I've had this before and I've had an injection deep in the back which worked. But gradually it got worse at a slow rate and then started to pick up in the last month or so," he said.
"Right now it's disappointing to feel this and its disappointing not to be in a position to be competitive out there. But I've every intention of playing Wimbledon."
The match initially assumed the complexion of a typical first-round game, the favourite struggling to find a rhythm against a spirited opponent. When Agassi then won a tie-break in the third set for 2-1, that normally spells the end game for such mis-matches. But it was 23-year-old Nieminen who gathered his hopes and nerves, with Agassi limping around court between mouthfuls of Advil (over-the-counter pain-killer). His conviction and fight hopelessly broken, the Finn then finally collected himself enough to run the American off the court.
In those closing two stanzas, Nieminen permitted Agassi only one game as he sent him spinning, the former champion becoming more frustrated, barely able to keep back the tears as he departed 7-5, 4-6, 6-7, 6-1, 6-0.
"I almost shook hands at two sets to one up," said Agassi. "To serve it was painful, to move, to stand, then even to sit."
Agassi's seismic departure did not ripple across the main draw as the other possible champions advanced with various degrees of ease. America's Andy Roddick kept the crowds in their seats for the final game of the evening against French wild card Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The number two seed was courteous enough not to delay the crowd from their restaurant bookings around D'Auteuil, winning 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
Australian Open champion Marat Safin made a less surgical strike against Holland's Raemon Sluiter but a successful one nonetheless. Dropping the second set 4-6, having snatched the first on a tie-break, Safin roundly tidied up the match 6-4, 6-2.
Last year's beaten finalist, Guillermo Coria, who is also expected to hang around until next week, made short work of Denmark's Kenneth Carlsen. As the beer add goes - Carlsen doesn't do French Opens. If he did they would not be like this, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.
MEN'S SINGLES/First round:
Lukas Dlouhy (Cze) bt Thomas Enqvist (Swe) 6-2 7-6 (7-3) 6-1; Kristof Vilegen (Bel) bt Anthony Dupuis (Fra) 6-4 6-1 6-2; Dick Norman (Bel) bt Jean-Rene Lisnard (Fra) 6-1 6-1 6-4; (12) Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) bt Sasa Tuksar (Cro) 6-2 6-4 6-3; (32) Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spa) bt Karol Beck (Svk) 6-4 6-3 6-3; (3) Marat Safin (Rus) bt Raemon Sluiter (Ned) 6-1 4-6 6-4 6-2; Igor Andreev (Rus) bt Jonas Bjorkman (Swe) 2-6 6-2 6-2 7-5; Jan Hernych (Cze) bt Fabrice Santoro (Fra) 7-6 (7-4) 3-6 6-1 4-6 6-4; Jurgen Melzer (Aut) bt Wayne Arthurs (Aus) 6-4 6-2 7-6 (7-4); (29) Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) bt Gilles Muller (Lux) 6-4 6-1 6-0; Olivier Rochus (Bel) bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spa) 7-6 (7-4) 7-5 4-6 6-3; Paul-Henri Mathieu (Fra) bt (24) Feliciano Lopez (Spa) 6-2 6-0 6-7 (5-7) 6-4; (15) Tommy Robredo (Spa) bt Peter Luczak (Aus) 4-6 6-3 6-3 6-3; Mariano Puerta (Arg) bt (13) Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) 7-5 7-5 6-2; Hyung Taik Lee (Kor) bt Alex Calatrava (Spa) 6-4 2-6 5-7 7-6 (7-4) 6-4; (28) Nicolas Kiefer (Ger) bt Ivo Karlovic (Cro) 6-3 6-3 6-4; Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) bt (6) Andre Agassi (USA) 7-5 4-6 6-7 (6-8) 6-1 6-0; (21) Tommy Haas (Ger) bt Florian Mayer (Ger) 6-1 6-2 6-4; Stanislas Wawrinka (Swi) bt (22) Nicolas Massu (Chi) 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 6-2 6-4; James Blake (USA) bt Tomas Tenconi (Ita) 6-2 6-4 7-6 (10-8); Arnaud Clement (Fra) bt Alexander Popp (Ger) 6-2 6-4 6-7 (1-7) 6-2, (9) Guillermo Canas (Arg) bt Gael Monfils (Fra) 6-3 6-1 6-0, Flavio Saretta (Bra) bt Greg Rusedski (Brit) 6-2 7-6 (9-7) 6-3; Jose Acasuso (Arg) bt Max Mirnyi (Blr) 6-4 7-6 (11-9) 6-2; (8) Guillermo Coria (Arg) bt Kenneth Carlsen (Den) 6-4 6-2 6-4; Chris Guccione (Aus) bt Santiago Ventura (Spa) 6-3 2-6 6-1 3-6 6-2; (27) Filippo Volandri (Ita) bt Cyril Saulnier (Fra) 6-0 6-2 6-1; (19) Thomas Johansson (Swe) bt Scott Draper (Aus) 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 3-6 6-0 6-1; Albert Montanes (Spa) bt Sargis Sargsian (Arm) 6-1 6-4 6-0; Vincent Spadea (USA) bt Albert Costa (Spa) 6-4 7-6 (8-6) 6-2; (2) Andy Roddick (USA) bt Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) 6-3 6-2 6-4; David Sanchez (Spa) bt Gustavo Kuerten (Bra) 6-3 6-0 4-6 6-1; Novak Djokovic (Ser) bt Robby Ginepri (USA) 6-0 6-0 6-3.
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