New York – Andre Agassi grabbed his racket bag and stepped into the drizzle, the pain in his back made more bearable by another anti-inflammatory injection and the knowledge that he’d get extra rest for his third-round match at the U.S. Open.
Rain that was barely there in the morning but grew heavy by the evening washed out Saturday’s entire schedule at Flushing Meadows.
Agassi’s match against German qualifier Benjamin Becker was rescheduled for 9 a.m. MDT today.
“I’ll be all right,” Agassi said. “I don’t need sympathy.”
Matches involving Andy Roddick and Maria Sharapova also were pushed back to today, when tournament organizers will add a night session in Louis Armstrong Stadium for the first time in a bid to erase the backlog. Five of the tournament’s 12 sessions have been postponed so far, including two entire days – Tuesday and Saturday – without any matches completed. There hadn’t been a single such 24-hour period at the U.S. Open since Day 1 in 1987.
“It’s been a tough day, but we are one day behind,” U.S. Tennis Association executive Arlen Kantarian said Saturday. “We expect to be fully caught up by the end of the day tomorrow.”
The 36-year-old Agassi, playing in the final tournament of his career and fighting a bad back, has been on court for more than seven hours already, including five sets against eighth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis that began Thursday night and finished in the wee hours Friday.
“I prefer not to have a drama-filled one tomorrow,” said Agassi, whose eight Grand Slam titles include two from the U.S. Open.
The benefit of having time to rest his bothersome back could also result in having to play on consecutive days down the line. If Agassi beats Becker, he would be scheduled to play in the fourth round Monday, possibly against 2003 U.S. Open champion Roddick.
The delay also gave Becker more time to ponder what it might be like to face Agassi, a player he grew up admiring and emulating.
“The most difficult (part) is he’s going to have to be able to erase in his mind that he’s playing Andre,” said Becker’s coach, Tarik Benhabiles, who used to work with Roddick.
Agassi went to a hospital to have a cortisone shot Tuesday after his first-round victory over Andrei Pavel. Agassi’s trainer, Gil Reyes, estimated he’s had eight to 10 such injections the past four years. Then, his back too painful for a car ride after the Baghdatis match, Agassi had a tournament doctor go to his hotel Friday to give him anti-inflammatory medicine.
On Saturday, Agassi practiced for about 45 minutes at an indoor court about 15 miles away, then arrived at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center shortly before 2 p.m. He left 1 1/2 hours later, having received the latest injection, and Reyes said Agassi probably would have another today.
As Agassi entered the locker room alone Saturday, he was walking much better than he did after the Baghdatis match, when he was hunched over and hobbling. It was so tough to stand then that Agassi took a moment to lie down on his back on the concrete outside while waiting to be picked up for the ride to his hotel.
Martina Navratilova, another tennis star who will retire after the Open, spoke Saturday about leaving the sport when one wants to, rather than being forced to stop because of injury. She recalled having had about a half-dozen cortisone shots.
“You just don’t want your body to give out on you,” said Navratilova, who turns 50 in October and is competing in mixed and women’s doubles. “Andre has been struggling with his back for a few years now. You just want to quit on your own terms.”