Smithtown31

Smithtown31's Comments

Posted Saturday November 21, 2009, About: Federer 'midway' through career
I agree with you. Federer is the greatest.... and the gold medal doesn't make or break his status in the game at the moment. That said- he would be wise to get it if he possibly can b/c one never has any idea what will become important to tennis historians and commentators in the future. Just ask McEnroe who never thought the Australian Open would ever be taken seriously and rarely played it... Now it's a full-on major counted just the same as the other three. Therefore- there could come a time where NOT having an Olympic gold might actually hurt Federer's status... especially if Nadal completes the golden slam some day...
Posted Thursday November 19, 2009, About: Federer 'midway' through career
Federer's on a quest for the Singles Gold Medal at the London Olympics in '12. Only thing missing from his trophy case... and the one thing Agassi still has over all others (Career Golden Slam). Whatever he wins between now and then is just gravy to Fed IMHO.
Posted Thursday November 12, 2009, About: Nadal: Drug rules too restrictive
Great player... but I don't think even he knows what he's saying half the time. Not a great source of insight by any stretch...
Posted Thursday November 12, 2009, About: Safin content with retirement decision
WASTED TALENT
Posted Wednesday November 11, 2009, About: Federer: Agassi saga 'dark cloud' over ATP
Not sure whether it applies to Martina or not (though like you I have my suspicions)- BUT whenever someone has the courage to break the mold and tell the truth about their drug use- it infuriates those who continue to be untruthful the most. It's "ok" to live the lie as long as everyone else is doing it... once someone breaks the code and speaks out.... WATCH OUT!
Posted Tuesday November 10, 2009, About: Malisse might retire after drug ban
Malisse is one of the "poster children" for what the ATP Tour really is (aside from the Federer's and Nadal's of the world)... an international touring event where young men squander their talent, party hardy with all forms of vice, burn through their cash and chase skirt (or more precisely- have skirt chase them). See- Philippoussis, Mark.

Anyway, he's either b.s.'ing about not having the cash to appeal- or more likely- IMHO- he simply doesn't care enough to pursue it. He certainly never cared much about his tennis career generally. All of which highlights the absolute JOKE it is that the "tennis community" is "shocked" and "outraged" by Agassi's revelations. Gimme a break... and open your eyes while you're at it... Your "tour" is Lollapolloza.
Posted Tuesday November 10, 2009, About: Federer: Agassi saga 'dark cloud' over ATP
This has gone to the absurd now with career joke Marat Safin criticizing Agassi. Safin is the anti-Agassi- the supremely talented player who never cared or bothered enough to turn his once promising around. The only thing Safin should be asking Agassi for is an autograph.

I sense a back-lash-BACK-LASH coming soon with Agassi stalwarts like McEnroe, Carillo and Roddick leading the charge in Andre's defense. The holier than thou whinging from the "tennis community" is beyond nauseating.
Posted Monday November 09, 2009, About: Federer: Agassi saga 'dark cloud' over ATP
One other comment... yes- Agassi was "lucky". Positively- so were we. IF your doom and gloom scenario had come to pass- all those who appreciate this fine sport would have been denied the opportunity of observing Agassi's 99-05 professional renaissance where he finally achieved his awesome potential (particularly his 99-00 run of winning the French, US Open and Australian Open as well as reaching the Finals at Wimbledon)- and during a time in his life where he was entirely clean and a credit to the game and society.
Posted Monday November 09, 2009, About: Federer: Agassi saga 'dark cloud' over ATP
Perhaps... but I can easily counter that you are forgetting: (1) Agassi was the greatest pure ball-striker in the history of the game; (2) Agassi is acknowledged as having one of the 2 greatest returns of serve of the history of the game (along with Connors); and (3) demonstrated enormous mental toughness in making the comeback (i.e. dropping down to the minor league dregs of tennis in humiliating fashion) that he did all-along knowing that his fraud COULD have been discovered at any minute with potentially far worse professional and personal results than had he simply bit the bullet and accepted his suspension in 1997.

The fact of the matter is- whether he hated tennis or not- Agassi is one of the most supremely talented professional masters of the tennis craft to ever pick up a racket. With that type of generational talent- odds would always have been in his favor to come screaming back provided he simply took the time to train seriously and play competitively regularly.
Posted Thursday November 05, 2009, About: Federer: Agassi saga 'dark cloud' over ATP
Yes. I was temporarily able to locate a more detailed and complete transcript of Federer's comments- and they were far more gracious toward Agassi then some of the original snippets seemed to suggest (don't you love the media?). Bottom line- Federer's sad for Agassi that he found himself in such a place in 1997 that he felt the need to take drugs, but he's hopeful that this disclosure will be helpful to Agassi.

Nadal on the other hand seemed more hostile with his remarks. That said- I got the sense that he didn't have the whole story and may have thought that Agassi tested positive for PED's.... We shall see though...
Posted Wednesday November 04, 2009, About: Federer: Agassi saga 'dark cloud' over ATP
Thanks NYjoel.

The events in question happened in 1997 when Agassi was 27 (not being knit-picky- just so you know and can make your own evaluation). To me 27 is the cusp of needing to know better (especially when you consider what 18 years olds in the military go through every day)- but perhaps most of us weren't exactly the people we wanted to be at that age either (I'm 33). I do think being surrounded by handlers and yes-men, having millions on the line and married to Brooke Shields, etc. would likely cloud the picture a bit more than the average 27 year old though...

Anyway, I think your motivations and timing questions are fair ones... and someone will surely ask him at some point. I would love to hear what he says. I think to be fair though- none of this was ever going to be a "cup of tea" for Andre (despite being a media darling) and his family- and as its his life and experiences that he's choosing to share with us... I can't really begrudge him for trying to control the conditions (timing and forum) around which the disclosures are made.

I'm not certain that a leaked disclosure with an embarassing admission (after releasing a book called "Open") somewhere down the line would have been any better. I actually think it would have been worse. I just don't think we can assume that Andre would have been able to keep this out of the public eye until he went to his grave...

I guess what this all shows is that the REAL Andre Agassi story is and has always been a compelling, tragic, inspiring and legendary American tale. He'd been sort of "sugar-coated" the last few years- whereas in reality he was a divisive and controversial figure for at least half of his career. There are lots of "rough edges" to Agassi- and I for one credit the man himself for reminding us of that.
Posted Wednesday November 04, 2009, About: Federer: Agassi saga 'dark cloud' over ATP
My apologies for the misinterpretation of your comments. Let's face it though... "lifetime" is a pretty encompassing word... or can be at least. I don't think that was the best choice of words (without qualifying them in anyway). Just my opinion though.

Anyway, I do see your point better now... and believe me- I am well versed on all of Andre's missteps along the way... including those that occurred AFTER his great comeback and he had secured his place as one of the great elder statement of the game (his skipping his post-match interview after losing in the 2nd Round at the 2000 French Open as defending champion and his abusive melt down in the 2001 Wimbledon Semis against Rafter immediately come to mind).

Look- the guy's not perfect- but I do get the sense he's trying the best he can to set things right. The reality is that our society creates these marketing monster cash machines around young star athletes and their names become actual "brands". That can be a lot of pressure for athletes in their 20's to deal with (especially when they feel like so many are counting on them for their livelihood) and sometimes things spin out of control in the name of "defending the brand" that has little regard for the human being itself... and truth is the first casualty. That's apparently what happened here... and I wager happens countless times every year with many star athletes. If Agassi's book sheds some light on this- well at least he's made yet another contribution.

And yes Agassi will be feted at his Hall of Fame induction... because he DESERVES to be.
Posted Wednesday November 04, 2009, About: Federer: Agassi saga 'dark cloud' over ATP
Really? Check out the Andre Agassi College Prepatory Academy and get back to us with a single athlete who's done more for their community TANGIBLY than Agassi has.

Get a grip. He used some drugs (the shock! the horror! never ever happened in tennis before- I swear!) and was the beneficiary of a system that was more lenient towards its big stars than the average joe (sounds like every system I know). Suspect? Sure. But what should we do? Erase his titles and delete him from the record books? Come on. Might as well erase Vitus Gerulaitis and Johnny Mac while we're at it too...

Many of those ill-begotten "gains" were pumped right back into his laudable charitable endeavors anyhow. Yeah! damn it! Agassi's such a bad guy! He made all that money off Nike, Cannon and Mountain Dew and gave thousands of kids a future the rest of the country had left behind! Throw him in jail!

Come on man. Don't sound like much of a "fan" to me.
Posted Wednesday November 04, 2009, About: Federer: Agassi saga 'dark cloud' over ATP
One final thing...

Enough with the "choir boy" stuff from all the other players. Agassi is an imperfect guy who made a mistake 12 years ago. That said he's done a great deal more for his community and society as a whole than 99.9% of the professional athletes out there (not just tennis players). Yeah- he got a nice advance for this book and one can question some of his motives for disclosing all this... but Agassi routinely puts his money where his mouth is. A true humanitarian... and as the Japanese say... "You are not your past- you are the man who stands in the room RIGHT NOW." Certainly applies to Andre.
Posted Wednesday November 04, 2009, About: Federer: Agassi saga 'dark cloud' over ATP
Possibly. I doubt it though WS. Agassi seems to be in full-on "mea culpa" mode with this book and I think we're getting the whole "uncomfortable" story in all its glory with no holding back. Hell... he admitted to even wearing a rug.

Anyway, as Wetheim also suggested, if Agassi is indeed contemplating politics- he would want the FULL story out there early so he can get in front of it. I don't think he'd risk a further devastating disclosure like that (i.e. performance enhancing drugs) by talking about his meth use but not the other drugs. Any political advisor of any merit would advise him to get it ALL out there now rather than endure an embarrassing expose by a political rival somewhere down the line...
Posted Wednesday November 04, 2009, About: Federer: Agassi saga 'dark cloud' over ATP
Absolutely Mr. Jay. I've already seen that mistake made a too many times to count. Agassi did NOT test positive for performance enhancing drugs. They were recreational drugs- and as you said- during a deep slump in his career- both personally and professionally. He only hurt himself- as during one of his prime years (1997) at age 27- instead of competing for majors- he was using drugs and pulling out of tournaments.

Not for nothing- but I am willing to wager that the list of tennis players who used recreational drugs at some point during their careers is probably longer and more distinguished than we think (as in any walk of life).
Posted Wednesday November 04, 2009, About: Federer: Agassi saga 'dark cloud' over ATP
I don't get it. Agassi comes clean and is seen at fault for tarnishing the ATP? Isn't that how we got here in the first place? "Oh no. Agassi tested positive- but it would be bad for the sport to publicly sanction him. Ok. Let's just buy his soda can excuse and sweep this under the rug- so there's NO "dark cloud" hanging over our beloved ATP."

Federer and Nadal seem to fail to understand that Agassi's forthrightness in this matter is the only thing that can bring about positive change in the system- otherwise even more super stars would have been granted the same leniency... and very well could have hurt themselves.

I for one applaud Agassi. Better to live in reality (even if it took him awhile to get there) than in some fantasy land where the ATP and all its stars are supposed specimens of perfection.
Posted Sunday October 18, 2009, About: Djokovic moves up to No. 3
Respectfully disagree. He's already the 2nd or 3rd best player on clay and 2nd or 3rd best on hard courts. And he's got that elusive first major already under his belt. As del Potro has already shown- Federer and Nadal won't be winning every major from here on out. With Federer getting up there and having already accomplished everything and Nadal pretty banged up- there will be plenty of opportunity for the Djoker to win multiple slams IMHO. He may not be as great as all-timers like Federer and Nadal- but he won't have to be. I think he'll finish somewhere with 3-5 slams with Murray being his biggest rival moving on into the future.
Posted Wednesday October 14, 2009, About: Djokovic moves up to No. 3
Ominous tidings for anybody not named Federer or Nadal... and possibly for them as well.

Everyone puts the "Safin" tag on this guy b/c he had a moderately successful follow-up year to his first slam. Not so fast. People forget that Sampras and Agassi both regressed a bit after their first slam only to come back with vengeance 2-3 years later.

Djokovic is the future of tennis... and people better get ready to deal with him residing at number 1 and winning several majors. It's gonna happen... and sooner rather than later folks.
Posted Sunday September 27, 2009, About: Agassi set for debut on senior circuit
Great to see. I sincerely hope his backs holds up as it will be fantastic to see Agassi competing again (even at the senior level) on a tennis court. Best of luck.
Posted Tuesday September 08, 2009, About: Djokovic winning back Open fans
Ridiculous that he even had to "make up" in the first place. Roddick was out of line with his comments. All Djokovic did was smoke him on the scoreboard and respond honestly to a qusstion posed by the on-court reporter all of 35 seconds after the match had ended. Not a big deal at all and the guys hashed it out in the locker room THAT night. Enough already... and I like BOTH Roddick and Djokovic.

GREAT job by Johnny Mac playing with Djokovic after the Stepanek match. Hopefully, people re-discover just how fun a guy Djokovic is... Very good for the game IMHO...
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