Wow do I feel like garbage right now at work due to the limited amounts of sleep last night because of the fantastic Andre Agassi vs. Marcos Baghdatis match that lingered on into the wee hours.
Comeback & The Fourth Set
Throughout the first two sets there was a look of disgust on Baghdatis' face. He almost looked too frustrated to have any chance to compete but he goes off and pulls out the third set. Then giving up to breaks of serve to Agassi to start the 4th set it looked all but over and that the fat lady was warming up her larynx but then Agassi starting to tighten up and Marcos took advantage showed tons of heart and fought back to win and push it to a fifth. Great show from Marcos.
Cramping & The Fifth Set
The fifth set was an odd one, it started off with Marcos breaking Agassi's serve pretty convincingly and coming off a 4-0 come back in the 4th all the momentum looked to be on Marcos' side but he oddly took a trainers timeout to work on some of the cramping he was getting. It was very poor timing though considering all the momentum that was working for him and this gave Agassi a time to recoop and get back in the match and immediately Agassi broke Marcos serve back. Maybe he was cramping badly maybe not but it didn't appear to be a good move at the time and it certainly had devastating effects later.
After 3 holds of serve a piece, on came the biggest game of the match. Agassi has Marcos running all over the court and then unleashes a drop shot forcing Marcos to go full out and make a terrific cross court volley to win the point. But Marcos comes up in obvious pain asking for the trainer but here's the thing because he already asked for the trainer for the same injury mid game earlier he was denied. This seems to be a miserable rule and it really cost Marcos the match. The game went on to 8 dueces so he's playing with a severe cramp for 10 to 20 minutes all the while pleading with the officials to let him get some time with the trainer and also doing what looked like the running man to try to loosen his quad. Eventually it all ends and Agassi takes the game.
Marcos is able to receive massage on the change over but once you've had a cramp for 20 minutes you know soon enough its going to come back. And even after he valiantly won his next game it all came crashing down in his last service game when he double faulted twice to force duece and eventually hit match point long and had to congratulate Andre at the net.
What I noticed throughout the match was that Agassi was pouring down Pink Lemonade and Orange Gatorade and basically all liquid sugar down his throat throughout the match while it looked like Marcos was chugging down straight water. Maybe I was wrong and he was drinking some delicious Propel, but if it was water this could be a major reason he cramped up while the older Agassi did not.
The Crowd
The crowd was louder and less tennis like than any crowd I have heard in recent memory, even the Blake Agassi match had less noise and interruption and people screaming mid rally than last night. The one thing that was disappointing was when Baghdatis had already shown a ton of heart to fight back into the match and give the audience a great show and then he starts cramping up miserably is still fighting and the fans are booing him. Come on, he could have just rolled over and died after losing the first two sets instead he gave you one of the best matches ever and you're going to boo the guy because he is completely cramped up and limping around the court, give me a break. Stick to booing Arod.
In the end they did a good job of supporting Agassi and helping him get through a difficult match and hopefuly they will do the same when he face Boris, er, Benjamin Becker.
Hideuous Shirts
I just want to point out that those shirts they are both wearing with the fading matrix are absolutely positively hideous if I was sponsored by Adidas and they came up to me with that design I would say um how about no, I'd rather you paint my ass cheeks to look like an Adidas symbol.
Comeback & The Fourth Set
Throughout the first two sets there was a look of disgust on Baghdatis' face. He almost looked too frustrated to have any chance to compete but he goes off and pulls out the third set. Then giving up to breaks of serve to Agassi to start the 4th set it looked all but over and that the fat lady was warming up her larynx but then Agassi starting to tighten up and Marcos took advantage showed tons of heart and fought back to win and push it to a fifth. Great show from Marcos.
Cramping & The Fifth Set
The fifth set was an odd one, it started off with Marcos breaking Agassi's serve pretty convincingly and coming off a 4-0 come back in the 4th all the momentum looked to be on Marcos' side but he oddly took a trainers timeout to work on some of the cramping he was getting. It was very poor timing though considering all the momentum that was working for him and this gave Agassi a time to recoop and get back in the match and immediately Agassi broke Marcos serve back. Maybe he was cramping badly maybe not but it didn't appear to be a good move at the time and it certainly had devastating effects later.After 3 holds of serve a piece, on came the biggest game of the match. Agassi has Marcos running all over the court and then unleashes a drop shot forcing Marcos to go full out and make a terrific cross court volley to win the point. But Marcos comes up in obvious pain asking for the trainer but here's the thing because he already asked for the trainer for the same injury mid game earlier he was denied. This seems to be a miserable rule and it really cost Marcos the match. The game went on to 8 dueces so he's playing with a severe cramp for 10 to 20 minutes all the while pleading with the officials to let him get some time with the trainer and also doing what looked like the running man to try to loosen his quad. Eventually it all ends and Agassi takes the game.
Marcos is able to receive massage on the change over but once you've had a cramp for 20 minutes you know soon enough its going to come back. And even after he valiantly won his next game it all came crashing down in his last service game when he double faulted twice to force duece and eventually hit match point long and had to congratulate Andre at the net.What I noticed throughout the match was that Agassi was pouring down Pink Lemonade and Orange Gatorade and basically all liquid sugar down his throat throughout the match while it looked like Marcos was chugging down straight water. Maybe I was wrong and he was drinking some delicious Propel, but if it was water this could be a major reason he cramped up while the older Agassi did not.
The Crowd
The crowd was louder and less tennis like than any crowd I have heard in recent memory, even the Blake Agassi match had less noise and interruption and people screaming mid rally than last night. The one thing that was disappointing was when Baghdatis had already shown a ton of heart to fight back into the match and give the audience a great show and then he starts cramping up miserably is still fighting and the fans are booing him. Come on, he could have just rolled over and died after losing the first two sets instead he gave you one of the best matches ever and you're going to boo the guy because he is completely cramped up and limping around the court, give me a break. Stick to booing Arod.
In the end they did a good job of supporting Agassi and helping him get through a difficult match and hopefuly they will do the same when he face Boris, er, Benjamin Becker.
Hideuous Shirts
I just want to point out that those shirts they are both wearing with the fading matrix are absolutely positively hideous if I was sponsored by Adidas and they came up to me with that design I would say um how about no, I'd rather you paint my ass cheeks to look like an Adidas symbol.
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