Columnist Dean Juipe: Only Agassi could see his future

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, May 29, 2001 | 10:19 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

In retrospect, that one year was an aberration.

A once-great tennis player was in serious decline, falling to No. 141 in the computerized rankings and finishing 1997 at a dismal No. 122.

Andre Agassi appeared to be finished.

He had a film star for a wife, compounded by a fast-paced life. He had money and he didn't need pro sports and its accompanying stresses.

But there he was that fall playing a Challenger-level tournament at UNLV and talking about retooling his game. Yet given the extra pounds he was carrying, the downward spiral he was on, and even his loss in the final of that minor-league event, few could take him as a serious threat to reclaim his past glories.

Agassi looked to be playing out the string, dreaming, giving lip service to comeback plans that didn't make sense.

How could I, or you or any of us have known just how prophetic he would be? That he would put the sizzle back in his game? That he would have a second run to the top that was even more scintillating than the first?

There was the youthful Agassi with the long, flowing hair who relied on his athleticism to win three Grand Slam titles between '92 and '95. That Agassi was brash and charismatic, but, perhaps, shallow.

And then there's the Agassi of today, head shaved in a different show of fashion but no less intriguing than his earlier incarnation. This Agassi has his predecessor's spontaneity without his inclination for clashes with authority, and a resourcefulness on the court that is truly amazing.

It's this Agassi who has won four of the last eight Grand Slams, and it's this Agassi who wins with fortitude and determination. No one plays smarter, is as tough mentally and trains with such zeal.

The dividing line between the two versions of the one man was 1997, and he and everyone associated with him know which one would prevail had they ever gone head to head.

"I'm better now than I ever have been," Agassi has said.

"If it's Agassi of '95 against Agassi of 2001, Agassi of '95 gets smoked," his coach, Brad Gilbert, echoed.

On the strength of winning 22 of his first 24 matches this year, Agassi goes into the French Open that began Monday leading the ATP tour with $1.3 million in official earnings. Add in $21 million in previous earnings and far more than that in endorsement deals, and the Las Vegas native is a very rich man.

But no one looks at him with jealousy or in anything but a positive light, and it's because he took the time and made the effort to revitalize his career when it would have been just as easy to quit.

Gone is the long hair, the Hollywood wife and the late nights at the Rio.

In their place is a highly motivated and skilled professional with a tenacity that sometimes makes him look Supermanishly invincible. He may be seeded only No. 3 at the French because of its difficult red-clay court -- and he may be in a tough bracket that could lead to his ouster -- but he's the focal point of the illustrious tournament and clearly the most intimidating player in the world.

He did it with hard work and not just a crystal ball.