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Dear Pete. Grow A Set. Love AA

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Moderator1, Mar 16, 2010.

  1. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    So what did he say exactly? The Post story doesn't say -- other than to say he chided him about being cheap. That makes me think it was too vulgar to print the actual quote.
     
  2. JC

    JC Well-Known Member

    Samprass should have asked Agassi where he could get some meth.
     
  3. NoOneLikesUs

    NoOneLikesUs Active Member

    Having just read the book a few weeks ago, the tipping incident came well after Sampras had established himself as one of the greats in the game.
     
  4. Big Circus

    Big Circus Well-Known Member

    IIRC, it wasn't vulgar. Agassi pulled out his pockets and said something like, "I don't have any money. Oh, wait, here's a dollar."

    Then Sampras hit a serve at his head.
     
  5. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    That doesn't sound so bad. I wonder why the original article didn't make it more clear. If you didn't see it, you have no idea what really happened.
     
  6. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    The difference is, meth habit aside, Agassi is a good guy.

    Sampras has no personality and no sense of humor. That's why Agassi made hundreds of millions in endorsements and Sampras, for a player of his caliber, was used sparingly by comparison.
     
  7. JC

    JC Well-Known Member

    There are a lot of stories of Agassi not being a "good guy" especially from his younger years.
     
  8. goalmouth

    goalmouth Well-Known Member

    Not just, he is also thin-skinned with a mean streak, a souvenir from his wacko Dad and upbringing at Bollettieri's and the junior circuit.
     
  9. mateen

    mateen Well-Known Member

    Sampras is in fact dull and humorless. But he also never served a ball at a lineswoman at Wimbledon like Agassi did (and that was in his 2001 semifinal against Rafter, which came after his lost years and apparent redemption).

    I'll agree with Jon Wertheim's take on this thing: Sampras should be sent to his room without dessert. Agassi should be grounded.
     
  10. mateen

    mateen Well-Known Member

    correction - that Wimbledon semifinal was in 2000.
     
  11. Trouser_Buddah

    Trouser_Buddah Active Member

    I only saw the clip in passing, but after making fun of Agassi, didn't Pete egg him into a reply?
     
  12. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    I've watched the thing a couple times and still think people are making it into a bigger deal than it is. I think Agassi thought he could playfully crack on Sampras, and that they'd all have a good laugh about it, and the joke fell way flat. But the hitting a serve at him was all in good fun too. That happens all the time in charity matches. I think Agassi beat a bad joke to death, and you could see Sampras getting uncomfortable. I actually think he has a better wit and sense of humor than he gets credit for, but he's not as at ease as Agassi in front of crowds and never will be. I once saw him playfully stare down a little girl who was running behind him in the stands during a charity match, and everyone thought he was being serious. (He wasn't.) He probably wanted to make a meth joke but knew how poorly THAT would go over, so he sort of felt paralyzed as to what to say, and it made the whole thing more awkward. You ever have one of those friends where, he's really successful and everyone admires him, but in group setting you tend to gang up on him simply because he can't really take a joke? That's always struck me as Sampras. I grew up loving the both of them, and yes, Agassi was a gigantic asshole for the majority of his career, but I think he's more or less admitted as much and tried to change. Sampras has clearly never felt comfortable with all the attention Agassi gets, even though he clearly got juiced up to play Andre like no one else through his career.

    That serving at the lineswoman incident was atrocious, but you had it right the first time mateen, it was 2001.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/07/sports/tennis-agassi-lets-his-emotions-and-rafter-get-the-best-of-him.html?pagewanted=all
     
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