Agassi's return gets high marks from crowd
Photo credit: AP | Andre Agassi greets the crowd while being honored during the "Evening with Legends" at the opening night festivities of the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, Monday, Aug. 31, 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
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Photos: 2009 U.S. Open tennis
Andre Agassi, that recovering ninth-grade dropout who has used his tennis fame to raise more than $75 million to educate at-risk children in his Las Vegas hometown, last night was the philanthropic headliner in the U.S. Open's kickoff ceremony honoring athletes who give back to society.
-PHOTOS: 2009 U.S. Open tennis
Football's Doug Flutie, basketball's David Robinson and soccer's Mia Hamm also were cited for their humanitarian work. But it was Agassi - for 21 consecutive years an Open competitor and twice the tournament champion - who was afforded a standing ovation by the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd that figuratively watched him grow up.
During his first on-court appearance since ending his career with a third-round loss in the 2006 Open, Agassi declared his belief that "every child is at risk of excellence" and that every person is "at risk of helping." Now 39, he said he came to realize "the inequities that exist" while traveling the world as a tennis pro, which led to establishing his eponymous foundation in 1994 that supports his charter school.
"I'm not educating because I was educated," Agassi told reporters after the ceremony. "Not only did I leave [school] in the ninth grade, but eighth grade was the best three years of my life." Asked whether the young Agassi - at times adrift and rebellious - would be proud of the present Agassi, he said, "I think he'd be prouder than the reverse.
"When I look back, I'm not terribly thrilled at some of my decisions or filters or abilities to see anything in real context or understanding. But it's been a continual growth. I think there's a tendency with kids to treat them at different stages, especially when you grow up in the public eye, as if they're a finished product: This is who you are; this is what you are. When, in fact, you're constantly in a process.
"There were a lot of moments I didn't understand, I was confused by, scared by. A lot of times I wanted to hide from facing it. But I'm still in process. So don't believe what you're seeing here, either."
As he stepped onto the Ashe court, Agassi's first gesture was to revive the fan outreach - a bow and blowing of kisses to all four sections of the stands - that he routinely used in ending all of his matches late in his career. He called his return a "blast from the past, sensory overload," and told the cheering crowd, "I missed you."
But he promised that he no longer yearned for the demands of competing at the Open. To be back, he said, "feels amazing. It feels great pulling up to the stadium, not caring how you feel. I can't tell you how many times I've come here a little bit tired, a little bit sore, a little bit injured, a little bit distracted. There's nowhere to hide out there. So I've lived and died on this court many times, and taken a lot of people with me."
-PHOTOS: 2009 U.S. Open tennis
