Agassi and Sampras go too far...

[VillaJ100]

he probably just thinks agassi is a prize douche. which is pretty much what i've always thought of agassi lol. great player but dont really like the guy

[brgerflipr]

ndre is clearly a better ****-talker, Pete is terrible under verbal pressure. Kinda weird given how great he was under tennis pressure.

Agreed. Andre is as polished a speaker as there is. Smooth. Pete, on the other hand, can't battle Andre when it comes to words. He's pretty introverted. That said, I love both of them and everyone has their moments. If this is the worst trash talking there is, it's tame. No big deal to me.

I have a bigger issue w/ that turd roger having a ball girl carry his bag. What a clown.

[Coolhand Texas]

Maybe she wanted to? I remeber one time when i was getting a football player to sign something and he made me carry his luggage but i thought it was pretty cool to do it. So i dont see that as something negative

[brgerflipr]

Good point, I never saw it like that. Cool's prolly right.

But u know me, I was probably just looking for another reason to bash mr. Federer

[Mike Rotchtickles]

"There it is, I'm a bad tipper! Sorry, Barack Obama."

....

WHAT DOES THIS EVEN MEAN PETE?
Maybe he feels guilty for not stimulating the economy more, that's the only explanation that makes ANY shred of sense...

Andre is clearly a better ****-talker, Pete is terrible under verbal pressure. Kinda weird given how great he was under tennis pressure.

Yeah that Barack Obama comment was kinda weird.
The translation probably being "I tip low, big deal! Who cares!"By saying that, he's using sarcasm to say that tipping low is not a big deal. But then why is Pete so mad if he thinks it's not a big deal? Totally weird stuff.
That fake hug at the end was also priceless.

We obviously don't know the guy on a personal level, but I just tend to think that maybe Sampras gets offended a little too easily, takes things a little too personally and then just doesn't have let's say a quick wit or retort to Agassi's jibes.
But overall I thought the whole thing is probably being blown out of proportion. I mean if that's all there was, that was pretty tame stuff.

[AUSSIE_FABS]

Well after match they said how they were just joking around and how they love each other (no ****).

I watched entire thing btw. Also barack obama said at some conference or interview to tip.

[Cro Morgan]

Some more on the subject (by Ben Pronin at Tennis-X.com)...


Hit for Haiti 2: Agassi Disrespects Sampras

The Hit for Haiti 2 made a million dollar donation to Haiti, but it left me with a sour taste in my mouth.

First, Lindsay Davenport and Steffi Graff lost 8-6 to Martina Navratilova and Justine Henin. Henin was coming off a tough early round loss in the actual tournament just hours earlier but it was nice to see her enjoying herself. There’s not much to say about this match. There were a couple of flashy shots here and there but Navratilova and Henin were significantly better. Why didn’t they mix up the teams to make it more even?

Then the main event: Roger Federer and Pete Sampras vs Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal. After seeing how fun Federer and Nadal were in the first Hit for Haiti in Melbourne, I was pretty excited about this. Throwing in Agassi and Sampras seemed like we were in for maybe the greatest night in tennis. And things started out great. There was a lot of banter between Agassi and Federer with both of them teasing each other much to the delight of the crowd. But as the night went along, Agassi’s mouth just got bigger and bigger.

You know things are getting weird when Rafa Nadal has to tell Agassi to settle down some. And he did for a few minutes. But, as if he couldn’t handle the quiet, he decided to provoke Sampras.

Up to that point, Sampras, and to some extent Nadal, was particularly quiet. Tracy Austin, who was commentating, pretty much nailed it when she said it was just like when they were playing: Agassi was always showboating and Sampras was reserved and serious. Since this was a fun event, I wanted to see Sampras joke around a little and show some personality rather than playing as if it was a slam final. Agassi was clearly relaxed, Federer was enjoying himself, and Nadal was getting into the conversation here and there.

So when Agassi provoked him, I thought would finally see Sampras have some fun. Sampras’s idea of fun was impersonating Agassi. He walked back, fixed his strings, imitated the pigeon walk, walked over the baseline then back. Playing a guy over 34 times results in a pretty spot on impersonation. But then Agassi decided to do his impersonation of Sampras. I thought we were going to see the tongue hanging out, the slumped shoulders, maybe the service motion. Instead, Agassi pulls his pockets inside out and says something along the lines of “Tip? I don’t have any money… Oh wait! Here’s a dollar.”

For those of you who didn’t get it, in Agassi’s autobiography, Open, Agassi writes about an instance where he happened to go to the same restaurant as Sampras. Agassi and his coach, Brad Gilbert, left minutes after Sampras. Beforehand, they bet on how much Sampras would tip the valet. Gilbert thought Sampras would tip plenty considering his daily income, but when they asked the valet, they found out he only tipped him one dollar. Whether you agree with any of these three is besides the point. Agassi decided to bring it up during a live, charity exhibition where everyone was there to have a good time. This resulted in some quarreling between Sampras and Agassi while Federer and Nadal were just standing there clearly feeling incredibly uncomfortable. Federer even asked Nadal to say something but Nadal was at a loss for words. It was an awkward moment for everyone watching and an unnecessarily tense moment between Sampras and Agassi.

Considering how classy Agassi has been in the last decade, this was an unbelievably low blow. Sampras served at Agassi and claimed Agassi made it personal. Agassi said it wasn’t personal because everyone knows. The only good thing that came out of this was that Sampras finally started playing tennis instead of missing every thing that came his way. In the end, Sampras and Federer recovered after being down a break to win 8-6. The match was actually quite enjoyable with everyone exchanging some awesome rallies at various points.

When the match was over, Agassi and Sampras seemed to hug it out during which Sampras said, “You know I only have love for you.” Then when Justin Gimelstob interviewed the players (skipping over Federer and Nadal), Sampras reiterated and said he has no ill feelings towards Agassi. Agassi didn’t reply to Sampras but had some nice words about the event and helping Haiti.

At the end of it all, I don’t understand why Agassi ended up being more mad at Sampras. Agassi instigated the whole fight and Sampras showed some real class by saying what he said. And if you saw the match, you’d agree that during the whole ordeal, Sampras was absolutely fuming.

I’ve been waiting to find a legitimate reason to dislike Justin Gimelstob since everyone else seems to and he finally gave me one. Instead of “setting the record straight” between Agassi and Sampras, Gimelstob thought it was better to “set the record straight” about Sampras’s tipping habits. After reading and praising Agassi’s book and defending him as a person, I’m thoroughly disappointed. He behaved like a spoiled child who found some mysterious reason to be cross with Sampras. At least the other champions exhibited class.

[Moralspain]

Sampras and Agassi have too much ego

[Cro Morgan]

A number of comments were posted in response to the Tennis-X article. One of the more insightful was from someone who was actually at the match.

A snippet...

"It was amazing how Agassi’s massive insecurity was out of control to the extent he managed to suck the joy right out of a stadium of 15,000 people. Believe me when I tell you - the air among the live audience was palpably disconcerted - and I’m being charitable. We came for a cause and to see some great players have some great fun. We effectively got robbed by Agassi’s childishness. In fact Agassi should have Indian Wells refund everyones money and cover the cost of their tickets out of his own pocket. I said it before and now know it to be true after last night: Agassi is nothing more then a Spotlight Hungry Media Whore who’s more and more desperate to be “relevant”. And apparently at any cost. He was, is and will forever be an asshole."

[jayl0ve]

I still think it was all kind of a huge misunderstanding...I mean haven't we all been in Agassi's shoes?? I'm sure we've all said something completely boneheaded like this but it wasn't in front of 20,000 people (or however many).

Also, it's easy to call somebody a 'Spotlight Hungry Media Whore' when you yourself have never even had the chance to become such a whore.

[Mike Rotchtickles]

Yeah I'm with jay on this one. This is just blown way out of proportion.
Also I mean yeah Agassi looked like the 'instigator', but Sampras himself could have tried to diffuse the situation in any number of ways.
I mean, in my opinion, the crowd may have appeared disconcerted probably partly because of the way Pete looked taken aback or insulted by what Agassi said. He could have just rolled with it or just laughed it off, but he just looked kinda stunned out there.

[emate007]

Pete made it far worse by making it physical as well... Serving HARD right at him?

lame dude. grow up and take a few licks, let them roll off and counter attack. Don't make it obvious that you're feeling all insecure by going for a sucker shot- like serving 120 mph at his chest.

[Coolhand Texas]

Probably won't be seeing those 2 playing in a charity event against each other anytime soon

[AUSSIE_FABS]

I don't get the big fuss about it. I watched to see some drama and good tennis, and I got it. People need to toughen up.

[SoundfSilence]

After reading the thread before watching the video, I was really expecting something uneasy, that would make me uncomforable. There was nothing like that at all! You guys hyped it up well though

Pete imitated Agassi, all good fun. Agassi's comeback was a joke back about Pete being tight with tipping. Pete's an introvert, he's not quick witted, some of you here would have made a much better comeback! (Instead, his joke was sorry Barack Obama )

Hitting the serve at Agassi, I thought was just a joke from Pete! It wasn't if Pete served as hard as possible to hurt him. Sure, the whole thing was a little uncomfortable, only caused by Pete's lack of a good comeback (he just looked flustered). Federer played his part as the peacemaker, in good spirit. Rafa was probably enjoying it all, so he had nothing to say.