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Agassi loses and retires
03/09/2006 20:47 - (SA)
New York - Andre Agassi lost in the third round of the US Open on Sunday in what he said would be his last tournament before retiring.
The 36-year-old Agassi went down 7-5 6-7 (4/7) 6-4, 7-5 to Benjamin Becker of Germany.
The defeat brought an end to a 20-year-long career that brought the Las Vegan eight Grand Slam titles and worldwide acclaim as one of the greatest-ever in the sport.
He notably in 1999 became just the fifth player to win on all four Grand Slam title surfaces when he came from two sets down against Andrei Medvedev to lift the French Open crown.
In all he won four Australian Opens (1995, 2000, 2001 and 2003), two US Opens (1994 and 1999), one Wimbledon (1992) and one French Open (1999)
He was also World No 1 on several occasions and played in three winning Davis Cup squads for the United States.
But he had been increasingly crippled by a bulging disc in his lower back in the last 18 months and announced on June 24 that he would retire after this year's US Open.
Agassi won his two opening ties raising hopes of another magic run at Flushing Meadow similar to last year when he reached the final and lost in four tough sets to Roger Federer.
He defeated Andrei Pavel of Romanian in four sets in the first round and eighth seed Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in five sets in the second.
But he needed pain-killing injections in his back after both wins and he looked a shadow of his former self against Becker, who only joined the ATP tour this summer after four years of studies in the United States.
Agassi's retirement brings down the final curtain on a golden era for men's tennis in the United States as he, Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and Michael Chang dominated the sport for a decade and more from 1990.
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Rugby
