The End of Another Era

The start of this year's US Open signals the close of a glorious era. I genuinely get goosebumps thinking about it.

After an illustrious 20-year professional career, Andre is finally hanging up his racket. The guy who made famous the tagline "Image is everything" retires as the second most substantive tennis player of his generation, with 8 Grand Slam championships, including the career slam (which eluded even Pete), 60 titles overall, a year-end #1 world ranking, and an Olympic gold medal.

I've always been a Pete fan, so it took me a long time to warm up to Andre and appreciate his place in tennis. He was always the other guy trying to take things away from my guy, which earned him my enmity. He also pounded shots from the baseline rather than playing the beautiful net game of Pete, Edberg, and Becker that I preferred.

But to comprehend what he ultimately was able to achieve in tennis, one only has to look at today's golf landscape. People often complain that it's hard to appreciate Tiger's greatness without the sense that there's a true rival challenging his status. Duval, Vijay, Ernie, and Lefty have had their brief moments of glory, but none has ever been able to sustain it and achieve greatness opposite Tiger. Where those guys failed in their sport, Andre succeeded in his, providing a worthy foil to the greatest player of all time and making Pete's achievements all the greater. That in itself has earned Andre his own place among the legends and turned my enmity toward him into grudging respect, and eventually full-fledged devotion.

Had Andre always had the focus and dedication to fitness that he has today, there's no doubt he would have finished much closer to Pete in Grand Slam titles. But that he eventually found those things and achieved what he did later in his career, after disappearing completely from the tennis landscape, is amazing nonetheless. That will be one of his lasting legacies, along with his career slam and epic matches with Pete (not to mention the greatest service return the game has ever seen).

His legacy will also be as part of the greatest generation of tennis players the US has ever seen (or will ever see). He heralded its start as the first to turn pro, and he heralds its close as the last to retire. A fitting bookend to French Open champ Michael Chang, multiple Grand Slam champ Jim Courier, greatest ever Pete, and even Grand Slam finalists Todd Martin and MaliVai Washington.

My love of tennis was forged watching this group play, and so the retirement of Andre, the last remaining link to that generation, has meaning that extends far beyond just the end of his own career. It also signals the end of an era, the era that will always carry the most significance for me when talking tennis (like the Showtime days in basketball). Those are the emotions I'll be carrying when I see him walk off the court for the last time.

If you are a tennis fan, I'm sure you share my hopes that Andre can make one last great run to finish things out on Centre Court. But storybook ending or not, what a brilliant career. Take one last bow, Andre.