This week has been pretty intense in New York. The days before the start of the US Open was marked, in addition to positive Jannik Sinner for clostebol, by others exhibition matches played by racket stars for charity.
One of the most notable was the one that pitted Carlos Alcaraz and Andre Agassi against Novak Djokovic and John McEnroe. The Arthur Ashe court was filled for a rivalry with a total of 43 individual Grand Slams (24 Djokovic, 8 Agassi, 7 McEnroe and 4 Alcaraz), including 11 titles in New York (4 Djokovic and McEnroe, 2 Agassi and 1 Alcaraz) , and which left us with a most curious image.
The four tennis players were at the mouth of the locker room tunnel when one of the tennis players coming off the court approached and who greeted the stars one by one… until he reached the eventual Olympic champion.
After passing, the Serb mysteriously disappearedin an image that went very viral.
Before starting the match, Agassi joked about his condition and said he trusted Alcaraz to win the match: “I’m looking forward to seeing him cover the entire field.“.
Djokovic and McEnroe – who were better than Agassi – dominated the first points of the game, going 5-0.
The tennis players played on the microphone so the audience could hear them, but Agassi was the most talkative of the four.
“How do you not fail?he asked Djokovic after exchanging a few backhands in favor of the Serbian.
“Come on, Carlos, do your thing here, I’m doing all the work,” he joked to Alcaraz after losing all the initial points. “Hit the other guy,” he added, referring to McEnroe.
After that dominant start, Djokovic said with a laugh: “It was too easy for us.”
Alcaraz and his partner were more serious the rest of the match, getting closer to 9-8 on the scoreboard, but at the decisive point Agassi sent him away again.
After the duel, Alcaraz considers himself a “lucky guy” to have played with McEnroe and Agassi.
“Obviously, I’m not used to seeing them around, so I’m a lucky person who tries to spend as much time with them as possible, trying to hear as much as I can, just to learn from the legends,” he said.
Alcaraz wasn’t even born when Agassi and McEnroe lifted their Grand Slams.
For Djokovic, it was his return to the court after winning the gold medal at the Paris Olympic Games in a decisive match against El Palmar.
“I told Carlos at the net when we finished the final that I’m very grateful to him for making me win the gold. He’ll probably have three golds before he retires. So that’s great,” Djokovic said.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Robert Maynard, and I am a passionate journalist with experience in sports writing. For the last few years, I have been writing for Today Times Live. My main focus has been on sports-related stories and features. With my strong background in journalism and extensive knowledge of the industry, I am able to provide readers with well-crafted pieces that are both informative and engaging.
