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Agassi and
ballkids
So what's the story with Agassi
and ballkids?
All other players I know are
just eager to deliver their second serve when a ball kid
assigned to the net
scampers diagonally across the court to scoop up a netted first
serve ball and, to avoid interruption,
continues on and stands at the back of the court until the point
has been concluded.
Not Agassi...!
He refuses to play until the ballkid has returned to his
position at the net.
No matter how long this interrupts play.
Not only that, he also seems to
deliberately go out of his way to make it difficult for a
ballkid to recover the 'third ball'
that Agassi always discards after selecting the two of his choice prior to
serving.
Most players manage to hit the
ball to the ballkid (some more accurately than others...)
Agassi is known as someone who
is able to do whatever he wants with a ball
and that must certainly be the case when he is merely standing
and selecting balls.
So why would be deliberately
drop the ball off his racquet almost at his at his feet
and make the ballkid run out from his position at the back of
the court to retrieve it?
And this is the man who has such
a commitment to kids' welfare that he promotes a school that
bears his name, the
Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy
in his home town of Las Vegas, Nevada.
If anyone knows what experience
in his past has resulted in this unusual behavior,
please let me know
and I will pass on explanations (or
reasonable and/or entertaining speculations..!) to others who
may also be interested.
[ And on the subject of Agassi's
school, here are the student ratios:
American Indian - 1%
Asian - 3%
Hispanic - 1%
Black - 93%
White - 3% ] |