No its not the latest episode of Queer as Folk, but the latest in a seeming rash of tennis player/coach partings. According to the report on ESPN.com, the split is amicable, with Agassi and Gilbert praising one another.

Agassi and Gilbert seemed an unlikely match, but man they were good together. They lasted 8 years, which in today's game is an amazing run. Now that he's free, Gilbert will be in very high demand. Whoever gets him will be very lucky!

Agassi, Gilbert Split

Wow. I wonder what Andre is going to do? Gilbert helped him focus and made him one of the best players the past 10 years. Does this mean retirement is in the near future?

Z

This simply means that he promised Steffi that she wouldn't catch him in bed with Brad anymore. She did so Brad or Andre had to go. It was easier for Brad to go.

[quote]Originally posted by Zman:
Gilbert helped him focus and made him one of the best players the past 10 years.

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Absolutely. Brad made Andre one of the greatest tennis champions.

[quote]Does this mean retirement is in the near future?

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It could mean the end of Agassi.

I am left to wonder if AA's wrist injury isn't somewhat of a concern. Andre may have let Brad go so that he had someone to coach. In Melbourne, Andre talked as if the wrist injury may be a time consuming rehab.

Keep in mind that the birth of Andre's and Steffi's child not long ago has caused Agassi to reassess his priorities....after reading Rick Reilly's column in SI last month extolling Agassi's virtues as a husband and father and sensing the utter joy that Andre is receiving from being around the infant, I can't say that I'm surprised by the recent turn of events....he and Steffi certainly have to be financially secure and, not to imply that there was not an injury involved to some degree and that Andre did not want to defend his title, but the first thing that crossed my mind when I heard about Andre withdrawing from the Australian Open was his comments made in SI about how excrutiatingly difficult it would be for him for leave his newborn child for days (or weeks) at a time and his strong desire to be home in Las Vegas....I, for one, think we have seen the last of Agassi as a "regular" on the ATP tour.

[ February 02, 2002: Message edited by: gamecock ]

I tend to agree with Gamecock; I think Andre is going to be hardpressed to motivate himself enough to resume training and traveling. However, the injury is real. Agassi withdrew from the Australian Open after already traveling to Australia, with Steffi and the baby in tow. I believe he lost an early match at a warmup event before he realized the injury was too serious to continue. What's ironic about all this is that less than a year ago we were all speculating that Sampras seemed unmotivated and disinclined to continue playing, while it seemed that Andre had endless reserves of stamina and interest in the game. Six months later, Sampras seems a bit rejuvenated and we're wondering about Andre's future....

When he pulled out of the Australian, Agassi indicated that it might even be a career-ending injury. I wonder if the split with Gilbert is preparation for a retirement announcement, if he doesn't get good news on the prognosis for his wrist.

I strongly suspect it will turn out to be a career-ending injury. I seem to recall that this injury was a pretty serious one before. To re-injure it at 32 just can't be good. Sure, Andre's in phenomenal shape, maybe better than all the young'uns on tour. But 32 is 32, and a long rehab at this stage in his career is an enormous setback.