Mikhail Youzhny pleads for some words of advice from Andre Agassi during a match – Tennis News
World number 33, Mikhail Youzhny, was up against the Swiss Maestro, Roger Federer, in the quarter-final of the Wimbledon Championships on Wednesday. He was two sets down and was forced to go down a break in the third set. He was
completely helpless at the court and strangely turned towards the former world number one, Andre Agassi, asking him to give some advice to tackle the onslaught of the third seed Swiss legend.
He was thrashed in the third round of the Roland Garros French Open by the in-form Spaniard, David Ferrer, and that was the moment that burst out a word “Sorry” from the agonized Russian. So, exactly after 32 days, the same phenomenon
was repeated by Federer in the following Grand Slam tournament. It is definitely very painful to see someone ruling the show and not allowing a single moment of glory.
The 30-year-old Russian received some world class royal thumping by the Swiss legend; bowed out in straight sets 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 but the funny moment was when he asked for some kind of help from Agassi who was sitting amongst the
spectators in the Royal Box with his beloved wife and another former world number one, Steffi Graf. The retired couple was enjoying the match when Youzhny caught their attention.
Later on, in the post-match interview, the 33rd ranked Russian stated, “I asked Andre what I have to do. I asked if he could help me. If I had a chance, I would have asked everybody, there were a lot of top players sitting
there (in the Royal Box).” He further added, “But Andre was sitting close so that's why I asked him. He knows how to beat Roger and how to play on grass (so I thought he would be my best bet). He said (something back) but it did not really help me because
it was two sets too late; if we had played best of seven or nine or 11 (sets).”
Agassi’s input or golden words couldn’t change the luck for the Russian who committed a double-fault soon after the advice and lost the match in despair. The agony of Youzhny could be analyzed by his constant yelling in Russian
language. He even admitted that he was frustrated and wanted to end the misery as soon as possible because it was getting beyond his tolerance level.
Roger Federer will contest his semi-final against the defending champion, Novak Djokovic, on Friday.
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