FULL VERSION 1991 - Courier vs Agassi - French Open Roland Garros

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Copyrights - © INA - Institut National de l'audiovisual

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Commentary Copyrights - © NBCUniversal Media, LLC a subsidiary of Comcast (US)

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Thank you for your gracious use of this classic match!

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PertSnergleman's Review:
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An all-American affair featuring two halfway hostile contemporaries, sandwiched between showers that splattered Stade Roland Garros, and for five gruelling sets, forecasting a champion was just as impossible as deciphering the weather.

Neither player seemed willing nor able to plot a flattering course, especially Agassi, who wore down, slowed down and ultimately unraveled as the match progressed.

After 3 hours 19 minutes a total of 123 unforced errors on the windswept clay, Courier, a 20-year-old fist-pumping, baseball-loving baseliner... the dude from Dade, captured the title in his first Grand Slam final by outgunning Agassi in the first all-American final since 1954.

The end came quickly, a strange contrast to a strange confrontation, administered in the form of a brash ace, Courier's seventh, that streaked down the middle of the court unchallenged by Agassi.

"There were two things that could have happened out there: I could win or I could lose and losing's not the worst thing," Courier said. "The conditions were really tough; it was like facing the Niekro brothers out there. I just kept fighting, basically. I can't pinpoint what happened. I don't know why I won; I won the last point. It's really just a roll of the dice."

"Today was a question of who was going to adapt to the circumstances better," said Agassi, who failed to adjust his game once Courier backed off the baseline while returning serve after a consultation with his coach, Jose Higueras, during the first rain delay of the second set. Agassi was up a set and by 3-1 when the showers stopped play.

"I sat down with Jose and he told me I needed to back up on his serve because I was really getting hurt right away," said Courier, whose short returns were leaving him vulnerable to Agassi's cross-court winners. "That really was the turnaround; that was the match. At least, that's what got me into the match. It was the beginning of it for me."

Last year Agassi, then as now considered the favorite by prematch oddsmakers, was defeated by Andres Gomez in a four-set final here, and in September he was drummed out of the United States Open in straight sets by Pete Sampras, another of his lesser-known, less flamboyant peers. Will the Fortune Last?

"I've been fortunate to have three chances," Agassi said. "But who knows how many shots you'll have?"

Neither player's tennis reached the flawless stage, or achieved any level of consistency. This was a match of mistakes, miscues, misapprehensions and, in the case of Agassi's shrinking-violet posture in the fourth and fifth sets, miserable shotmaking.

Agassi never even chased Courier's final two shots of the match, a forehand drive that took him to double match point and the court-bisecting serve that finished things.

"Sometimes things just happen like that and there's not a lot you can do about it," Agassi said. "But I lost in the final and it's better to lose there than where 126 other guys did."

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