Columnist Dean Juipe: Agassi jells as scrutiny intensifies

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4084.

His appeal is so widespread that Andre Agassi could find his name in any number of special-interest forums this week, from the sports pages to the gossip columns to the National Enquirer.

The primary incentive for such a diverse interest in Agassi is, of course, his just-announced divorce from TV star Brooke Shields.

A match made in Hollywood that featured a one-time child star and a Las Vegas playboy (and tennis superstar) very quietly hit the skids in recent weeks and months. Agassi and Shields would have celebrated their second anniversary this week had they not decided to split and go public with their decision late last week.

In the interim, Agassi seemingly has rejuvenated his tennis career once again with an impressive victory over fellow aging titan Boris Becker. Agassi won Sunday's Salem Open in Hong Kong by besting Becker in the final.

Win some, lose some.

Monday the nation's tabloids and even its legitimate busybody reporters were scrounging for dirt on the wayward couple. But it really doesn't appear to be anything sensational that led to the breakup, although that doesn't mean People or one of its more cheesy rivals won't figure out some way to sensationalize the couple's most mundane transgressions.

Hints of infidelity by either side have gone unsubstantiated to date.

It is, however, easy to understand how all but the strongest of couples could see their marriage dissolve when one is working incessantly on her TV show in California and the other is globe-trotting in pursuit of tennis riches.

Nonetheless, even the most vigilant snoop is going into this background check knowing there was no inkling Agassi and Shields were having trouble. Their announcement succeeded in surprising not only sports fans and TV buffs but those who get paid to keep track of the spotlight's many targets.

One thing about it, the additional scrutiny certainly hasn't affected Agassi's tennis game in any negative sense. That was a badly needed victory in Hong Kong and one that may signal Agassi is once again on the rebound -- this time from a hamstring injury that forced him to withdraw from two earlier tournaments.

Men's tennis is in a disjointed and pathetic condition and could badly use an infusion of Agassi's charisma. And maybe he's not too shopworn to do it.

Once the top-ranked player in the world for 30 weeks (mostly in 1995), Agassi fell all the way to No. 142 in 1997 before steadily climbing back to No. 6 about six months ago. As it is, he's 29 years old and has 40 tournament victories to his credit including three Grand Slam events (Wimbledon '92, U.S. Open '94, Australian Open '95). He also won the Olympic gold medal in 1996.

As a note of caution: he has yet to post a 1999 victory over a player ranked in the top 15.

But Becker, even if he plays far too infrequently to still be highly ranked, is no pushover and Agassi handled him with some ease. It was good news for those who would dearly love to see Agassi return to prominence.

He is, after all, a special talent. He may not be Las Vegas' most accessible celebrity, but he's not such a bad guy given the circumstances of his meteoric rise to popularity and subsequent fall.

He has packed a lot of life into those 29 years.

Maybe a little too much life, Miss Shields would say.

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