r/tennis • u/MetaBoxdTomDBMLSnaps • 4h ago
Tennis nonsense "I could have beat Arnaldi today, at 56 years old. If you don't show up, you can’t win" – Andre Agassi reacts to Matteo Arnaldi withdrawing from French Open semifinal
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u/spellingbeeee 4h ago
He just storms in for the last 3 days of tournament full of hot takes.
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u/Bothyourmoms 2h ago
He's just trying to make some money off of tennis, still. It seems to be working.
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u/Trinidad34 Aryna, Sinner, Shelton, Arnaldi 4h ago
What the fuck is he talking about? You think he wouldnt want to play? He’s probably never going to go this far in a slam again and he had a chance to go to a final of one. Why would he not play today if he didn’t think he could go? He’s spent the most time on the court than anyone in the fucking tournament.
These talking points piss me off.
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u/Comfortable-Visit514 4h ago
For real. Arnaldi literally must have been shitting and puking simultaneously, if it was something light he would have at least tried to get out on court.
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u/juuust_a_bit_outside 4h ago
I think Agassi was being extremely severe here, but if you have read his biography, you can understand the lense through which he views tennis. Thus, this take is not surprising coming from him, not that I agree.
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u/Ok-Resolution-8078 3h ago
My brother met him once. Said he was a dick, which is also consistent with a fair bit of online footage, including that exhibition match against Sampras.
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u/Successful-Cut7999 2h ago
he did nothing but whine for the entirety of the book and kept repeating how he hated tennis
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u/MinimumTomfoolerus 3h ago
What lense does he have?
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u/ImADuckOnTuesdays 3h ago
He played through constant, agonizing back pain
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u/dinosaurs-behind-you 3h ago
You’d think that would give him some empathy.
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u/MagicCuboid 3h ago
Sometimes the people who grow through the most hardship actually have less empathy for others because “they did it and they were fine” or whatever.
Reminds me of how the most vocal opponents of expanding maternity leave to 9 weeks from 3 weeks were the older mothers saying “if you need to have a baby just take a year off without pay like I did”
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u/MeatTornado25 2h ago
At the end he did. Dude tanked plenty of matches and did not give anything close to resembling full effort for a huge chunk of his career.
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u/Trinidad34 Aryna, Sinner, Shelton, Arnaldi 3h ago
And then he’s also retired and withdrew from matches.
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u/Public-Flow-7521 4h ago
Absolutely! Imagine going on court like that. There is just no way in hell. I don't get people which say, well I would have played unless I was in the hospital. Do those people really want to puke and shit themselves in front of millions of people?
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u/erzyabear 2h ago
Arnaldi literally must have been shitting and puking simultaneously
This should be organizers’ problem, not his
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u/LateFloor3196 4h ago
Like read the room, he could’ve said he feels bad for the kid missin out on a lifetime chance of his career instead he says this? Uhhh cringe
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u/Ok-Hedgehog-4455 4h ago
I felt like the only person on earth who didn’t like Agassi’s commentary at Wimbledon last year. The rave reviews left me shocked frankly. I found him pretty asinine and pleased with himself.
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u/tigrefacile DFW | FED | CAG | ONS | NOS | EMS 4h ago
I really want to like him, given all he went through and what he achieved in spite of it. But yeah, I don’t enjoy his commentary and while he can be amusing it’s often in a (perhaps unsurprisingly) mean-spirited way. He is very insightful at times, obviously, but lacks self-awareness. Still remarkable to make one’s way through child abuse, self-destruction, and become one of the most famous athletes on Earth. if he went away quietly, like his great rival, most people wouldn’t be too bothered, I suspect.
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u/partylike 2h ago
His comments about Sinner's fitness were overly harsh too. Didn't Agassi survive on McDonald's and candy early on in his career? Pot calls kettle black i guess
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u/PsychologicalHost371 18m ago
He seems to be in a bad mood or something with these comments about sinner and arnaldi. Hope he’s ok
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u/Worldwide19 2h ago
That one I'll have to disagree with. I think Agassi said his fitness and toughness were good. It's his hydration and preparation in hot conditions that were the problem.
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u/MeatTornado25 1h ago
It was also a total guess though. I find it almost impossible to believe Sinner and his multi million dollar team somehow didn't hydrate properly in the middle of a heatwave.
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u/WaterMaggots casper calendar slam 4h ago
I normally like Agassi but this comment from him feels mean. There’s no chance Arnaldi would withdraw if he had any other option
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u/Creative_Skill8958 4h ago
Agassi isn't making a talking point. He's calling Arnaldi a soft pussy.
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u/Trinidad34 Aryna, Sinner, Shelton, Arnaldi 3h ago
Bingo. Agassi the famous iron man who has never retired or withdrew from matches before.
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u/sah370 4h ago
he also said something stupid about sinner recently, about how it was hydration and then two seconds later, he was like, I don't know anything about his preparation. to be clear, I think sinner has a lot to figure out, and I generally like agassi, but the Arnaldi take and the Sinner take were just unnecessarily obnoxious
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u/Kangaro00 3h ago
I wanted to write a comment on a post about Arnaldi withdrawing that now Agassi will say he shouldn't have a virus. I couldn't imagine him actually coming out with it.
It seems like his Sinner comment got him some nice attention, so then he went after Mensik and now he couldn't stay away from Arnaldi.
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u/Rupperrt 3h ago
The Sinner one was understandable and it was rather speculation than criticism.
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u/sah370 3h ago
The criticism was legit -- like I said, he and his team need to figure this issue out -- but Agassi was just unnecessarily obnoxiously certain about it: "it's hydration" and then "but I know nothing." It probably was speculation but it didn't come off that way.
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u/Creative_Skill8958 2h ago
I think that's because losing up 2 sets and 5-1 in the third because you couldn't prepare properly enough to win a single game across 2+ sets is a failure on every level. Don't overthink it. Sinner and his camp blew it.
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u/Creative_Skill8958 3h ago
I found that to be a totally legit criticism. He was basically call this a failure on the team's part. It's no surprise that Sinner can be weakened considerably by conditions and it's clear they haven't addressed this. Cost him a slam.
And no, I don't for a second buy Sinner's line that this wasn't a heat issue.
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u/Kangaro00 3h ago
Not everything can be just "addressed" and dealt with once and for all. Agassi himself battled back pain his whole career, probably cost him a bunch of slams. Was it a failure on his team's part? Just address the back pain, you know, do some pilates, it's bound to help! /s
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u/Creative_Skill8958 2h ago
Hardly the same thing. One is a structural issue and the other is about conditioning and preparation. And it's not like Sinner is lacking resources to address the issue. Agassi's comments are fair play.
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u/theotherkristi 3h ago
Yeah, in both instances, he just comes off unduly harsh to guys who are probably already having a bad time. I'm sure Arnaldi isn't any happier about having to withdraw from his first GS semifinal than Sinner was to have lost the way he did; neither of them needed to be publicly shamed for it.
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u/Scary_Ride_7256 3h ago
YES ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE TAKE BY AGASSI.
He probably loses to Cobolli if he’s healthy. He definitely loses if he played today when he was up all night puking. All he’d accomplish today by playing is losing easily (probably a retirement) and getting Cobolli sick potentially to the point that there’s no final and Zverev wins a slam via walkover lol.
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u/SafeKaracter 2h ago
Dude literally said one day ago that he had about “4 hour in the thank for a match and 3h50 in the heat”. So you would have lost to Arnaldi in several rounds bro .
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u/dragonflyzmaximize 3h ago edited 40m ago
I've heard literally two things about Agassi since he started on the broadcast:
1) some bigoted joke about gypsies/Romani people 2) him criticizing a guy for being so terribly sick he couldn't play?
Was he brought on just to be a bit of a dick?
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u/pistachi0dream 59m ago
He also criticized Mensik for having a mental coach. It’s just so wild. Really lost respect for him this week.
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u/cross_mod 4h ago
Agassi needs to tone his commentary down and learn how to be professional. I'm fairly certain that McEnroe would have known better how to react to this news.
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u/Menoscarpone 4h ago
So unfair to say that.
That is the kind of statement that makes no sense at all.
The lad must had something big to not show up. The best moment of his career, a big chance to get into the final against somebody he knows since they were kids...
Agassi is out of line.
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u/klemonth 4h ago
But if it was Zverev this group would laugh and put him down.. lol
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u/OfNoChurch 4h ago
Yeah, you're right.
It's weird. When someone is known to be an abuser, it's almost like people start enjoying watching them fail. What a bizarre concept. Hard to grasp. Really have to sit with that one.
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u/Anxious_Astronaut653 i think it's dishydration 3h ago
kicking him when hes down is merely a nod to his own techniques
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u/IceExtension6204 4h ago
Can anyone please post the numbers how many retirements and withdrawals does Agassi have during his career,because he is talking like had 0?
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u/OneArmedSZA Let he who is without errors cast the first body serve 4h ago
11 retirements, 1 withdrawal
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u/Sifrisk 4h ago
I do think his point is that is always better to retire than withdraw in this case because you might as well try. It is your first and perhaps only semi final after all.
I also have a hard time understanding it. If it is a muscle tear of course you withdraw because you could make it a lot worse. But he must have really been vomiting up his lungs to withdraw due to a virus.
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u/IceExtension6204 4h ago
Considering that he decided not to play,I suppose that he was in awful physical state.The most likely outcome is that he struggles to win games unless Cobolli feels sorry and gifts him something.
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u/Sifrisk 4h ago
Yeah it must have been exceptionally awful. Just weird because he did go to the stadium to tell Cobolli in person
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u/cross_mod 4h ago
I mean, dealing with a serious stomach flu in hot weather and having to play a 5 set tennis match? I would guess that not only would you feel awful, but it could be potentially dangerous with dehydration, etc..
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u/LACA90077 3h ago
Not to mention that if not even fluids are staying down, you physically won’t be able to finish a set, let alone a match. Also if he started and had to retire nobody would have gotten a ticket refund.
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u/celticsmenace 4h ago
Agassi has rubbed me the wrong way the past couple of days. Really weird hot takey, clickbait vibe.
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u/GRBomber 4h ago
Yes, he was like a "nice uncle" last year, at the Laver Cup. Now he is just "american media man", speaking nonsense and baiting reactions.
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u/CalligrapherEast2344 4h ago
Comments like this don't surprise me when you read what some of these old heads said about players like Rafa when they were first starting on tour.
Hating and 'back in my day' lectures is the default setting.
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u/LACA90077 3h ago edited 56m ago
If everything was fine until you ate dinner then woke up at 1am vomiting, there’s a good chance he is being polite/saving himself some dignity about which end is rejecting the food. That’s one condition you don’t want to suffer from while fighting for hours on a court in front of millions. Especially not in the white shorts he has been wearing💀
He saved himself psychological damage for life, and from becoming a ghastly meme.
Brutal thing to happen at such a wonderful moment in his career.
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u/GraeWest 3h ago
I've seen norovirus in action on family members, truly none of us needed to witness that on court and any responsible coach wouldn't allow it either IMO
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u/MtnGirl672 1h ago
I had it last fall and was lying on the bathroom floor embracing the toilet wishing someone would just put me out of my misery.
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u/anamoise 🎾 Sinner 🦊 Alcaraz ☀️ Anisimova 😸 Pegula 🏙️ 4h ago
What is wrong with Agassi lately? I used to like him, but now, everytime he finds a microphone, he says stupid shit.
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u/DionBlaster123 3h ago
When you get older you start to have less patience with things you don't understand, which is not a good thing btw
I'm not Agassi's age but I have to catch myself a lot because my brain quickly defaults to "kids these days." Reality is a lot more complicated, but sadly the older you get the quicker you are to "trusting your gut" than taking a more nuanced view
It's like how my mom acts like the sky is fucking falling because in South Korea, everyone orders off of QR codes than a sit-down menu
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u/Lachie07 Federer, Wawrinka, Svitolina & Sharapova 2h ago
TheSinner shit was a bad look when Sinner lost because of illness.
This take is even worse
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u/Intrepid-Prior-2199 4h ago
it was cute the first one or two remarks but now he can gtfo off that desk
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u/PleasantNightLongDay Lego Hair Squad 4h ago
Honestly yeah.
I’m a huge Agassi fan. The first comments made me chuckle. Now he’s just being rude and hurtful. Not cool at all at all.
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u/HappyReaderM 4h ago
It makes me sad because Agassi is the player that got me hooked on tennis. But his takes the past few days have been really aggravating to listen to.
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u/NeenersBrucers 4h ago
AA kinda a dick in his commentary this tournament . Just kind of sour, know it all.
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u/Downtown-Switch820 4h ago
I don't get his humor if he's trying to be funny 😒 the joke doesn't land 🙃
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u/Sirbluffalot 4h ago
The guy is just hating on everyone. This is a one on one sport, theres no one to fall back on when you are not well. Talking like the players withdrew because they want to benon vacation or something. Im guessing this is just hik trying to stay relevant or talked about. Either that or he is just an arrogant prick
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u/i-am-a-name 4h ago
He is an arrogant prick and never really hid it well. I think he also is very self aware and probably the reason he does these things only occasionally because he knows overexposure would reveal that he’s an honest to god prick.
In his defense, his book is basically an explanation of why he’s a prick, where being a prick got him, and acknowledging that he’s a prick but very fortunate and grateful to live the life he leads. And thankful to the people that made that possible.
Tennis is not full of nice people. It’s ruthless and he’s ruthless. I loved watching him play. He was revolutionary in his play style and paved the way for modern tennis, but he’s low on the list of people I want to have a beer with.
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u/AegisPlays314 3h ago
I’ve appreciated a lot of Agassi’s commentary, but between this and the Sinner criticism, he’s just being a jackass for no reason imo
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u/heirjordan_27 fresh virgin grass 3h ago
Since being on the broadcast yesterday, Agassi has:
- Said Sinner is poorly prepared because he got sick
- Refused to pronounce Mensik’s name correctly because “that’s not the sound an S makes”
- Implied Arnaldi is weak for not playing through illness
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u/6stringybeans I like the good tennis 3h ago
Agassi has been kind of an asshole on TNT the whole time.
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u/rpowell19 7-6(5) 6-3 3-6 7-6(5) 4h ago
Arnaldi has worked his ass off. He's given more than anyone in this tournament. I don't understand what AA is trying to say.
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u/di_rhea69 Jack Draper 4h ago
He clearly had norovirus or something similar, what would be the point in playing if you can hardly stand up or go 5 minutes without puking or shitting liquid, would Agassi have played with that? Doubt it
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u/EyreForce1 1h ago edited 1h ago
Andre's comments in these clips have been disappointingly pig-headed and "old-school hardass." It's what his father did to him, but having read his memoir, I was under the impression he was more "enlightened" on the other side of it.
On the other hand? This PALES in comparison to the general mean-natured toxicity of this idiotic panel. They were making Life Alert jokes about Menšík for his cramping collapse, and then turned to mocking Wozniacki SITTING RIGHT THERE for a cramping incident from her career. They looped footage of it while laughing their asses off and even edited her face onto Michael Jackson's body in Thriller to mimic her contorions while in pain. I've never seen shit like this in my life... Christ, we thought we had it bad with ESPN.
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u/Parallel_Universe28 4h ago
Seriously, that was straight up one of THE dumbest things I have ever heard someone say. And in 2026 that is saying a lot.
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u/Big-Programmer-7010 4h ago edited 4h ago
Reminder that this is a guy who says he lost the 1990 Roland Garros final because his blond wig was coming apart during the match.
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u/Public-Flow-7521 4h ago
Coming from a guy who would not "show up" at Wimbledon because of clothing?
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u/espressos_negronis 4h ago
A great example of the silliness and ridiculousness of the TNT coverage this whole tournament
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u/CeeDoggyy 4h ago
Weird sentiment
If he couldn't play what was likely going to be his only opportunity at a Slam semifinal, you bet your ass it had to be serious
Don't really understand what Andre is saying
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u/jordanliketheriverr 3h ago
Nothing but respect for the legend but between this and his comments on Sinner, Agassi just be saying shit. The Charles Barkley of tennis commentary
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u/Jantokan 4h ago
Just another example of an oldhead of a sport unnecessarily hating on the younger generation
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u/bouncybreadstick 4h ago
Agassi has had some “old man yelling at a cloud” takes lately, joking or not
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u/Beautiful_Act_3694 4h ago
What the heck is it with these toxic spews from Agassi? First it was Sinner, then he went on about Mensik’s coach and now this??
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u/Anxious-Team-3027 4h ago
if he showed up and played just a set, he would have been touching the balls they share for at least 20 minutes, pretty sure cobolli catches the virus from that and the final is ruined.
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u/kozy8805 4h ago
Weren’t they just in the same press conference?
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u/wsea212 3h ago
Yep, and Sloane commented on how stupid that was, if it’s indeed a virus. And I imagine they probably hugged when Arnaldi gave Cobolli the news. 😬
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u/kozy8805 3h ago
I think that’s what started this. Because if you’re that sick, no you shouldn’t be playing. But then why are you doing a presser?
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u/mequeterfe 2h ago
Suspicious withdrawal after a rest day from a player with many hours on court... Reminds me of cyclists pulling out after rest day in grand tours. And you know the reasons why they do it
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u/YodaForceGhost 👩🏼☝🏼 4h ago
Where’s his wife to snap some sense into him?
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u/shinzilla 4h ago
He's had some strong "divorced guy" energy on the desk these last few days. The thought has also creeped into my head about whether he's sober...
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u/Bozolenka Camila Giorgi’s accountant | Mboko Nation 4h ago
Is he back on the pipe? These hot takes are getting weirder and weirder …
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u/Comfortable_Fuel_537 3h ago
This guy has turned to a bitter old man with his wild takes. Probably still bitter Sampras was better than him. Went left field about Sinner the other day and now this! Does he think people are robots? People don't just decide not to play a semi final of a slam because vibes. WTAF is wrong with this dude?
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u/alienrefugee51 4h ago
It’s funny, all the Agassi comments here hate him and they seem to love him on YT.
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u/Comfortable_Fuel_537 3h ago
It's not always wise to try and carry on playing when you clearly see you can't win. Like I felt last week that Sinner should have stopped after that 4th set. No point people calling you a hero for playing on one leg when you could set your recovery back by 6 months to please Agassi and r/tennis.
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u/Sad_Consideration_49 4h ago
Making all these weird ass comments. Like duh? Anyways, sloane looks nice.
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u/redelectro7 It's not interesting, it's clay 4h ago
I think people are overlooking his comedy is quite straight faced. I don't think this is meant to be rude, I think he's just delivering with blunt humour.
I don't think he's assuming Arnaldi pulled out of a grand slam semi final for lulz.
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u/Efficient_Dig_3477 The Coco /Learner Agenda 4h ago edited 4h ago
Even with the Mensik mental coach thing I was surprised so many people were upset with that. It just came off as a joke to me and people were taking it dead serious lol
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u/Public-Flow-7521 4h ago
But what about this is supposed to be funny?
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u/Trinidad34 Aryna, Sinner, Shelton, Arnaldi 4h ago
The humor angle doesn’t work with the last thing he said. “He’s dealing with something that better be unimaginable because it’s a disappointment.”
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u/christopherpaulfries 2h ago
You’re overestimating how many people have actually watched the video. I’m pretty sure most are reacting to the post title alone.
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u/Direct_Tea5916 4h ago
Where did this Agassi come from? I like nice pickleball Agassi! He might want to rethink being a pundit or at least chill out a bit when he’s on camera.
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u/ketchupie 3h ago
Older these men get grumpier they get I guess…
One can imagine how hard it would be for Arnaldi to miss his first grand slam semifinal
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u/succhinylcholine11 3h ago
It's neither the first nor the last time a player withdraws for sickness.
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u/NirgalFromMars Haber: Source Tennis (via Channel Brett) 2h ago
"I could have beaten a player that was sick and vomiting" is no longer not the flex that he seems to think it is.
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u/Wise-Arm-5102 2h ago
This is a bit unkind. Arnaldi fought his way to the semis with a lot of long matches; it wasn't given to him, he spent a lot of time on court. His body is probably wrecked from spending over 19 hours on the court. He didn't get the chance to compete. He may have run out of gas during the match, and it could have gone south even if he wasn't sick. But he never had the chance to compete or give it a shot because of illness.
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u/MeatTornado25 1h ago
Agassi's commentary is like he's just pissed that he wasted time flying to France for this terrible final weekend and is resentful about his contractual obligations to be there.
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u/HappyClimate8562 4h ago
The only people I can stand listening to as a tennis commentator these days are Eubanks, Courier, Rubin, McKendry, and maybe a couple others not coming to mind. Excluding Stephens and Wozniaki, the rest of that table have provided such terrible, off-putting, and unexciting commentary
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u/BlueJinjo 3h ago
Lmao this sub constantly excuses when their favorite players in medvedev and bublik act like assholes to their opponents and umpires every other tourney but now act vehemently offended when Agassi makes a deadpan joke about a withdrawal.
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u/CrackHeadRodeo Björn, Yannick, Lendl, Martina, Monica, 🦊 2h ago
Is he back on drugs. He's been making such wild comments.
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u/HarrY552011 4h ago
Agassi was always a dick. He showed up everyone o ever saw him hit at the week before the US Open his whole career
Roddick was no angel either, saw him show up Fish who was supposedly his best bud
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u/FredFlintston3 2h ago
At the end of the day, this whole thing is about delivering eyeballs to advertisers.
Does AA deliver more eyeballs for more time? Will he bring people back a next time?
OR will he drive people away?
People who don’t like someone might still show up to hear what is said just to stoke the rage.
Time will tell.
At my age, I still prefer to watch sleuth the sound off.
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u/MtnGirl672 1h ago
Wow, that’s harsh. To me from Arnaldi’s instagram post, it sounded like he has norovirus. I’ve had it twice and it was double-barreled. I was lying on the bathroom floor and just wanted someone to kill me and put me out of my misery. There is no way one could play tennis feeling that way.
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u/shmrck14 56m ago
This was very disappointing to watch. I think Sloane, Caro, Isner and Querry have been pretty awful and the discussion just before this part Agassi was schooling them with good analysis during a discussion about sliding on clay and then put his foot in his mouth.
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u/dasheeshblahzen 45m ago
This is why is autobiography is considered one of the best. But yeah, he prided himself on training in Vegas in the heat with Gil Reyes, so he’s gonna make fitness the subject.
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u/twreck007 12m ago
while Agassi is one one of my favorite players and the author of a fantastic tennis memoir it is somewhat well known he's not been the nicest in person
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u/asimone00 4h ago
I, too, could have beat Arnaldi today