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By Staff (EUNN) London - Tennis star Andre Agassi, now 36, couldn't keep up with younger players this weekend, losing to German Benjamin Becker at the US Open Sunday. It was a tearful tennis tournament for Agassi who played in his 21st cosnecutive tournament, realizing that for him, as a middle-aged man, his professional days as a tennis champion were over. Agassi had said he would retire after the tournament and collapsed into his croutside chair, tearfully looking up through his fingers to see 20,000 people standing and cheering for him in a tribute that lasted a solid four minutes. Agassi's wife, Steffi Graf, herself a tennis champion, and their two children, JADEN, four, and JAZ, two, were also looking on at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York city. Depsite pain from sciatica cause by a degenerative back codnition, Agassi walked to cetnre court to blow and wave to his fans. The 36-year-old told the crowd, "The scorebaord said I lost today, but what the scoreboard doesn't say is what I have found. Over the last 21 years, I have found loyalty. "You haev pulled for me on the court and alos in life. I have found my inspiration. You have willed me to succeed, sometimes even in my lowest moments, and I've found generosity. "You have given me your shoulders to stand on to reach my dreams, dreams I could never have reached without you."
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