Agassi Battles Pain, Loses in First Round

PARIS, May 24, 2005 -- -- With a limp and an over-the-shoulder wave, Andre Agassi departed Roland Garros and the French Open championships today, the loser of a five-set, first-round match to a qualifier, Finland's Jarkko Nieminen.

Despite the pleas of his French fans, Agassi's pitched battle with pain ended in his 58th Grand Slam event, a record number of appearances at the sport's premier events.

Agassi stumbled early, dropping the first set to Nieminen, then surged back to take a 2-1 lead. But, unknown to the thousands of spectators, the match was already over, Agassi said.

"Middle to the late part of the third [set], the nerve in my back started getting inflamed," said Agassi. With that, he said, he began to feel a searing pain, running from his right hip down his leg.

Diagnosed as a sciatic condition earlier in the year, the pain was stifled, Agassi said, by an injection of cortisone three months ago. "It had great results for me for a few months," the 35-year-old said.

When the pain returned, he said, he knew he could not win today's match. "Yeah, I almost shook hands at two sets to one up because … to serve was painful, to move, you know, to stand, then even to sit.

"So it was getting worse and worse for sure, and I knew it. It was hard to stay out there," said Agassi.

Despite the intensifying pain, Agassi refused to call for a trainer or withdraw from the match. "I just didn't want to walk off the court," he said, "I didn't want to lose that way."

He lost the last two sets 6-1, 6-0.