TENNIS

At the 1992 U.S. Open and at Wimbledon in 1993, Barbra Streisand was spotted watching Andre Agassi played tennis. She made the observation at the time, "(He's) very, very, intelligent – very, very sensitive – very evolved, more than his linear years. He's playing like a Zen master. He's very much in the moment." It was understood the word Zen was "a Chinese and Japanese school of Mahayana Buddhism that asserts that enlightenment can be attained through mediation, self contemplation and intuition rather than through the Scriptures." 

Andre turned pro in 1986 and retired in 2006. After winning his second Grand Slam title in 1994, he told the press, "I got sidetracked for a few years. I felt I had the game to win more than one Grand Slam event (his first was at Wimbledon in 1992). I think I have the game to be No. 2 to (Pete) Sampras. But mentally, I've never allowed my game to be on the level it should be. My improvements have been mental. The main problem was that I wasn't putting out the effort on the court. I lost the first 3 Grand Slam finals I was in (the 1990 French Open and U.S. Open and the 1991 French Open)...There were times when I might have found a way to lose a match like this (at the 1994 U.S. Open). But that's behind me." Andre became one of only 7 male players in tennis history to win each of the 4 Grand Slam championships, when he won the French Open in 1999. "I grew up in the public eye. I sort of had to learn some tough lessons in front of a lot of people, one of which was to respect the greatest tournament in our sport (Wimbledon)," he had said. 

Monica Seles won 3 French Open championships from 1990-92. After winning her quarterfinals match in 1990, she made the comment, "The whole week I had close matches depending on one service break. When I was down 4-1 and 5-4, I had to take it point by point. The feeling of losing never entered my mind because when I go on a court I don't feel I can lose. But there were points she (Manuela Maleeva) won when I could have done a little better. It does help a lot to know if I am not playing well I can still get through a lot of matches...In the last 2 tournaments when I beat Martina (Navratilova at the Italian Open) and Steffi (Graf at the German Open) when I wasn't expected took a lot out of me mentally. I wasn't expecting it...Mentally, I didn’t think I was prepared to beat both players in consecutive weeks. That's why I think in many of my matches, I haven't played well, because I gave so much the last 2 tournaments."

Monica officially retired in 2008. Former player Judy Dalton made the remark in 1989, "Her build disguises her capabilities. She can play aggressive power-packed shots, run forever, never tires and she has a mind like a computer. She has learned quickly the right way to look and how to handle the temperament of her opponents. Her style is unusual. She has a natural left-hander's serve, but plays 2-handed forehands and backhands as well as being able to play single-handed forehand and backhand. Her use of angles from both sides is formidable…(And) her feminine style will be of great advantage to her." 

In 1993, Mary Joe Fernandez reached her first French Open women's singles final. She made the point, "I have played a defensive game for all my life, really, since I was a little girl. I was taught to hit the ball back and not make any mistakes. It takes a while to change that. It is a big step for me, but over the last 15 months (April 1992 - June 1993), I have been really trying to do it. He (coach Harold Solomon) convinced me that if I wanted to make the next breakthrough and if I wanted to start beating top players, that this was the way to go, that my old style wasn't really going to let me do that. He just drilled it into my head. He showed me how the top players play and why they win and asked me if I was willing to take the chance, and I was."