The win was almost completely unexpected, even from Agassi himself. The 29 year old Las Vegan's career appeared to be on the wane, not having reached the quarter-finals of a grand-slam since he made the US Open semi-finals in 1996. Many had written him off after he lost in the 4th round of the Australian Open to little known Vincent Spadea.
Agassi's record at the French Open has been very poor in recent years, not having made it past the 2nd round since 1995; in which year he reached the quarter-finals. But he has confounded his critics with this win, coming back from 2 sets to love down against Medvedev in the final. After winning match-point, he tellingly looked to coach Brad Gilbert and tellingly pointed to his heart, showing that the desire he has so often been accused of lacking was certainly there.
Agassi's achievement is nothing less than historical. Other acknowledged greats such as Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker and Pete Sampras have tried and failed to win at all four grand slams in their careers. Sampras has made it his career aim to become known as the greatest player ever, and not having achieved a career grand-slam has been a major obstacle for him. Having won at all 3 of the other grand slams, winning at the French Open has become something of an obsession for him. With Agassi having now won at all 4 of the grand-slams, the question has to be asked as to whether he in fact could be classed as being amongst the world's greatest players.
Although Agassi has only won 4 grand-slams in his career to Sampras' 11, winning a career grand-slam has been shown to be a momentual achievement. Agassi's beaten opponent Andrei Medvedev has little doubt in his mind as to who is the better player.
"He has a right to say now that he's a greater player than, let's say, Pete (Sampras) by winning all four Grand Slams. It's an argument that he can have."
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