Andre Agassi is regarded having one of the best returns of serve in the history of tennis. So what is the story with the seldom-remembered Joachim Johansson of Sweden once hitting 51 aces past him?
It was in the fourth round of the Australian Open in 2005 and Johansson, a 23-year-old who was seeded No. 11 in the event following a semifinal run to the U.S. Open the previous year, had, two days prior battled with Spain’s Feliciano Lopez for over four hours, winning an epic 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 7-6 (2), 13-11. To boot, Agassi and never played Johansson before.
“There’s a lot of sort of guesswork involved when you’ve never played somebody,” Agassi said prior to the match. “But he has one of the biggest serves and one of the biggest forehands in the game, there’s no question about that.”
Betway spoke to Johansson about the match and attributed his fatigue from the previous match and the oppressive Australian heat for the reason he had such success on his serve.
Johansson fought bravely, but it was Agassi who emerged victorious 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 7-6(3), 6-4. The match win ended up being Agassi’s final match victory at the Australian Open. He lost to Roger Federer in the following round and never again played in the event. Perhaps not surprisingly, Johansson began to suffer from right shoulder problems, and only played two more major tournaments following his memorable 2005 Australian Open and retired from the game in 2008.
