Farewell, Shinobu--we'll all miss you

Shinobu Asagoe awaits serve with her partner, Katarina Srebotnik, at the 2006 Family Circle Cup

Asagoe ready to volley

Andre Agassi's farewell at the U.S. has been shown over and over and over, even while exciting matches are going on. Martina Navratilova's final farewell has been almost ignored, though it has at least been mentioned, and she will be inducted in the Court of Champions. But what happens when a lesser known veteran, especially a non-American one, retires?

Nothing, it appears. Shinobu Asagoe of Japan, who turned pro over nine years ago, has won eight doubles tournaments and was once ranked as high as 21 in the world in singles. Her highest doubles rank was 13 (in May), and her current doubles rank is 18.

Her fans expected Asagoe to retire at the Tokyo Open, but she chose the U.S. Open. Yesterday, she played her last doubles match; she and her partner for the Open, Akiko Morigami, were defeated by the world's number one team, Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur. When the match was over, the Japanese fans gave Asagoe a standing ovation. You didn't see this on television, though, because the days of showing doubles matches are over, and even when doubles were shown, it was only the championship matches that were selected for TV viewing.

To my knowledge, none of the talking (in this case, babbling) heads has mentioned Asagoe's retirement, though it is possible that they did and I missed it. Though hardly a household name, Asagoe is well-respected among fans of women's tennis, and her doubles game is exciting and entertaining. One of the highlights of this year's Family Circle Cup was watching Asagoe bounding around the court and volleying like mad.

For those of us who follow the WTA, Shinobu's retirement is a loss. We all wish her well.