This is a pretty nice piece of sportswriting by the NY Times' Selena Roberts. As a former-future sportswriter I'm always on the lookout for writing that isn't cliche-ridden, melodramatic, and bogged down with stats, but is human and authentically passionate, which is what sports brings to the paper. Although I don't love this lead, this is a decent example:

Peel away their history together, and go beneath their past loves, losses and current reincarnations, and what remained was two married guys at a special reunion last night, playing as if nothing ever changes. They were the same as always, and as different as usual. There was Pete Sampras, methodically popping out aces like a Pez dispenser, deliberately separating his racket strings between points. There was Andre Agassi, trying to find himself on the court, pacing in cat circles between points. Then Agassi tuned in and Sampras fizzled out. But just when it appeared that Sampras's desperate attempt to soothe two empty years in his career would escape him, when it seemed Agassi's winter of wind sprints would doom his longtime rival, the pattern of the ages continued.
http://nytimes.com/2002/09/09/sports/tennis/09TENN.html
• Sports&Culture File