By Harut Sassounian Publisher, The California Courier Last week, when I wrote in this column that a handful of outstanding Armenian athletes could put Armenia on the map of the world, little did I know that my wish would come true so quickly. Sargis Sargsian from Armenia has become the sensation of the tennis world in recent days by winning several marathon and nail-biting matches at the US Open Tennis Tournament in New York City, including his victory over Olympic gold medalist Nicolas Massu. Wire services and newspapers around the world have covered Sargsian's tennis victories, repeatedly mentioning that he is from Armenia. The New York Times featured him consecutively on Sept. 5 and 6. To top it all, the CBS network happened to broadcast the Sargis Sargsian-Andre Agassi match on Labor Day when millions of viewers were at home watching the game on TV. The CBS commentators made repeated references to Sargsian's Armenian background, Andre Agassi's friendship with Sargis due to their common Armenian heritage, and the hospitality of the Mansourian family that had hosted Sargis in their Connecticut home when he first arrived in the United States a decade ago. It was also pleasing to note that Andre Agassi openly referred to his Armenian background during a network TV interview. This is a big turn-around from the time almost 20 years ago when his father yelled at me for asking Andre about his Armenian heritage during a press conference in Los Angeles. Armenia and Armenians got millions of dollars worth of free publicity during the past few days, thanks to Andre Agassi and Sargis Sargsian. One can imagine how much more publicity can be gained from the successful participation of Armenian athletes in such high-profile sporting events, should a fund be set up to support their training?

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