no, we're not talking Jack Bauer here; instead, Nicolas Kiefer, the 33 year old German veteran of the ATP tour, from which he today announced his retirement; Kiefer rose to as high as #4 in the world in 2000, then had another very good year as late as 2006, where he reached the semis of the Aussie Open as well as a few other tour stops; along with countryman Rainer Schuetler, he also won a silver medal for his country in the doubles of the 2004 Olympics in Athens; mainly, though, Nic was just a lot of fun to watch; he was superstitious and would frequently retreat to the corners of the court between points; and he would allow no distractions, making sure the ballkids and the linesmen were perfectly still before beginning a point; belying his deliberate manner, though, Nic was volatile, and could go off the rails at any second; still, he had a very smooth, flowing game; his serve, in particular, was a model of unrushed precision and elegance; he was a real asset to "our sport", as John McEnroe likes to call it, and will be sorely missed.
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