The hairless man went prime time last week at the U.S. Open, when a newly bare Andre Agassi peeled off his shirt for the apparently adoring crowds. This was not the first such unveiling by Agassi: At the 1993 Wimbledon tournament, he was similarly shorn, giving rise to speculation that then-girlfriend Barbra Streisand perhaps preferred her man not to look like one.
The rise of men without chest hair was analyzed in these very pages by THE WEEKLY STANDARD's David Skinner a few months ago. Prior to the 1990s, shaved and waxed abs were found only among body builders and gay men, that is, two groups who in their own ways distorted manliness to the point of parody. Since then, shaved chests have gone mainstream. Hairless abs, once de rigueur only for male fashion models, have become the norm for Hollywood heartthrobs. It is more than passing strange, Skinner argued, that American male sex symbols should embrace this boyish look.
Even before Agassi bared his chest, it was clear that American men's tennis is in decline. Meanwhile, women's tennis has never been more competitive. Time to grow back your hair, men.