THE tennisreporters.net NEWSLETTER: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, NO. 69

Agassi still believes he can compete with young guns
'I have to believe that my best will get it done, Federer is a class above the field;' Is interested in commissioner's job; May not sell California mansion

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

Siggi Bucher

Agassi's desire to excel is still strong.

Andre Agassi hasn't won a tournament in nine months, but the eight-time Grand Slam champion still feels likes he has what it takes to compete against the game's young elite. The 33-year-old arguably lost his best chance to win another Slam at least week's Australian Open, when the four-time champ fell to Marat Safin in a heartbreaking semifinal.

However, Agassi isn't ready to chuck his racket bag in the closet just yet. At the last four Slams, he's lost to three standout youngsters: Guillermo Coria at Roland Garros; Juan Carlos Ferrero at the US Open and Safin in Melbourne; and one middle tennis-aged service boomer – Mark Philippoussis – at Wimbledon.

"I think in Paris, playing Coria, that day there was not really a whole lot for me to do except play higher-risk tennis, which I did try to do. I just was outplayed on the surface that was not as comfortable for me as it was for him," said Agassi, who will playing in next week's Siebel Open in San Jose along with Andy Roddick, Tommy Haas, Paradorn Srichaphan and others.

"In Wimbledon, Philippoussis threw in 45 aces. I have to give him full credit for coming up with a big second serve breakpoint down in the fifth set that I hit pretty well and it just missed; and that ball falls and you never know how that match goes.

"The US Open was a bit uneventful for me. In that loss, with the rain delay and playing those matches back to back in a row, it's not ideal for me at this stage for my body to respond, to recover so quickly from it. So I sort of chalk that one up to just difficult circumstances that I didn't quite get through.

"And then Australia I was less than an inch away from being up four sets to zero. So I feel like if anything, that gives me more belief."

Even though he appears to missing that little something that put him over the top at the majors in prior years, Agassi still feels like he can physically and mentally break through again. It is certainly debatable as to whether his best is as good as the likes of No. 1 Roger Federer, No. 2 Ferrero, No. 3 Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt and Safin. But Agassi said he doesn't have doubts as to whether he can take those guys down if the circumstances are right.

'I have to believe that my best will get it done' "I don't really doubt that I can," Agassi said. "I think for me, I have to believe that my best will get it done. Obviously, the last three have been disappointing, but they have been good matches. The guys that came up with the goods on that day have gone through a long time in my career where those matches have come consistently. I try to base it on the X's and O's of my tennis and I'm still believing in it."

Many insiders suspect that Agassi will call it quits at year's end. His long bow to the Aussie crowd after his loss to Safin only fueled the fire. But Agassi says that he hasn't made up his mind yet and won't exit the game until he feels that he can't compete at a high level anymore.

"As far I'm concerned, if the best players in the world have to play a great match to beat they me, that's all you can really hope for," he said. "I feel great about where things are. I certainly have a lot going on in my life, but nothing that has distracted me or detoured me from my goals on the court. What I've sort of concluded is that when I step on the court and I play my best, can I still win? That's the question I want to answer. I think rankings can be deceiving at times. I'm not interested in working long; I'm interested in working hard and working well."

'Federer is a class above the field'
Agassi, who lost to reigning Aussie Open champ Federer twice at the 2003 Tennis Masters Cup, is quite impressed with the Swiss, saying that he has clearly surpassed Roddick and the other young guns. "You certainly have to say at this point that Federer is a class above at the moment, not Roddick, but the field. He's won two of the Slams that are on the year, and that's argument for him to be considered a class above right now.

"Andy is an incredible talent who has a lot to look forward to as far as repeating his accomplishments and even accomplishing more. He has one of the biggest weapons that the game has seen in the serve of his. What happens beyond that serve is sometimes a moot point because he never gets there. We can sit back and say, well, what if Pete never had his serve, how would he have done? Or what if Federer didn't have his forehand or what if Roddick didn't have his serve? You have to assess it as an entire arsenal. And when you look at Andy that way, he's no question, one of the best."

Yet even with his lofty opinion of Federer, Agassi still doesn't think that the brilliant all-courter has a tremendous chance to win all four majors this year.

"It's one of the toughest things to do in sports," Agassi said. "So based on that, you have to say the chances aren't great. But the fact that you're even engaging in that conversation speaks to his ability, because that accomplishment would be truly one of the greatest. I think he can win on all surfaces, which certainly is the platform you have to start with. But him being able to do it in one year is not easy."

Is interested in commissioner's job
As the game's most recognizable elder statesman, Agassi is constantly asked to assess the state of the tennis industry, especially during the last few years, when it seems like the ATP Tour has been putting out major fires on a quarterly basis.

On Tuesday, Agassi said that he would be interested in leading tennis after he retires, but not if he is only offered a token position.

"I would have a tremendous amount of interest in helping the sport that has been so good to me," Agassi. "What I would have no interest in would be some sort of token job title, the commissioner of tennis, so to speak. It would have to not just be a job title. It would have to actually have the parameters and the structure that would allow significant change to take place and to happen. I would be very interested in helping the sport any way I could."

Agassi added that tennis' leading bodies would first need to come together at the table before he made such a move. But he said that the sport badly needs the aid.

"I'd be interested in helping the sport," he said. "I believe that there's a lot of help that the sport needs right now, and I believe it can go a long ways in a very short period of time. It would require sacrifice and compromises from many different bodies of people, including the players. For that to be the groundwork that we're starting with, I would enjoy very much directing the potentials of where that could lead."

"For me it's about everybody completely getting their arms around what a great sport this is, and if it was packaged and marketed right, the amount of growth that the game would experience. You're dealing with a lot of groups. You're dealing with personalities. And I think one of the things that you would find in common with everybody involved is that there would be a similar need for the game of tennis to grow."

Of course, if the tours did unify and tighten their schedules, a number of current participants would be left out, from small tournaments to lower-level players. But Agassi said the sacrifice would be worth it, as long as everyone suffered together for the whole.

The Agassi/Graf mansion has a breathtaking view of San Francisco.

"I think there's potentials for a lot of sacrifice, not just from the tournaments such as San Jose or Scottsdale, tournaments that really are a lot of fun to be involved with. There would be sacrifices from players, as well. There would be sacrifices from and compromises from big tournaments, and I think it would take everybody trying to look out for the greater good of the sport.

"There's nobody that would want it all more than me. I would want everybody to be a part of this sport. But I wouldn't want that at the cost of the sport itself. So somewhere along the line, I believe compromises and sacrifices would have to be made."

May not sell California mansion
On a personal note, it appears that Agassi is reconsidering selling his and wife Steffi Graf's $24 million mansion in Tiburon, Calif. Agassi said he and Graf only spent two weeks at their palatial estate last year (they also own homes in Las Vegas, Florida and Germany), but are spending more time in Northern California now. Agassi's former coach, Brad Gilbert, lives close by, and he's an investor in San Francisco seafood restaurant.