THE SCOOP: TUESDAY, JANUARY 21

Agassi and Ferreria's NorCal duel goes Down Under
Henin-Hardenne goes against confident Venus

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

Siggi Bucher

Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf just put their $23 million mansion in Tiburon, California on the market for $24.5 million. His opponent in the Australian Open semis, South African Wayne Ferreira, lives some 30 miles away across the San Francisco Bay in the Berkeley Hills with his wife, Liesel (a former model and Oakland native).

In December, the two practiced together at the University of California-Berkeley, where Wayne is a volunteer assistant. The practice went well, but Wayne – who is 0-10 lifetime against Andre – told Berkeley men's coach Peter Wright that he can't stand playing Agassi because they share similar strengths and he just can't find a way to unearth him.

Agassi and Ferreira appear to get along fine, but it wasn't always so. When Agassi first moved to the Bay Area, he scheduled a practice with Wayne at the San Francisco Tennis Club. As Wayne told it, Andre showed up, the two hit for about a half hour, Steffi came on court and Andre disappeared. At the time, Ferreira wasn't sure if he was ever going to practice with Agassi again, but it's not easy to find seven-time Grand Slam champs to hit with locally, so Wayne turned the other cheek.

In January, Ferreira called Berkeley assistant coach Lane Bale to come to Australia to coach him and the things have gone swimmingly, with Wayne pulling a true stunner over Juan Carlos Ferrero in the quarters. Can Ferreira finally pull one over on Andre?

"He has a certain game that brings out the worst in me," Ferreira said. "But right now I feel so great I have nothing to lose."

Henin-Hardenne goes against confident Venus
Justine Henin-Hardenne has beaten semifinal opponent Venus Williams once in seven tries but says she likes her chances in Melbourne. Sure, this is not the grass at Wimbledon, where Venus has harried Henin-Hardenne twice, but Williams was more than impressive in seizing the big points from Daniela Hantuchova in the quarters, crushing her first serve as well as she has since midsummer and simply murdering her sometimes erratic forehand.

"I think the players who are winning the Grand Slams are the ones who play the points at the right time, who are the bravest, who aren't afraid to make a mistake," Venus said. "That's what I have to be."

Henin-Hardenne's pretty one-handed backhand is in top form, the little Belgian is serving well and she showed tremendous guts and speed in felling Lindsay Davenport, but she's going to have to come up with a consistently spectacular attack to knock off Venus, who has to be thinking that Serena will have a mighty struggle against Kim Clijsters in the other semi (should they both get there) and should she get by Justine quickly, she'll be in prime position to stop the Serena Slam.

Because her body is still sore from her victory over Davenport, it's hard to pick Justine in this match. But she says she has more than a puncher's chance.

"I'm in the semis. I will have everything to win and nothing to lose in this match," she said. "But [Venus] has confidence. She's playing well. She's a great champion. I will go on the court to win the match. I believe in my chances because I have been strong in this tournament."

Here's what Hantuchova had to say, "Obviously, the Williams sisters are big favorites. If Venus plays like she played today, I think she's got a really good chance to win it."