NASDAQ-100 OPEN

March 29, 2005

Andre Agassi

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah, real good. The first set was as hard a set as you'll ever have, about an hour and a half almost. A match like that can just turn into a first-class battle, you know, I mean, all the way through from start to finish. Or if you take your right chances, you can maybe break a match like that open. Today, that's what happened. I played a few good points when I had to, and a couple things went right for me. I took advantage of it, and that makes life a lot easier.

ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah, it was sort of the story of the entire first set for both of us. I think we both had a lot of chances to break serve. It was hard to get over the line. We were both fighting hard for those points and coming up with some good shots. It was just keeping the big picture in mind. I wasn't getting too hung up on any given point. I just kept trying to execute. You know, breaker happened to go my way, which felt pretty good.

ANDRE AGASSI: Well, I knew I was one game closer when he attempted that. That's all I was thinking. I mean, I was glad he tried it, but it's an odd shot to play in that situation. You know, when he made that error, I mean, it was just an unforced error really was what it was. I thought to myself, "Okay, here we go. It's 4-2, just go to work. Maybe break again." I managed to do that.

ANDRE AGASSI: Well, you don't want to read too much into the situation. You just take it for face value. I mean, he threw away an important point that he could have capitalized on, and that gave me a 4-2 lead. So as far as I was concerned, it was 0-0 and we were going to work. I'm just a little bit closer to the finish line. So I don't read too much into it. I don't know why he tried that. I've seen him make it, though. It's an amazing shot when he makes it.

ANDRE AGASSI: Ideally, it's on to the next point, but I do think about it, sure I do. You learn through a lot of experiences that the most important point is the next one, regardless of what's happening out there. Nothing you can really do about what just transpired, but you can control what is about to happen. That's the difficulty in it all, is keeping that focus. But that is the goal, and sometimes I accomplish it. A lot of times I don't.

ANDRE AGASSI: Well, you have to have an awareness of what his ridiculous strengths are, and you have to make him beat you with his average strength. Really, that's all you can do. You just don't want to -- there's few given times you don't want to play into what he does best. But overall, you have to play your best tennis. You know, it's a fine line you walk, making slight adjustments, but making sure you're not taking yourself out of what it is you're comfortable with.

ANDRE AGASSI: No, it's not the analyzation that's a problem, it's his ability to keep you from executing. I mean, he just can keep you from doing that when he's playing that standard of tennis. But you have to do it every day.

ANDRE AGASSI: I hadn't really thought about my evening plans, but something tells me they're going to revolve around a three-and-a-half and a one-and-a-half-year-old.

ANDRE AGASSI: Well, to be quite honest, it's always been difficult for me to watch that. I think it's gotten easier sort of as they've gotten more experienced with doing it. I just couldn't imagine what it's like competing against a sibling. Certainly in the house and the home that I grew up in, it would have been an emotional drama to go through that. So to watch them have to face that has been, to me, a difficult thing to watch. It's just unfortunate to imagine you or your brother winning or losing, you know, especially when they've been competing for world titles. So I've never been comfortable watching it, to be quite honest.

ANDRE AGASSI: You know, it can work the other way, too. You can have four people that won Slams that aren't in the event, and that would be sort of a tragedy as well. So you can't quite have it both ways. I don't mind the rule, I just -- we all need to know the rules, and we do. That's fair enough. You know, I had to finish top seven to make it, as it turned out, and I didn't do that.

ANDRE AGASSI: Sure, I did. I don't know if we'll ever have it back here again. I missed it tremendously. I think Mattress Mack puts on one heck of an event, made all the adjustments necessary to make it a great event for the players and the fans, and I'm sorry I missed it.