COMPAQ GRAND SLAM CUP

December 7, 1994

Andre Agassi

ANDRE AGASSI: Thank you. I mean, from a tennis standpoint, I sure did. I mean, I have a bit of a cold so that was kind of laboring on me a little bit. I didn't feel like I was 100%, but I definitely felt like I maximized myself today, and I am just -- I seem to enjoy it now. Every time I am on the court, there is always something that I am getting out of it.

ANDRE AGASSI: Well, I have to be doing more than just going for winners because I have been winning. So I making them, and I am playing better. I mean, when you are playing better, you take more chances, and you make more shots and your confidence goes -- you try more shots, you make more. It is confidence. It is practice. It is hard work -- but I do think they go hand in hand. Because I feel like, to me, the enjoyment of the game is so very important to my -- to the way I play. I have always been a very emotional player, and when I have struggled emotionally, whether it was in my personal life or -- I never could separate it. So it always had a strong impact on my tennis. Now, I am really starting to learn how to utilize my emotions and keep things a little separate at times when I am not feeling so good, and it always works together.

ANDRE AGASSI: Well, he hit a lob over my head, and I ran back for it and it came down. I mean, it was literally coming straight down and it just landed on the line, you know. And I don't know if the linesmen called that. I heard -- somebody called out; apparently the umpire called it out. But you know, the crowd was going nuts and I couldn't say anything, well they were so loud; when they calmed down, I said "the ball was on the line."

ANDRE AGASSI: No. No, I knew it was on the line before it bounced.

ANDRE AGASSI: Back in Las Vegas for a little bit and spent some time in New York and, you know, practicing a little bit; took a few days off; practiced for about a week or so; then took a few days off right before I came over.

ANDRE AGASSI: I have seen that show like at least a dozen times. And every time is like the first.

ANDRE AGASSI: I think you are a little slow, man.

ANDRE AGASSI: I am just giving you a hard time. I don't know. I am a very dramatic person. I mean, everything I feel really deep; whether it is very good feelings and sometimes very bad feelings. Sometimes the pain in my life is very intense and so is the excitement. So I just tend to work that way, and my priorities have always been, you know, my relationship with God and my friends and loved ones in my family, and those priorities haven't changed. I am just, you know, now balancing it all.

ANDRE AGASSI: Well, you know, what? I believe in charity very strongly. I have my own foundation that I have started in Las Vegas, the Andre Agassi Foundation, and it supports inner-city youths of Las Vegas - is where we are starting. We are keeping kids off the streets; off drugs through recreation and education. It is something I believe in tremendously. I dedicate not only my time, but a lot of my money to this. I have a staff of three people that work specifically on this. I pay their salaries. I don't pay their salaries through money that I generate. This tournament here is, to me, you know, I mean, there has always been such criticism about "should there be this much money in tennis." The reality of it is that the stadium is full up there, and they donate - I don't know if anybody -- I don't see this written much - but $3 million a year is given away, the profit, $3 million a year over the last five years is $15 million. 2 million has gone to third world countries tennis programs in developing tennis; another million goes every year to a charity of Axel's choice. And sometimes that varies. I mean, that is an incredible thing. And I know there is a lot of money in this tournament for the players, but the bottom line is that we come here and the stadium is full and it seems like everybody feels good about it. But as far as me donating personal money, I mean, trust me, I am very accountable to that. It is something that I believe in very strongly.