ATP TOUR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

CORRINE MILLIAND: Andre Agassi is the first player who has qualified for the semifinals on Saturday.

ANDRE AGASSI: I feel great. I mean, you come here and you are playing against the greatest players in the world, so you really get into the semis. I mean, you have a legitimate shot of winning it; it is just the year's ending on a very high note for me. My confidence is as high as it has ever been. I couldn't feel better.

ANDRE AGASSI: Discussing his outfit. We didn't like it. No, he is -- the cyclops missed Michael's first serve in the first game, and then came game point and I served next game on game point, missed another one. Michael complained about it. I said, second one they missed; all three of us saw those serves out, we should shut it off, so we had to get it turned off.

ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah, I missed a few of them. I am not playing so good, huh? You know what it is like? Michael competes really hard, and every time I play him he is always adjusting his game to try something to beat me, and today he was really standing up on the plate and really going for a lot more than -- I mean, he is never usually making that many errors and never usually hitting that many winners, so there is a certain amount of adjusting you have to do when you feel somebody's game, you know, adjust to yours.

ANDRE AGASSI: Oh, really? You know, he is helping my game a lot.

ANDRE AGASSI: Well, I mean, it is kind of getting old saying this over and over again, but, you know, I think my weaknesses in the past have been his strengths and there has been more in the mind and the strategy towards the game.

ANDRE AGASSI: Well, you know what, when he beat me at the U.S. Open, I felt really good about that win, but then he mentioned afterwards that he pointed out some of my weaknesses and so after he said that; I was like, wow, that is interesting since he lost 6-1 in the fifth, and I went to the videotape and I studied it and I saw the weakness he was talking about, and I worked on them. So I owe a lot of thanks to him for that.

ANDRE AGASSI: Oh, are you making a pass at me?

ANDRE AGASSI: You know, sit down, please, just sit down, please.

ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah, it's just business here this week, you know, just business.

ANDRE AGASSI: She is actually not in New York this second, but she will be there very shortly.

ANDRE AGASSI: It doesn't matter what is on the line. You never want to lose to these guys because it has such a direct impact on the next time you play, and it has such a direct impact on your own confidence; I don't care how unimportant a match is. If you lose it, it does hurt your confidence a little bit. I think that that is a fact, you know, so we are competitors and competitors are going to go out there and fight to win, because as far as we are concerned, there is a lot on the line.

ANDRE AGASSI: Certainly. I think that was one of the strongest accomplishments for me this U.S. Open because I felt like I played against the baseliners and the best serve and volleyers and those adjustments aren't easy. I think I've really proven to myself that I can make those adjustments by the day, so I think I have always played a little better against the serve and volleyers, but I have managed to really now separate myself from a lot of the baseliners, so I am looking forward to it. I mean, it is part of the game and there are so many different aspects to it. It is nice to get that variety.

ANDRE AGASSI: Heck, if I can play well in the fall, the rest of the year is a cake-walk. I mean, I have never had a good fall. You know, I mean, it really has been easy for me in the past to play well in Key Biscayne and Palm Springs and then to play well in the French Open and now I am going to go to the Australian Open, I mean, these are -- I couldn't feel better about where my game is and not only for today, but for the rest of my career, I am only going forward from here there is no doubt in my mind about that.

ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah, I did. But I didn't have a good few weeks leading into it, and every time I play against top players, I do -- it does bring out the best in my game, and so to me, it is saying much more that I can go three weeks in Europe and have two wins and a quarterfinals 7-6 in the third to Goran than it is winning here, so it is all fitting together.

ANDRE AGASSI: Well, actually, last two years I planned on going down there. Year before last, I got bronchitis. I got really ill, and you can't go down there physically not 100%. Last year, needless to say, I was in the cast during Australia recovering from surgery, so it just hasn't worked out the past couple of years. Early only, I just think I wanted my offtime I was really concerned about not having enough offtime and not being fresh to start the year because I only had three weeks off at the end of the year. I think that was my concern before. Now tennis has taken a much higher priority and something that I am enjoying and it is actually therapeutic to me in a lot of ways now.

ANDRE AGASSI: What the hell did you say?

ANDRE AGASSI: Right.

ANDRE AGASSI: From what I heard, Berasategui was too injured to play, but wanted to play because he didn't want Stich to pass him?

ANDRE AGASSI: Are you saying that Berasategui was going to pull out, but --

ANDRE AGASSI: Do I agree with that? Well, I think he should have pulled out after a match, for sure. But he is -- apparently he hurt his thumb and I think that in this case, I do agree with it because I think Stich deserves to be here.

ANDRE AGASSI: I don't vote for a lot of things, you know, I don't remember voting for it one way or another, but I do feel that the 9th player does deserve a shot if something happens to the top 8, yeah.

ANDRE AGASSI: To me, I couldn't answer that. I mean, probably, you know, Stefan, I mean I think it will just be a little bit more exciting to play Boris in the finals I mean, here in Germany and the people love him. It would be fun, you know, I'd take a shot at us both winning and hopefully -- but Pete can still get in there too, you shouldn't exclude him because, you know, he had a little let-down today. I don't think he played great, but he will come back and play strong tomorrow, but I mean, to me it would be exciting to play the person who is playing the best tennis; looks like Boris is on that side.