TMS - THE ERICSSON OPEN

March 22, 2001

Andre Agassi

ANDRE AGASSI: I mean it's -- I think it's one of the worst things that can possibly be said about an athlete, that you would either fix a match or fake an injury. And for those accusations to be treated lightly on anybody's part I think would be disruptive to a great sport. I would only be guessing as to the inner workings of anybody's particular situation, and would be more critical towards how somebody handles accusations as opposed to what any speculation is that's going on.

ANDRE AGASSI: I can't -- I can't speak to that. I don't know what they think of themselves or the game, you know. I know that they're two great athletes who play the game incredibly well, and will hopefully always feel a responsibility not just to their family but to the sport that's been so good to them.

ANDRE AGASSI: I can speak for me. If anybody accused me of having some kind of interest in throwing a match, that wouldn't fly for very long at all. But, you know, I don't know the position they've taken because I haven't seen it directly, first of all. I can only imagine, and it's one thing I can speak to is watching them play. And every time I watch them play there is always an additional element of sibling and sibling going on that I couldn't even bear to imagine for myself. How you deal with that is something I could never understand because I've never had to. So I know it must be difficult and not easy for them as a family to actually compete against each other in such a big arena. But with that being said, there is a responsibility in choosing this as a sport to have to do that, and that's where the speculation begins. I mean, that's where I stop. I can't speak to anything else.

ANDRE AGASSI: In practice we did, but not actually in a match. I mean, first time I beat him was probably the most difficult transitions in our home.

ANDRE AGASSI: 14. He was good. He was a good college player.

ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah.

ANDRE AGASSI: I don't think you can compare it. You know, the closest you get is playing a good friend. And that's a far cry from playing somebody that you actually want to see win as well, and I can't even imagine being the older one or the younger one or I can't imagine being the parents. I can't imagine any of it. It's -- none of it is an easy situation. But family gets double the prize money, you know... Double the pain, double the pleasure. You know, it's a lot of times that it works the other way, you know.

ANDRE AGASSI: We never played again, which was calculated on both our parts.

ANDRE AGASSI: No.

ANDRE AGASSI: Out of our indoor racquet club in Las Vegas.

ANDRE AGASSI: I do. There's no question about it. You know, you can be in a great place with your game and lose and you can be in not such a great place and somehow win those right points. With me, it was a question of both. I really like where my game is and I happen to have won. It's so competitive out there and it's not easy, especially these tournaments. I believe in many ways to win these tournaments, the Tennis Masters Series events, are more difficult than a Slam. You get nine chances at them during the year, but you have to play five matches in six days, they're two out of three sets which means sometimes a careless service game can cost you the match, and your body has to respond only to play the three-out-of-five on the last day. So things have to go well for you. You can't play a few rough matches and come back and be at your best.

ANDRE AGASSI: A Slam takes probably more ultimately out of you if you win it at the end, but you know what to expect in the Slam. You know how to negotiate your time. In these events, you're never quite sure. You just hope that when it gets taken out of you, you get time.

ANDRE AGASSI: Ideally for me, medium paced hardcourt, extremely hot and windy. (Laughter.)

ANDRE AGASSI: It happens to fit here, I've always spoken of that being a good scenario for me.

ANDRE AGASSI: 31. It counts. It counts. Just preparing myself now.

ANDRE AGASSI: Physically, I'm not sure if it's been done, at least to my knowledge, that I could call on anybody else's physical presence as a 30- or 31-year-old. Lendl comes to my mind. But at 30 to 31 was when he was starting to become a different, different player and a different quality of physical presence. He was getting injured. But I tend to view it less about my age and more about work and what you can come to expect if you do work hard. So it doesn't surprise me, no. It doesn't surprise me, no.

ANDRE AGASSI: I would be surprised to announce that just because you'd have to deal with farewells every week for the rest of the year after announcing it. I never understood why Edberg did it the way he did. Every week I saw him, they're giving him flowers.

ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah. But I can also understand why somebody wouldn't want to do this, you know, and it seems to be more of that with Rafter from what I've heard him say about it than he can't do it anymore. I think really his performance in Australia and Wimbledon last year and even last week in Palm Springs shows that he can. The fact that he might not want to, that's not hard to believe.

ANDRE AGASSI: I think he brings just a great rawness to the game, you know. I think he's a true competitor, true champion, true grit, always punches in the clock, always class act, always professional on the court, always first-class person off the court. And, you know, you want a person like that on the Tour. You want a person like that working for you. You want a person like that related to you. You want a person like that around. The game will miss him when he goes.

ANDRE AGASSI: I remember all of them with him. I mean, I really do. There's so many. But needless to say, the last one was the most recent and the most vivid and the most probably dramatic.

ANDRE AGASSI: I've been up there for about seven-years-plus with Brad now and love the area. I always dreamt about having a place that I can go to there and get away and enjoy the nature and everything that that area has to offer. I believe it has as much to offer as any place in the world.

ANDRE AGASSI: A view of it? Yeah, yeah. Yep.

ANDRE AGASSI: Well, I guess I would hope for just nature's kind of plan to stop me from playing. I hope I can continue to give to this game and take from it as long as possible. I think it's an incredible opportunity to be able to do this. I can't speak to my want-to's, because I've experienced them changing according to priorities in my life. But I think I can do this as long as I'm healthy and well into my 30s. I believe there are some athletes that have proven that you can still be at your best then if you do it right. I think I got to be a lot smarter than I've ever been to pull that off, but I do think it's possible.

ANDRE AGASSI: To do a Jimmy Connors?

ANDRE AGASSI: Ahh, I would have a hard time seeing that, yeah.

ANDRE AGASSI: I'll be more surprised if he doesn't. To say it, do it is a different thing.

ANDRE AGASSI: I don't think it would be ideal for me to play all of them. I think I could, but I don't think I'd be putting myself in the best position for the ones that mean the most to me. I don't know which ones I miss, I'm going to miss. I know that these two weeks are surrounded on both sides with room, after a Slam and before a Slam. As you get closer, things get more delicate and more sensitive, it's always a negotiation with your body and mind as to where you are. I think that balancing act is more important for me now than it's ever been.

ANDRE AGASSI: I got to say that when I'm playing my best tennis, I'm focusing on every point and when it's ovary look at the score board. It never ceases to not surprise me that I won. It always surprises me. I really just can't believe it.

ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah, it's twofold, though. It's emotional, you know, which is what you saw in Wimbledon when you're just overwhelmed with the fact that you can't believe you've done it versus the real knowledge of what it is you're accomplishing and how difficult you know it is to do, and then to do it. Like it's much more of a -- it's much more of a mentally just a hard thing to believe. It's just long, it's hard and when it's over I'm always surprised.

ANDRE AGASSI: That's really, really absurd to me, yeah. Yeah. It is. Because what's had to go --.

ANDRE AGASSI: Because I don't know if it has to be. It just is. It's like what's gone into it has been a tremendous amount of not just work and perseverance, but also the other side, the dreaming of winning the biggest ones and you can be objective about everybody's career except your own. And when I think of myself as winning all of them, it just -- it amazes me. I can't...

ANDRE AGASSI: Well, I work at balance every day and it's not an easy thing for me. But I think how I perform on the tennis court is a reflection of a few things because so much has come together to win. I can't just play well and not be there mentally, and you can't be focused and not have the matches or the confidence or the -- so a lot has to come together. So it's easy to see when things come together because then there's your opportunity to win. It doesn't mean you're going to, but when you do, it means a lot. A lot is in place.

ANDRE AGASSI: I lived ten years thinking that was going to be me. I had come to accept it. You come to realize it's not an easy thing to do. I'd have to be a great champion to do it, like Lendl was. You have to get lucky. And I really believe that. I can't imagine the disappointment. You know, I've talked to Johnny Mac about his frustrations with Paris and I know that wasn't easy. But he has a lot to fall back on. I mean, the guy had an incredible career and he did a lot for the game. I think he showed people how being a better athlete can help you do it better, how being stronger and fitter can help you play tennis much better.