COMPAQ GRAND SLAM CUP

October 3, 1998

Andre Agassi

Q. Well done.

ANDRE AGASSI: Thank you.

ANDRE AGASSI: It certainly felt like that's what was going to happen. But he was playing well. I got a little discouraged after the second set. I served for it twice. Early in the third I lost my serve right away. He kind of took that momentum and started playing bigger tennis. He stretched the lead on me to 6-2, 5-2. I just felt like he started stretching his legs there early in the fourth set. He was getting very tired. It was a very physical match, very physical match. I felt like if I could just get back into it, I certainly liked my chances. I had to break his serve twice, which was going to require a little luck. I think it required more luck on the first break. And I did; I saved four match points. Once I broke that game, I felt pretty good.

ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah, wasn't expecting that one today, that's for sure. He's a great competitor. He's a great player and a great competitor. He's certainly every bit as enjoyable as his coach was to watch. I think Miloslav was just a beautiful player to watch play. I admired his game from the other side of the net. It was real good tennis. There's no question about it. To win that one in five sets certainly was very satisfying.

ANDRE AGASSI: You know, I've been working, sure. I took off through The Open after I lost. I didn't do anything for a few days. I spent the last two weeks working pretty hard, but also doing some stuff off the court that was taking a lot of my energy. You know, I came here as prepared as I could possibly be. You're never as prepared until you get a few matches. Now that I've played a couple guys, I felt pretty good today.

ANDRE AGASSI: You know, I'd be lying to say I wasn't really tired. I was definitely tired. But I only have to be a little bit less tired than my opponent. That's the good news about tennis, you know, you're not judged to perfection, you're judged to the standard of your opponent. He played a longer match than I did yesterday. I'm sure that had a little bit to do with it. But I was tired. Of course, you're going to be tired when you're out there four hours. But I saw it through, and I felt like I had a little bit more in me.

ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah. He's being forgetful (laughter). David Wheaton in the Canadian Open '94. I was down two match points, 6-5 in the third set tiebreaker. He missed the first serve. Second serve, a forehand, hit it up the line for a winner. Then he won the next point. Then we switched sides. Then he won the next point. I was serving 6-7 down, and I hit an ace up the middle. Then I served his forehand.

ANDRE AGASSI: I served to his forehand and he missed it long. Then at 7-8 he served and volleyed to my backhand, I bunted it back, and he was on the forehand volley.

ANDRE AGASSI: He asked me a question. I've got to answer it (laughter).

ANDRE AGASSI: Tell you what, I could use a few of those beers tonight (laughter).

ANDRE AGASSI: They're the guys that are ranked ahead of me, so I certainly want them in every tournament, you know. That's the next step for me, is to start beating these guys that are ahead of me in big matches. I've gotten a few this year. Not as many as at the right times as I've wanted. I think every time I play in a tournament with the likes of Sampras or Rafter, Korda, Kucera, it's an opportunity. I consider it an opportunity to get better.

ANDRE AGASSI: I won one against both of them, so I look forward to the match. You know, they're two entirely different kinds of players, so I'm have to address each one differently. It should be a good match, either one. Philippoussis has shown at the US Open that he can play well, and he believes he can win, which is nice to see, because I think he has the fire power to do it. I think it's nice to see Rios hopefully starting to play a little better. He hasn't done well since the quarterfinals of the French Open. It should be good tennis.

ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah, I think the altitude -- the court needs to be a little extra slow to make up for the fact there's a little altitude. It allows a big server, serve and volleyer, baseliner to stay back. Yeah, I think it's a great surface. It's a very physical court. It's a thick court.

ANDRE AGASSI: That's already been asked of me. I was the one that won the match today. I knew what the schedule was. It's difficult to play three-out-of-five back-to-back. I think if anything, they should play three-out-of-five on Friday and three-out-of-five on Sunday or two-out-of-three on Saturday and three-out-of-five on Sunday. I think there's the risk somebody is going to have a very difficult match and then the final is not going to be as entertaining as it can be. I don't think a tournament with the quality of this needs to have that kind of risk.

ANDRE AGASSI: No, no, I don't think so. I mean, not really. I've been around 12 years, a lot more than -- a lot more people than Nick know my game. It's not much of a factor really that he's working with Nick.

ANDRE AGASSI: Me not playing that year gave him the entry.

ANDRE AGASSI: He sent me a Christmas card.

ANDRE AGASSI: I don't know. It's hard to negotiate with BG.