| | MELBOURNE, Australia -- In his many tennis incarnations,
Andre Agassi has gained almost as much attention for the women who
watched him from the guest box as for the titles he won.
There was Barbra Streisand, proclaiming him a Zen master. There
was Brooke Shields, his former wife and most ardent cheerleader.
And now as the Australian Open kicks off Monday (Sunday night in the United States), there is Steffi
Graf, smiling and grimacing and bobbing her head in encouragement
from her courtside seat.
|  | | Andre Agassi's romance with Steffi Graf has resulted in Agassi picking up a few tennis pointers. |
Graf obviously has more going for her where tennis is concerned.
She has taught Agassi the subtleties of the sliced backhand since
they began their romance four months ago. She is also the only
player in history who can match him as a winner of all four Grand
Slam championships and an Olympic gold medal.
Agassi and Graf would make an intriguing mixed doubles team,
though the last time Graf played mixed, with John McEnroe at
Wimbledon last summer, it ended unhappily.
Graf quit their fine run to concentrate on her quest for one
last singles title. She lost in the final to Lindsay Davenport and
promptly retired.
Agassi, soon to turn 30, is not thinking about retirement -- or,
at least, he's not talking about it. And with good reason: the
top-seeded Agassi has a chance to become the first man to reach
four straight Grand Slam finals since Rod Laver swept them all in
1969. Last year, Agassi sandwiched the French and U.S. Open titles
around a runner-up finish at Wimbledon.
Agassi arrived in Melbourne fit and feisty, even downright nasty
when the subject of his reported marriage to Graf came up. Rather
than just denying a story out of Britain about a secret wedding, he
ridiculed an Australian reporter who asked about it, saying
sarcastically that 20 invitations were sent out "to the most
intelligent and professional journalists. Sorry you weren't
there."
It was a comment as sharp as any of his two-fisted shots, and it
silenced everyone in the room.
Maybe that's a sign that a new love hasn't dimmed Agassi's
competitive fire. Certainly he's the biggest threat to No. 3-seeded
Pete Sampras, who is going for a record 13th Grand Slam title.
Sampras won the Australian in 1994 and 1997 but lost to Agassi in
the 1995 final.
As he did at the U.S. Open, Agassi is strutting around
bare-chested in practice, proudly revealing his trim physique.
"Thank you for noticing," he told a female reporter who
commented on his six-pack abdomen.
Agassi insists that his best tennis is ahead of him, no matter
what the calendar says. And after coming back from a low of No. 141
in November 1997, when retirement really was on his mind, he is
determined to stay in shape to get the most out of the remainder of
his career.
"I have way too much appreciation these days for what it takes
to come back again, and I have a hunch that if I slipped, that
would be the end of it," he said shortly after arriving in
Melbourne.
"So, my goal is to hit every level I feel I can hit with my
game. I still felt motivated highly at the end of the year, and
even now, because I feel as long as I'm staying healthy, getting
stronger physically, I can play even better tennis. Ultimately,
that is what you want. As an athlete, you want to feel like you saw
your best, and I still think that is ahead of me."
The men's draw is weakened by injuries to two-time U.S. Open
champion and Australian favorite Patrick Rafter, former Australian
finalist Marcelo Rios of Chile and former U.S. Open finalist Greg
Rusedski of Britain. | |
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Rafter 'definitely' won't play singles at Australian Open
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