Tuesday, August 11, 1998
Andre Agassi, playing in the du Maurier Classic last week, says he's at the top of his game.
(AP photo)
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MASON -- It is 1997.
Coming into the Great American Insurance ATP Championship, Andre Agassi is 6-8, with six first-round losses and ranked No. 32. He missed the first three Grand Slam events of the year. He battled a wrist injury. He had won just three of his past 11 matches. The two-time defending ATP champion loses in the first round to Gustavo Kuerten.
It is 1998.
Agassi comes into the ATP Championship on a roll. He is 45-10, ranked No. 9 in the world, and has won four tournaments, including two of his past three. He has been a tourney runner-up twice, defeated Pete Sampras twice, and been a pillar for the U.S. Davis Cup team. The 28-year-old Las Vegas native sat down with The Enquirer's Michael Perry after Monday's opening ceremony to talk about the past two tennis seasons and how life has changed for one of the world's most recognizable athletes.
Agassi on his marriage to actress Brooke Shields: "She inspires me on a lot of different levels."
(AP photo)
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Question: Talk about where your tennis game is right now.
Answer: It's at a great place. I feel every time it could be literally the best tennis that I've played ever. That's how I'm feeling. I've got to go out there and stay focused, and things will happen well. Q: Why is it feeling like your best tennis?
A: Because it is. I feel like I'm moving well. I'm seeing the ball well. I'm executing well. My game's coming together.
Q: Compare that to a year ago.
A: It's worlds apart. A year ago, it wasn't even close. Entirely different player. There was nothing about me then that I deserved to be ranked top 50 in the world. . . . I wasn't working really hard. I was struggling a lot, but I didn't go back to work on a 100-percent committed level, where that's what I thought about and my day wasn't complete until I got the work in.
Q: What has been the biggest difference?
A: Just getting back into shape, moving well, playing a lot of matches. I get better when I play matches.
Q: What did you do to get ready for the year?
A: Just a lot of weight training, a lot of cardio work, a lot of time on the court, and watching what I ate so I could just lose the weight.
Q: How have your eating habits changed?
A: Just better selections and less of them.
Q: Are you in the best shape you've ever been in?
A: Yea, I haven't this good in a long time.
Q: When you were No. 1 were you in this kind of shape?
A: If I had to give myself an edge it would probably be now.
Q: How much weight have you lost?
A: I went down as much as 20 pounds at one point. I put a few back on strategically because you need the weight here in the summer tournaments and the long matches.
Q: When you're out there do you just feel better?
A: I feel stronger. There are two sides to it. There's being in shape and moving better, and there's actually playing the matches and anticipation and the court sense. Both are good. I'm moving well, and I have such comfortable court sense now when I'm out there.
Q: Are you surprised at how far you've been able to come over six, seven months?
A: In some ways things have to go right for you. I've had some things not go right for me this year, too. It's been well within my wheelhouse to do it, you can't expect it to happen soon.
Q: What hasn't gone right?
A: My injury in Paris, for example, that set me back three weeks without playing before Wimbledon, and I lost out on two Grand Slams there. (He hurt his shoulder during the French Open.)
Q: Does how you play affect how you are off the court?
A: It used to, but not anymore. I just would really allow it to bother me if I lost and somehow feel better as a human being if I won. I think you associate a lot of who you are through your work.
Q: How did you get over that?
A: I think you just grow up, and you start prioritizing what's most important about what it is you do.
Q: Are you a different person this year?
A: I hope so. I hope I'm always different. I hope every year you run into me I'm different.
Q: Better different, or just different?
A: Yea, better. Somewhere I'm better. I can't judge myself.
Q: Talk about beating Pete Sampras two of three times this year.
A: He's not playing his best tennis, but it certainly speaks well for your game to beat him even if he's playing terrible. To me, the standard is the person I'm playing every day. I can win a great match and not capitalize by losing the next match, and that's exactly what I did (in Toronto; he lost in the semifinals to Richard Krajicek). That's very upsetting to me. I've just got to learn how to do that. That's more important than beating the No. 1 player in the world.
Q: When the 1997 season ended and you were No. 122, what motivated, what inspired you for this year?
A: I was 141 before the (lower-level) challengers. So the inspiration had to happen before the challengers because you don't take a step down unless you're committed. And after the challengers, I was excited to be ranked 120 (laughter). It's just a decision I made. Everybody has to make decisions for yourself and if you ignore making that decision you get to a point where by not making a decision you're making one. That's where I was. I found myself at a place where I was like, OK, I didn't decide to commit to the game fully that year . . . And so I had to stop and make a proactive decision in my life: Is this something I'm gonna do or something I'm not gonna do?
Q: Did you sit down and . . .
A: Sure I did.
Q: What was it like playing the challengers?
A: It was what I wanted to be doing. It was great. I loved it. I enjoyed waking up those mornings that I was going to play feeling like I actually had a chance to win (laughter). It was nice to feel that competition again.
Q: Last year, did you ever think about stopping?
A: Not so far as thinking about quitting. I didn't think about stopping the game, I thought about stopping the insanity.
Q: Was that easier said than done?
A: Not for me. Once my course is marked out I see it through. I believe in myself ultimately. The tough part is making the decision and allowing myself the responsibility of being able to accomplish it.
Q: I've read where you've said it's kind of all or nothing with you. Is that where it was at?
A: I think it used to be all or nothing. The past eight months of my life, not only has my tennis gotten better but every relationship in my life has gotten better. I'm pulling off something here that is surprising me on a whole different level.
Q: Are you finding balance in your life?
A: Yea, I would have to say so. I mean, it's an easy balance. You just do everything in your life intensely. Everything has to be important to you. If you say you care about things in your life, then make sure your days reflect it.
Q: Was last year about finding balance and getting priorities?
A: No, I think you're always learning. But I didn't make the year about that. It turned out a lot of things happened to me that were great, like my marriage (to Brooke Shields in April 1997) . . . I want to do everything in my life well.
Q: How is married life?
A: It's wonderful. She's everything, everything I expected. It's who you're with; it's how important you each make it. She inspires me on a lot of different levels.
Q: Is it challenging with your schedule and her show (Suddenly Susan)?
A: We have our difficulties and certainly being away from each other is at the top of the list.
Q: What are your tennis goals right now?
A: Right now the U.S. Open. I feel like I'm playing well enough to go there expecting myself to win, and that's a nice feeling to have again.
Q: Do you want to be No. 1 again?
A: I want to win tournaments. You want to win the big tournaments and certainly if you're No. 1 there's a chance you've won the big tournaments . . . Yea, I would love it (being No. 1).
Q: Describe your tennis career.
A: A great one.
Q: Do you think it's fair for people to say you need to come back because tennis needs you?
A: It's probably the ultimate compliment you can get . . . I took it as a compliment and only that. I had my own sense of responsibility to the game because I certainly couldn't kid anybody, starting with myself.
Q: Talk about your popularity. Is it still crazy for you?
A: I don't know if crazy describes it well. When I leave the room, I'm in for the same inconveniences that I've always been when it comes to privacy and everything. But it's nothing I'm not used to.
Q: Do you wish it were different?
A: If I could have wishes come true I probably wouldn't start with that one.
Q: Talk about the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation in Las Vegas and what kind of work it does (it has raised more than $7 million).
A: I always knew I wanted to give back somehow. In 1994, I decided I wanted to focus on kids who don't have opportunities in their life, kids at risk of many things because they don't have a roof over their head, they don't have education, they don't have hope. I enjoy seeing the difference made.
Q: Are you amazed at how much you've been able to give back?
A: Every day. It's the greatest feeling in the world. I wish everybody that feeling as many times as they could have it in life because it's a great one.
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