AA第一輪賽後訪問 II - 網球

Q. What does Alex not do so well now that he used to do when he was
No. 2 in the world?

ANDRE AGASSI: It's hard to say. Obviously he's a little low on
confidence. He's still a good mover and striker of the ball. Windy conditions,
not having a lot of confidence, it's easy to miss a few shots on crucial points
.I don't think the score was as reflective as how close some of those sets
could have been.

Q. Many of us marveled at your ability to recall so many matches in
your career. Michael brought out of the blue a match the two of you played when
you were Juniors, when he was 11. He said that you gave him a bum call on a
sideline call. Do you remember that? Now is your opportunity to respond.

ANDRE AGASSI: I remember when we were little giving him a number
of beatings. I don't recall any of them being determined by a line call, no.

Q. Do you realize you scarred his childhood?

ANDRE AGASSI: He was a year and a half younger. He had to take it.
He was always playing up and always deserved a little bit.

Q. At the end he said maybe the call was out after all. Maybe he had
a revisionist thought on the whole thing.

ANDRE AGASSI: The thing is, I think we probably played just a few
times when we were younger. He was a lot like Pete in the sense he was always
playing up in his age group, which meant he was pushing himself but not getting
very far in the tournaments.

Q. It's amusing to see the pictures as youngsters. Who was more a
musing as a junior, Pete with his two-handed backhand, or Michael running all o
ver the place?

ANDRE AGASSI: I think JeffTarango wins that. When it comes just as
straight amusing, I don't think it's changed much. No, Pete and Michael were
pretty similar in the way they played. Both ran well and push the ball.

Q. When you were watching Pete last night on TV in the ceremony,
hearing his comments, could you relate to what he was saying about, "I know
in my heart," he told us he was trying to train for Wimbledon, just didn't
have it in him? Have you ever had any of those feelings? Could you relate?

ANDRE AGASSI: I feel that way most of the time. That's not a joke.
Most of the time I feel like, "Today's the day I can't do it." That to me is
the challenge. It always has been.
I certainly identify with it. I understand the decision to not do it anymore.
But, you know, my choices are different right now.

Q. Where do you want to go out? Pete chose here. Where do you want
to say farewell?

ANDRE AGASSI: I don't have any thoughts towards that at all.

Q. Steffi said, "See you," never allowed for anything like that.
Would you?

ANDRE AGASSI: It's possible. It's all hindsight, isn't it? Does
anybody really know? I don't sort of speculate. It wouldn't be my style to
sort of carve something out, do a farewell plan. That wouldn't be my thing.
You know, I'm ranked 1 right now. If we sort of want to keep the conversation
more present.

Q. You said it was a challenge every day. You made it sound like it's
almost agony.

ANDRE AGASSI: No. Well, it's a challenge. You know, it's hard work.
I was making reference to what Pete made comment to, which is it takes a lot of
work. There are a lot of questions that you have to get answered. You have to
have reasons to find those answers. Once you lose your desire to find those
answers, "Can I get through this again? Do I want to get through this again,"
then you make your decision.
But for me, I have to answer that question a lot. "Is this still what I want
to be doing?" I ask it every day one way or another. Everything I do, I'm
always asking if this is where I want to be, if this is what I want to be
doing. That's what makes it good.


Q. What is the one quality that has both kept you going as an athlete
and given you such excellence over the years?

ANDRE AGASSI: You know, I'm very detail-oriented. I don't think
much about planning to win this tournament, planning for this year, planning.
To me, you know, it's about getting better every day. I think keeping my goals
in such the short-term have allowed me to build a lot of momentum for myself.


Q. You were asked earlier about Andy being coached by Brad. Was there
anything you playing Andy in the past or watching, when you heard they were
getting together, you said, "Brad can help him with this, it will be a good
pairing"?

ANDRE AGASSI: Good pairings, you never know. Andy is a good player,
Brad is a good coach. That always lends for great sort of productivity in any
relationship. That was my assessment. Andy's young, still learning how to get
the most out of his game. Brad will be able to help him take steps closer to
that. How far one can help somebody, there's a lot that goes on in between
the lines. That's sort of more on the personal side, how things work out, how
one likes how the other one deals with the coaching or with the playing. I
can't speak to that.
But Brad -- I certainly knew Brad would help him.

Q. Do you take it as a challenge, "Andy is playing great, this is
his US Open," where you can be sitting here saying, "I'm the No. 1 seed"?
Does that go into your motivation at all?

ANDRE AGASSI: No. It's with sports. Regardless of what the odds
are, you got to go out there and execute. You got to go out there and get the
job done, doesn't matter if you're favored or not.
I think Andy has played incredible tennis for the last number of months. I
mean, he deserves every bit of props he gets for that. He's still got to go out
there, punch in on the clock and get the job done. Regardless of how well I'm
playing, how well I'm not playing, I look at it the same way, which is I have
one job to do today, which is to find a way to beat this guy. That's why it's
sports. You can't phone in the result.




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