AA第三輪賽後訪問part II - 網球

Q. Todd Martin was talking about as he got older, he got more cognizant,
almost more nervous, of last chances, being No. 1. Is that something
that even comes into your mind?

ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah, I think it gets harder as you get older for a number
of reasons. I think between your body and your mind, your heart, the
energy, the focus, the determination, the eagerness, the freshness, all
those things get tougher. Then you have the asset and sometimes the
liability of pretty keen awareness as to what's going on out there.

A lot of times it helps you. And there are some times where it's a
liability.


Q. Do you have those "this could be my last" thoughts? Or because you're
No. 1 in the world...

ANDRE AGASSI: No. I've thought that for going on three years now, every
time on the court, "This could be the last." I'm very well aware of it.
I don't know how it's going to end. I just know that it's not now. You
know, I can't speak to where I'll be a year from now.

I'm out there every day with an appreciation for how rare this
opportunity is.


Q. Among other things, you're known for your memorable ads. The American
Express ad on air now is fabulous. Where does that rank in terms of
all the ads?

ANDRE AGASSI: You know, I mean, great creative work by American Express.
You know, I had to sort of okay it. I'm glad it sort of turned out to be
as entertaining as it seemed like it was on paper.

Yeah, I think the one I enjoyed filming the most was probably street
tennis with Pete. That was just a lot of fun. I think that's certainly
my favorite.

But this is up there. I mean, this is cute.


Q. Did the crowd get going in San Francisco when you filmed that?

ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah, they were pretty good.


Q. It was a California Street, Knob Hill?

ANDRE AGASSI: I don't remember the exact location, but it was in San
Francisco, yeah.


Q. You had a great first four months of the year. The last four months
haven't quite been up to your standards. Any explanation for that?
Do you feel like the next four months, particularly here, you --

ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah, the explanation is clay and grass. I mean, it's
surfaces that are a lot more difficult, at least for my style of play,
that I have to make adjustments to. You know, they're both only going
to get harder as sort of it goes on.

But the summer, you know, it's been a busy time. You have to balance
your life. Things fall into place. You have to know what you're shooting
for. This summer it's been important to me to be here in New York, ready
to go. I played enough matches this summer to feel good about that. Now
it's about sort of turning the corner and playing the best tennis at the
right time.

If I can find a way to get the job done this next week, this is an
all-time great year.


Q. Do you think what happened last night, there's such late night
sessions here, does that hurt the competitive integrity of this
tournament, especially compared to other Slams?

ANDRE AGASSI: I think the standard of tennis is compromised by TV having
such a say so in scheduling. With that being said, it's an additional
part of what makes this tournament so difficult to win. I've been a part
of three losing finals here at The Open. I felt in each case I paid a
good price for the match that was played the day before.

The two times that I won here, the matches in the semis tended to be a
little more uneventful. There's a big factor to what happens on Saturday
to your Sunday match. That's what makes it tough; that's what makes it
rewarding.

But it definitely compromises the standard of tennis that you could see.


Q. How do you feel physically right now? The retirement of Sampras, how
did you feel when you found out about that?

ANDRE AGASSI: I feel great now. Nothing to speak of that's of concern.

You know, I mean, the longer it took for Pete to make his decision, the
more obvious it was becoming that his decision was going to be to retire.
You don't have to play this game very long to realize how difficult it
is to be away a month or two, let alone six months, nine months, you
know, a year. It was getting more of a remote possibility for him to
continue playing.

You know, mixed emotions about it.


Q. Did it bother you? I know when Borg retired, Connors said that was a
devastating blow to the round-robin type of thing that was going on.
Is that the same type of thing you may have had with Pete?

ANDRE AGASSI: Well, I think there's sort of a piece of history that is
over now, so that can never be replaced. I mean, I think new situations,
new rivalries will possibly grow, things will happen. But it will never
be the same as what it was because things are different now.

You sort of accept life moving on. I don't know if it's devastating.
I think that in many ways I look back with the feeling of, you know,
that I got to experience something pretty special. Along the way,
hopefully, so did a lot of other people.


阿格西也被問到有關Roddick跟Ljubicic的事
Andre回答的相當有智慧喔...
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Q. The other night Ljubicic complained afterwards about Andy's on-court
behavior. He said that he thought Roddick was too demonstrative on
the court, affects the umpires, if he had played anywhere else but the
United States, he would have won. Went on and on for a couple days.
Can you talk about Andy, the idea that a player would say that he's
very unpopular among players because of the way he acts on the court.
Did you ever experience that, did people talk about you?

ANDRE AGASSI: Listen, I'm sure there's been a lot of people throughout
my life who have thought less than fondly about me. But, you know, I
can't really speak to what 126 other guys feel about Andy or anybody
else. Based on what was said, I can only say that we know how Ljubicic
feels about him.


Q. Andy called him that night at 1:30 in the morning because he was so
troubled by it. Called him in his hotel room to talk it through. Have
you ever had a situation like that? Would you ever call an opponent
after a match to talk about something like that? Do you think that's
unusual?

ANDRE AGASSI: You know, I mean, in an ideal world, you always hope that
somebody addresses issues face to face. So I would hope to respond to any
issue that I'm going through, to respond to it straight up and
straightforward, to at least live up to the standard I try to set for
myself.
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Q. Presumably, traveling with two kids is going to be more complicated
than one. How much is the family being able to travel as a unit going
to affect your decision in terms of your schedule?

ANDRE AGASSI: I don't know (smiling). Can you tell me? Does anybody know?
I don't know, I don't know.


Q. Your ability to travel, do you think that would factor at all? Would
you be willing to leave them at home if it's too much?

ANDRE AGASSI: I don't know where sort of that line will get drawn, where
I say, "This is too hard on the family," or, "This is too hard on the
kids, us." You know, I know we can all speculate as to how things are
going to play out. I certainly could sit here and guess all day long.

But that doesn't really get us anywhere. I think I'll have to see how it
unfolds, but hope that we can organize it a little bit longer because I'm
still out there doing this, and trying to do it well.


Q. MaryCarillo said today that you know something about hitting a tennis
ball that the rest of us just don't know about. In that context, what
do you think the keys are to your incredible groundies? Was it your
early practice and training?

ANDRE AGASSI: I think it's really twofold. You have to have the
fundamentals that allow you to swing at a ball effectively in a number
of different ranges. You need the fundamentals that allow you to do it.
If the ball is low, since we're talking about Connors so much today, you
take Connors, he had a certain grip, he would struggle with the ball
being too high. You take other guys, like Borg's forehand, would struggle
with the ball getting too low. I think there's certain fundamentals that
need to exist in order for someone to have a wide range of strike zone.
I think you need to nurture that by forcing yourself to execute in every
situation.

I think it's twofold: you got to be able to pick the ball up, you got to
be able to see it early, and you got to have the fundamentals that allow
you to swing. You can't get in your own way.

For me, I feel pretty comfortable with the ball at my shoulder, my head
level. I feel pretty comfortable, you know, if it's around my sock line.
I'm going to take a good cut at it.


Q. Do you feel equally comfortable on both wings?

ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah. The toughest shot in tennis is a backhand above your
shoulder. There's no question that certain ones are a bit more difficult.
With that being said, I still expect to hit it well.

(This is a partial transcript)

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