Agassi Quaterfinal賽後訪問 - 網球

THE MODERATOR: First question, please.

Q. Congratulations.

ANDRE AGASSI: Thanks.


Q. In the context of having to turn around and be back out there
tomorrow, is it particularly enjoyable to have gotten through this in
three straight?

ANDRE AGASSI: Well, yeah. At this stage of the ball game, it's gonna be
pretty difficult on all the players. Certainly the easier you can make it
on yourself, the better off you are.

Back-to-back three days in a row, a three-setter comes in handy.


Q. Does this add to the pressure for you: you're basically the marquee
name left in the tournament. If you don't stay in it, TV ratings
plummet. Does that factor into your thinking?

ANDRE AGASSI: Does it factor into me reacting to a little yellow ball
that's coming at 140 miles an hour? No.

My concentration is on what I have to do every day inside those lines.
That's all I can do at the end of the day anyhow.


Q. At one point you held serve 12 consecutive times and faced only one
breakpoint during that span. How critical is it for you to have a good
serving day to accomplish your game plan throughout the rest of the
tournament?
(記者問Andre對發球局的感想 他的回答還頗耐人尋味的)

ANDRE AGASSI: Well, to me, serving well and holding serve sometimes are
two entirely different things. I mean, it does help a lot to hold serve,
serving well.

But, you know, for me, today he wasn't hurting my second too much. It
allows me the opportunity to go for a few more firsts. I don't mind to
see my percentage drop a little bit on the first serve in a case like
today.

But ultimately, I want to be executing my shots and I want to be in
control of the points on my service game. I felt like for the most part
I was. So I'm not quite sure that had to do with how well I was serving.
It just was more a product of me doing a few things well.


Q. Was there any part of you that felt sorry for everyone who was out
here the last few days waiting out the rain delays?

ANDRE AGASSI: We were all feeling sorry for each other, you know. I mean,
wasn't easy on anybody - the players, the fans, TV. I mean, it's been a
difficult week.


Q. Could you assess your position right now with not having to play
yesterday.

ANDRE AGASSI: Well, it feels like I hadn't played in a week, to be quite
honest, coming out here. The days get so long when you're just waiting
for the weather.

I didn't think I started off so great, but managed to get my teeth into
the match. Then I started playing a lot better. So I feel pretty good.


Q. Is it encouraging when your opponent seems to be bleeding to death and
calls for a time-out so early in the match and you know he has a bad
hamstring? Does that affect any of your thinking?
(哪有"bleeding to death"那麼誇張 @@@@)

ANDRE AGASSI: You know, again, it's about what somebody's bringing to
the table. What makes it difficult to play somebody who's potentially
quote, unquote "injured" is that you're always sort of walking that line
between being aggressive and playing your game, but not taking any
unnecessary risk, because maybe something less gets the job done.

In tennis, that's the best way to play, is to play just a little bit
better than your opponent.

So in most cases, when somebody's a little bit injured or what have you,
it does sort of present an adjustment. But in this case, I had to deal
with what he was still bringing to the table. He looked like he was
moving great. He looked like he was hitting the ball pretty strong off
both sides. I would have cut my finger if it would have made me hit my
shots like that (laughter).


Q. At the start he had a couple successful dropshots. You started reading
it. Did you feel when you took that weapon away from him maybe you'd
blown the wind out of his sails a little bit?

ANDRE AGASSI: I think the first few he hit from an offensive position.
He was inside the court. He was sort of cocked back to take a swing at
it, then he plays that short, which it's a tough shot. It's a shot that
a lot of clay courters sort of develop as a weapon.

But I think as the match went on, I was controlling a bit more the points.
He started playing that more from a -- of a desperate situation on the
court. It gave me more time to do something. Plus, I was starting to move
forward on most of the ground strokes.


Q. It was just announced that a member of the Agassi household has been
nominated, possibly being elected into the International Hall of Fame.
Within the Agassi household, is that a hard thing to live up to? How
do you deal with that?

ANDRE AGASSI: I don't try to live up to Steffi's accomplishments.


Q. It does make you feel good. Will you be there next July?

ANDRE AGASSI: Oh, yeah. I mean, it's an incredible honor. You know, we've
given our life to this sport. I certainly can't speak for her. I can
speak to what I think about it. It's an amazing honor to go down in the
history books and to be remembered for something that you gave your
entire heart to.


Q. Have you ever been at any other tournament that was as or more
frustrating than this? I know you've obviously been to a lot of
Wimbledons.

ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah, you don't expect it here. So it makes it more
frustrating. You know, in London, you have the luxury of when it stops
raining, boom, you're back on the court. Here, you know, it stops
raining, the court's wet. You got to dry it, takes 30 minutes, 40 minutes
to turn a match. Get out there, just starts spitting the slightest bit
again and the court's wet for another 45 minutes. That's really
frustrating.

Certainly nothing jumps to mind that's been as frustrating as the last
few days. But you see a lot out here over the years.


Q. Mentally and physically, are you up to two more days? Whoever you play
tomorrow, even if it's three sets, it's gonna be a long, tough battle.
After that, it's probably going to be a tough final should you get
through that.

ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah, welcome to my world (laughter).

You know, it's been this way from the beginning and there's nothing
different about winning here. It's not easy. There's four guys that can
win this thing, and I'm very excited to be one of them. Go out there
tomorrow, work really hard, get through the match somehow and then deal
with the next obstacle.


Q. What would you recall was your hardest road to a title?

ANDRE AGASSI: To a Grand Slam title?


Q. A major title, yeah. Paris, '99?

ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah, I mean, I got to say that every one has its own
points of the tournament that get dodgy for you. You know, I mean not
being seeded here in '94 left a lot of variables - playing Chang in the
Round of 16, playing Muster in the quarters. There's places in these
tournaments that get really...

Overall, I'd probably say Paris in '99.


Q. Four matchpoints, you didn't convert. Do you have an adjustment to
make before the final?

ANDRE AGASSI: You know, if I get to matchpoint and have to worry about
trying to find a way to win that matchpoint, I'm in a great position.
I would have loved to have won it on the first point. But getting nervous
on your matchpoints and not playing it the way you want is a great
problem to have.


Q. What's the key in a situation like we have now, going from one big
match one day to another big match the next day? You've spoken about
getting good food. But what's the real key in making that turnaround
and being ready to roll tomorrow?

ANDRE AGASSI: It's really just an exaggerated form of what you're used to.
It's just one point at a time. Don't get ahead of yourself, don't worry
about anything that's out of your control. Get out there and know that
one guy has to lose and one guy has to win. Just do your best to make it
as miserable as possible for your opponent.

Maybe at the end, you look up at the score board and you see that you got
through it.


Q. Do you talk to Steffi about this at all, ask her for advice?

ANDRE AGASSI: No, we don't speak in the house (laughter). It's just, I
don't know... I don't think it's healthy (laughter).


Q. I don't talk about work with my wife. But if I had to win a major
tournament and she had that experience, I might ask her advice on this
kind of stuff.

ANDRE AGASSI: I'd love to ask her to play for me, but... (Smiling).

We'll find a few things to chat about tonight. I'm sure something will
have to do with tennis.


Q. Playing another Grand Slam champion like you're going to do tomorrow,
whether it's Ferrero or Hewitt, talk about mentally how much different
that is as a battle as opposed to playing someone like Coria who's
obviously very talented but hasn't got through in a major?

ANDRE AGASSI: Well, it's potentially different. I've beaten a lot of Slam
champions handily and I've lost to many of them, and vice versa with the
players that haven't won. It's about what you bring to the table that day.
It's fair to say somebody that's been there is going to know how to
prepare themselves the best, know how to give themselves the best look
at the basket, which is sort of by nature going to make them tougher.
But you still have to execute. You still have to get it done.

Again, I won't worry about the stuff I can't control. How tough my
opponent is is something that is, you know, I'll have to deal with it as
I go along.


Q. You mentioned nerves. As you get older, do you get more nervous, less
nervous? When you said "kick in on matchpoint," or is it little points
during the match?

ANDRE AGASSI: It's hard to say. I think a lot of things get more
difficult as you get older. Opportunities get rarer. You're more aware
of situations out there.

So I think that can affect you in a nervous way on some days. In other
ways, it can make you play some of your best tennis at the most important
times. So I can't say that overall I get more nervous. It happens just
as often. I'm more -- I have more of an ability to deal with it now than
I have had, though.


Q. The fact that he beat you at the French, does that enter your mind
when you're playing somebody the same season? How is he different,
playing him on hard and clay?

ANDRE AGASSI: Well, it enters your mind so far as you're just trying to
sort of assess what he did well the day he beat you and what the factors
and elements were.

You know, there's no question clay is his best surface. He's really,
really good on clay. One of the best.

I think he is one of the fastest guys on the tour, but on clay he's the
fastest. He defends his forehand much better on clay because he has a
little bit more time. That backhand he hits sort of gets up, on hard
court I can step forward on it. On clay, the thing's jumping up and my
ball is going to have less penetration.

So if I step into the court, I commit myself with my position, I hit the
ball big, it gives me less time to recover and he just sort of exploits
the movement.

You know, it's a different animal on clay. That's why it's so hard to win
on that surface for guys that don't grow up on it.


Q. The kind of psychological distance that might have existed between
you and him before he beat you at the French, he admired you and so
forth, does that spell get broken with a win or do you still feel like
there might be something there you could exploit?

ANDRE AGASSI: I've seen -- I've played many people that have grown up
watching me and that sort of look at it as a symbol of their achievement
just to be out there. I've seen that bring out the worst in some players,
and I've seen that bring out the best in some players. So I feel like
I've been bitten by that just as much as I've been rewarded by it.

You know, when guys go out there with a healthy respect, it's a good
thing because it brings out the best in their tennis. That's how it
always should be. You should always have respect for what your opponent
can do.

I don't think it's about the win or not the win. It's about getting out
there and stepping up to the occasion.

I think he's proven that he has a good ability to do that. I don't think
it was nerves that played a part of any of my wins against him. I played
well against him. He certainly earned his win in Paris.

So here we are again.


Q. Is there anybody you feel that way about? Is there anybody currently
playing that you feel that way about?

ANDRE AGASSI: In what way?


Q. With that sense of a healthy respect.

ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah, I respect everybody's game. I can't tell you how
sometimes I wish I could find the words to express how dangerous I feel
every match is. That's just the way I think. It's the way I choose to go
about preparing.


Q. Which player do you feel used his admiration of you when he was a
youngster to the greatest effect, and which player seemed to have a
problem with that?

ANDRE AGASSI: It's not necessarily youngsters. It's the first time you
play somebody, you know. I mean, it's happened a number of times. You
just look at the tournament histories. Go through my losses of the guys
I played for the first time and you'll find them.

(This is a partial transcript)

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