Age mellows Agassi - 網球

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Age mellows Agassi

In his dotage, Andre Agassi seems to have gone soft.

In years gone by, Agassi has walked out of press conferences where people
have asked him about his private life, or, on one famous occasion, about
whether he liked strawberries and cream.

But now at the age of 33, he is happy to make the right noises, paying
tribute to the tournament, the fans, his opponent, the lot.

"I wish I had played here more over the years. It is a great tournament
and the club is beautiful. It is a great opportunity to play some of the
best players in the world," he said.

"For me to feel as good about my game this early really allows me to
relax.

"Had I have just come over a week before Wimbledon it would have taken
me all that time to feel comfortable on the grass."


Malisse plays the ace card

Who says there's such a thing as pressure?
Towards the end of his match against Agassi, Malisse should have been
feeling the heat.

But what did he do when locked a 4-4 in the second set? Hammer down four
straight aces and hold to love.

Agassi said: "There are many different ways to hold serve and hitting
four aces is one of them. Greg Rusedski did it to me the last time I
played him. I didn't enjoy it."

But Agassi, who looks in such good form he must be one of the favourites
for Wimbledon, had the last laugh.

Malisse only hit one ace in his next game and was broken by Agassi, who
then held serve himself to win the match.

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Second best

Students of statistics might be interested to learn that in each of Friday's
quarter-finals, the player named second in the draw won the match.

If that oddity is repeated in the semis, Agassi will beat Andy Roddick and
Henman will win his match against Sebastien Grosjean.

And the final has Agassi beating Henman. Which isn't exactly unlikely now,
is it?

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A fit of the giggles

Brace yourselves. Wimbledon is fast approaching and with it the unbridled
hilarity of pigeons landing on the court, ballboys tripping over and the
ball getting stuck in the net.

At Queen's on Friday, Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean top-edged a return of
serve.

The ball flew up in the air behind him and came down to land on the head
of a cameraman. Cue a few guffaws.

Give that same crowd a couple of weeks, transplant them five miles south
to the All England Club and the same incident wins the award for biggest
laugh of the year.




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