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GREAT AMERICAN INSURANCE ATP CHAMPIONSHIP


August 12, 1998


Andre Agassi


CINCINNATI, OHIO

ANDRE AGASSI: Missed a backhand and it goes wide, and I just made a few errors serve back tried to get my serve back but, you know, he just stayed solid there on in and I made some errors.

Q. Did he surprise you in general tonight, the way he played?

ANDRE AGASSI: No, not really. You know, I played him three times before and I know how well he hits the ball and I think he came out. He didn't miss much early. He played real well to start. But then I managed to get my game together, felt like I was breaking him down. The first game of the third was a crucial game. I had a break point. Went back up the line a little bit early. But nevertheless, the game, it really boiled down to me serving and just didn't deliver. The tiebreaker, anything can happen and I really played not a good breaker.

Q. (Inaudible).

ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah, I would say it's not too often you can lose control of a match so quickly so decisively and regain it so decisively only to find yourself in a battle. But 6-0 is never a comfortable set. I never like winning 6-0. It doesn't make any sense. And he stepped it up. The first game of the third was crucial for him. He looked like he was getting a little frustrated but then he managed to re-group after he held through.

Q. Could this be a blessing in disguise?

ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah, I'm certainly going to take all the good from it that I can, as far as the next few days. But it never feels good to lose especially when it felt like I should have won. But it could be. Yeah, it could be. I'm not disappointed in my game. I felt like a played pretty well, just didn't put the match away.

Q. Do you think he's come a little further than the last time you saw him or the last time you played him?

ANDRE AGASSI: He's playing better. He's hitting his shots, I think, very decisively. I think the best part of his game is when it is in his pocket, he hits it very effectively and he -- he's striking the ball real clean and he's really taking offense with it, which is what he needs to do because he doesn't move great. But then he played like I expected him to. It's no surprise to me. A lot of people underestimate him but I think the players know he plays well.

Q. Could you tell us how far your game has come going into Indianapolis this year compared to going into Indy last year?

ANDRE AGASSI: No, you can't compare. It's worlds apart.

Q. (Inaudible).

ANDRE AGASSI: I didn't feel like I served all that great this week. You know, my game is really built around the first-serve, first-shot and I felt like I wasn't serving as well as I could and getting offense in the point. Lost my serve too many times this week.

ATP TOUR REP: Anything else for Andre?

Q. Do you think when you made that comment about journeyman, do you feel that was misinterpreted; do you feel that is not the word that you wanted?

ANDRE AGASSI: What do you think an journeyman is?

Q. In tennis, or any sport?

ANDRE AGASSI: In tennis, specifically.

Q. Probably somebody who's been on the Tour a long time and maybe hasn't -- I don't know -- hasn't done what they thought -- what everybody thought they would do.

ANDRE AGASSI: So Vince's been on the Tour for six years and never broke the Top 50. I'm not giving my opinion when I call him a journeyman. Jones Bjorkman was a journeyman before he broke through. Greg Rusedski was a journeyman. They played five, six years on the Tour and they weren't doing -- weren't having great results. And then all of a sudden it's possible to change. But "journeyman" is not an insult. I don't know why everybody's so offended at the word "journeyman". There's a lot of the guys that would like to be considered journeyman. There's 50 people in the world better than you. That's still pretty good. But you can't say that being a journeyman is an opinion. It's a matter of fact. There's no opinion about it. It's not meant to speak for his potential. It's meant to speak for his results.

ATP TOUR REP: Thank you.

End of FastScripts....

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