REPUBLIC NATIONAL MONTE CARLO OPEN

April 22, 1998

Andre Agassi

Q. What's the big difference between this match and the one against Martin?

ANDRE AGASSI: I was a little indecisive with my shots, a little more tentative than I should have been. Then once I get a little tentative, I don't move as well. It was downhill from there.

ANDRE AGASSI: No.

ANDRE AGASSI: Well, unfortunately, I didn't make him have to play better, so it's tough to tell. It's his first match on clay. It's not his best surface. For him to pull it out, you know, is going to take some hard work and some good wins throughout the tournament. I've seen him play better than today.

ANDRE AGASSI: It was just trying to get the feel of a few points. I just should have pulled the trigger early. I was trying to work myself into the match. Felt like at the crucial times, I didn't step it up. To beat Pete, even though he's not maybe playing his best, requires you to play aggressively, you know, at the right times. But when I got up in each set, I didn't get more aggressive; I just, you know, made some errors, then didn't finish the point when I had a chance.

ANDRE AGASSI: It was the ball kid's fault. No. I like it when everybody finds their position out there. When a ball kid runs to the back and he's supposed to be at net, takes me a second to just go, "Okay, everybody's still, everybody's in place, let's play."

ANDRE AGASSI: For a split second. No, nothing I'm not used to.

ANDRE AGASSI: Well, it could be better, you know, to play really well today and win. But, you know, I've just got to, you know, learn from it, you know, get better. Ideally, you want to use these tournaments to get ready for the French Open. It's important to make sure you improve from it, not go backwards. I don't think that will be too much of a problem. I'll learn from it.

ANDRE AGASSI: Well, I mean, it was competitive, you know. When the matches get closer, the intensity gets more. Had we gone to a third set, I think the third set you would have seen some real good tennis. I felt like at some crucial points of the match, I let it slip away a little bit. That always tends to bring down the intensity.

ANDRE AGASSI: I'm playing doubles here.

ANDRE AGASSI: I'm playing doubles. I have to play doubles with Petr Korda.

ANDRE AGASSI: I don't know yet. I have a wildcard. I have to wait to see.

ANDRE AGASSI: My shots are there. I just have to bring it out. I feel like today I waited too long for the right ball, and I didn't seize it when it was there. A couple times the ball was short, and I could have stepped up and hit it, but I kind of waited, then just tried to hit an offensive ball, not a big shot. You know, my game is to play decisively. I didn't quite do that. Part of was keeping it in play because he was a little bit not playing as well as he normally does. Then when I did decide to pull the trigger, it was a split second too late. If I commit to more aggressive, I find that I play even more consistently.

ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah. I mean, it's not a setback. I certainly have to make the adjustment for how I felt things went out there. You know, you can't expect to win every match, especially against guys who know how to win big matches. If every loss was a setback, then you're going to have a dozen setbacks a year if you play a good year. That's not reasonable. I've just got to learn from it. Shouldn't be a problem.

ANDRE AGASSI: Exactly. Regardless if Pete plays well or not, he knows how to play well at the right points. He certainly did today.