The Associated Press

Melbourne, Australia – Imagine an Andre Agassi who serves better, moves faster, stays fresh longer and belts even his ordinary rally shots harder.

Monday, January 31, 2000

Melbourne, Australia – Imagine an Andre Agassi who serves better, moves faster, stays fresh longer and belts even his ordinary rally shots harder. After winning three of his last four Grand Slam tournaments, Agassi said that’s what he wants to become.

Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who lost 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to the No. 1 player in Sunday’s Australian Open final, knows what Agassi’s sensational run during the last eight months means for other players.

”They have to practice hard, a lot harder than they did before, to compete with him,” said Kafelnikov, who won the tournament last year.

After losing to Vincent Spadea in the fourth round at last year’s Australian Open, Agassi won the French Open, lost to Pete Sampras in the Wimbledon final, won the U.S. Open and captured the Australian.

”Pete has a way of interfering with my career,” Agassi said.

At the Australian, however, Agassi dealt with him in the semifinals, coming back from two sets to one down to win in five sets.

Kafelnikov, who didn’t want the final to be an anticlimax, came out hitting sparkling winners and controlling the match while taking a 4-0 lead.

Agassi then began to turn the match around – too late to win the first set, but too relentless for Kafelnikov to keep up.

”My legs started to feel a little bit heavy toward the end of the third set. I felt like I did more running,” Kafelnikov said. ”Andre also realized that I was getting a little bit tired, and he raised his game to different levels.”

Among other things, Agassi came up with a flashy series of drop shots that Kafelnikov couldn’t reach. He also hit winners that skipped off the lines with Kafelnikov only a step away.

In the final game, he served up an ace of 122 mph, a service winner of 118 mph, an ace of 123 mph and – after a forehand miss – one final ace to end the 2-hour, 19-minute match.

Slightly more than two years ago, Agassi was 141st in the rankings, starting the hard work that brought him back. Even last Christmas Eve, he was running, pumping iron and pushing himself to new limits.

”(It) allows me the luxury of taking a 3-out-of-5 set match and turning it into a sprint, really making every point important, putting so much pressure on my opponent that they have a long way to go,” he said.

But, he said, he would like to be even more physically fit.

”I always feel like I can serve better,” Agassi said. ”I always feel like I can move a little bit better. I always feel like I can hit more aggressive rally shots.”

Not since Rod Laver in 1969 has any man reached four consecutive Grand Slam finals. Laver also was the last man to win all four in a single year.

Agassi said that for him to match that feat would mean ”the same thing as winning the lottery” would mean to anybody else, although he has won each of the majors at least once, completing the career Grand Slam by winning the 1999 French.