Now Andre Agassi gets to pick on someone his own age when he faces South Africa’s Wayne Ferreira in the Australian Open semi-finals on Thursday.
Playing a string of 20-somethings, none older than 27, Agassi has dropped just one set. Using the slick strokes and relentlessness that have carried him to seven Grand Slam tournament titles, the 32-year-old Agassi easily dismissed yet another younger opponent to reach the Australian Open semi-finals.
The matter-of-fact 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Sebastien Grosjean kept Agassi unbeaten at Melbourne Park since 1999, a 19-match streak. He won the title here in 1995, 2000 and 2001, then skipped last year’s tournament with an injury.
The 31-year-old Ferreira, the only unseeded quarter-finalist, upset French Open runner-up Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5), 6-1.
Ferreira called it ”one of my greatest wins.”
The South African is playing in his 49th consecutive Grand Slam event, but the match against Agassi will be his first semi-final at a major since the 1992 Australian Open.
Agassi has dominated Ferreira over their long careers, winning all 10 of their matches — nine in straight sets.
Just as ominously, Agassi is feeling more and more comfortable in his seventh Australian Open and the 50th Grand Slam tournament of his career.
Every Grand Slam, he said, has a ”different sort of rhythm to it.”
”Getting through it is the first priority, but getting through it with fuel in your tank would be the second,” Agassi said.
”That’s where I feel like it’s been a good tournament for me up to now … when I have got out there, I haven’t spent any useless energy, unnecessary energy.”
Apart from two fourth-round finishes, Agassi has never failed to get to at least the semi-finals here, and has won three times.
His injury-forced absence last year meant he was ”nervous and excited” to be back this time.
”It does feel good to be out here competing again,” said Agassi. ”But then it also sort of reminds me that it was such a lost opportunity last year. So it is bitter-sweet.”
The American finished the year as Number two behind Australian Lleyton Hewitt in the rankings, finishing runner-up to Pete Sampras at the US Open, making the French Open quarterfinals and winning five tournaments.
Ferreira arrived in Melbourne this year feeling younger of spirit and ”having fun” on the court. Having come to terms with some off-court problems, he said parenthood had helped him change his attitude to the game.
Before ”it was more of a life and death situation and there was nothing worse than losing a tennis match,” Ferreira, who admitted he had come close to quitting the game a couple of years ago, said after beating fourth-seeded Ferrero.
”Now, there’s a lot of things worse than losing a tennis match. It’s not as important, and it’s more just a fun and enjoyment factor now,” he added.
Agassi, however, will not give him much time for fun. One positive is that he has improved his backhand, an area in which Agassi has ”absolutely dominated” him in the past.
”I’m taking it a lot earlier, I’m more aggressive on it, I’m missing a lot less,” the South African veteran said.
”If I can hit my backhand like I did today, move like I did, be able to stay in the point on the backhand side, things might be a lot different.”
The 12th seeded Grosjean, an Australian Open semifinalist in 2001, couldn’t match Agassi’s consistency, timing or intensity on Tuesday.
”He never dropped his level,” Grosjean said. ”I lost against a great Agassi today.”
And Agassi might have some extra incentive for winning another Grand Slam title.
He told the Australian Open’s official Web site that wife Steffi Graf — who won 22 major championships before retiring — agreed to play mixed doubles with him at the French Open if he wins another title at Melbourne Park. – Sapa-AP