Four-time winner Andre Agassi fought through the pain barrier at the Australian Open on Monday for a comfortable straight-sets win over German qualifier Dieter Kindlmann in the first round.
The American tennis great, using anti-inflammatories for a sore hip, erased doubts over his fitness during a 6-4, 6-3, 6-0 win over the 173rd-ranked Kindlmann in one hour and 38 minutes.
Agassi alarmed his army of fans last week when he retired from a match with compatriot Andy Roddick, but treatment and a better-than-expected diagnosis had the eighth seed lining up for his ninth Australian Open campaign.
”Yeah, it held up all right,” Agassi said of his hip injury. ”You know, today I woke up feeling the best yet since it’s happened, and with the assurance that I’m not going to pull anything bad, I had the green light to push through anything I might be feeling.
”And that’s what I did, I just pushed through a bit of stiffness, and then I felt like it loosened up nicely and I was okay.
”Today it felt even better, so it was a bit more on my terms, the way my body was feeling. I like that. So I think it should be fine.”
Agassi, the oldest man in the draw at 34, showed no noticeable problems as he went to work on his inexperienced opponent, playing in his first grand-slam tournament.
”He’s a baseliner. He didn’t have a lot of weapons, but he made you work. And I felt like, as the match went on, I was getting more and more comfortable and better. That’s what I like to see when I’m out there.”
Agassi said he will be taking a course of anti-inflammatories to get him through the year’s first grand slam and an anticipated quarterfinal showdown with top seed and red-hot favourite Roger Federer.
”There’s a high expectation for me to negotiate this stage of it and get better,” he said. ”I mean, today was great to be on the court for three sets. But with anti-inflammatories and a little treatment, I think I can for sure get myself to a 100% fitness.”
The only blip in Agassi’s performance were five double-faults and four in the game as he was serving for the second set.
”I lost a little concentration there and forced a few serves. That’s not good,” he said. ”But I rebounded well and came back with a break and found my rhythm again.”
Agassi, who has never lost in the first round of the Australian Open at nine attempts, first won the Australian title in 1995, triumphed again in 2000/01 and earned his fourth crown in 2003.
He stands joint-sixth with eight grand slam titles on the all-time grand-slam list and is contesting his 57th career grand-slam event.
Once Agassi broke Kindlmann’s service to take a two-sets to love lead, he motored through the final set without losing a game to set up a second-round meeting with German Rainer Schuettler, whom he beat in the 2003 Australian final, 6-2, 6-2, 6-1. — Sapa-AFP