Notebook

Agassi, McEnroe go toe-to-toe

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- It took Andre Agassi to steal John McEnroe's thunder on center court at the Australian Open.

McEnroe has had them laughing in the aisles with his irreverent interviews with leading players at Melbourne Park.

Kim Clijsters said her boyfriend Lleyton Hewitt, the world No. 1 got a little "star-struck" in his interviews with McEnroe.

But Agassi seemed prepared for the ordeal and ended up on top as they traded jokes like groundstrokes.

McEnroe asked Agassi if he still hit up with his wife, Steffi Graf, the former women's No. 1.

"You think I'm an inspiration at 32, you should see her at 33," said Agassi. "She always wins ... the problem is, I can't keep my eye on the ball."

On Monday, speaking at a function, McEnroe gave an insight into the pressure that Andre and Steffi's son Jaden Gil Agassi, would attract if he ever picks up a racket.

"There can't possibly be any baby in the history of any sport who could have better genetics for a sport than that baby," said McEnroe.

"You combine Agassi and Graf and you've got about 50 grand slams. I'd say there's a little pressure on Jaden Gil."

McEnroe asked Agassi when Jaden would start playing.

"With those genes he's not allowed to not play," McEnroe joked.

Agassi said his son would play "as soon as he wants".

"It's hard to ignore, mom and dad are out there hitting the ball, he wants to hit the ball," Agassi said.

"(But) It's a big gene pool out there and you haven't met the rest of my family."

SILLY ILIE: Ilie Nastase was once the bad boy of tennis. At times Tuesday he was just plain bad.

The Romanian, who reached No. 1 in August 1973 and won the 1972 U.S. Open and 1973 French Open, provided plenty of entertainment in a legends doubles match.

Teaming up with Australia's Davis Cup captain Wally Masur, the 56-year-old Nastase huffed and puffed around the court and played perhaps the worst shot here all week -- a flubbed serve which bounced halfway to the net.

He did show some touches of talent but after one rally walked over and sat down next to a line judge, sending a ball boy out to play for him.

Nastase and Masur weren't humiliated, losing to Australians John Fitzgerald and Brad Drewitt in three sets.

"I cannot produce the shots I produced when I was young but I enjoy it as a man of 56, so that's OK," said Nastase.

FRIENDLY FIRE: The "little people" were glad to see the back of Jennifer Capriati last week.

Capriati won the past two Australian Open singles titles but bombed out in first round of another defense, blaming a lack of preparation time since recent eye surgery.

Good riddance, according to ball boy and ball girls working at the tournament.

"She's impatient and she doesn't say thankyou," a ball boy told Tuesday's Herald Sun newspaper. "She tells us to hurry up with the towels."

Another ball boy said it was usually unknown players who were rude to them.

"Some of them a pretty awful," he said. "And the no-namers are usually worse."

Of the men, Americans Andre Agassi and James Blake and local player Lleyton Hewitt scored high marks for manners. The most polite women, reportedly, are Kim Clijsters and Venus and Serena Williams.

"Hewitt's really nice and he shook hands with me," a ball boy said. "And Agassi, everyone knows he's nice."

John McEnroe used to be a ball boy, which is why, he said, he never beat up on them no matter how much he ranted and raved at umpires.

"I yelled at a lot of people in my day," he acknowledged. "But never ball boys."

C'MON SIS: Serena Williams poses the biggest threat to her sister's bid to win the Australian Open for the first time. But Venus just can't cheer against her.

Venus reached the semifinals when she beat Daniela Hantuchova on Tuesday. Serena meets Meghann Shaughnessy in her quarterfinal Wednesday.

Asked who, if she made the final, would Venus rather play, she replied "Serena ... I'm sorry I'm playing favorites."

Then asked if it would be better "psychologically" to play someone other than Serena in a final, Venus said she did not look at tournaments like that.

"More than anything I'm just trying to survive myself," she said. "Honestly, if I don't make it there what's the point?"

SMOKE SCREEN: Players coped well with heavy wildfire smoke which hung around the tennis this week. James Blake seemed oblivious to it in his fourth-round defeat by Germany's Rainer Schuettler.

"I didn't notice it. Maybe he was a litte more used to it coming from Germany," said Blake. "When I was over there I noticed a few too many people smoking everywhere I went."

 

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