Agassi still trying to get Steffi on a doubles date

Rob Gloster

Thursday, Feb. 6, 2003 | 9:48 a.m.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Although Andre Agassi isn't making great progress in his attempt to convince wife Steffi Graf to join him for mixed doubles at the French Open, he remains optimistic.

Agassi said after winning the Australian Open last month that he wanted Graf to come out of retirement for the French Open in May. Her reaction so far has been less than enthusiastic.

"It's gone from her looking at me with daggers to 'I'm just going to ignore you for a while,' " Agassi said Wednesday during a news conference to promote next week's Siebel Open. "I've made progress, and somewhere along the line I'm going to get her over the hump."

Agassi said midway through the Australian Open that if he won he'd try to convince Graf to be his partner in Paris.

But apparently he never told her of his plan in advance.

The Australian Open was Agassi's eighth Grand Slam title. Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles before retiring in July 1999, weeks after collecting a sixth French Open championship.

Agassi sometimes practices with Graf, but said Wednesday he never has played on the same side of the court with her.

"I would love to play with her, are you kidding?" Agassi said. "I would just love to walk on the court with her."

Agassi and Graf have a 15-month-old son, Jaden Gil. They live part of the time in Tiburon, just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. But that house is now for sale -- listed at $24.5 million.

Agassi paid about $23 million for the six-bedroom house, when he bought it in 2000 from John E. McCaw Jr. of Seattle, the former owner of Cellular One. The house has two swimming pools, a tennis court and panoramic views of the bridge,

"I'm playing the game a lot longer than I thought. We're still traveling the world," Agassi said. "A lot of my business is in Las Vegas and it just doesn't make sense for us to have a place that doesn't get used."