Columnist Dean Juipe: Agassi rides cresting wave in Australia

Dean Juipe

Friday, Jan. 24, 2003 | 10:06 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

He is neither a big man nor a young one, yet Andre Agassi can go on streaks where he simply wears down one opponent after another.

And he's on another of those streaks right now, which has led him into Saturday night's Australian Open final.

Agassi, 32, is a remarkable character in more ways than one. He's bright, athletic, rich, charitable and famous, with a dash of bravado and hint of defiance.

Consider this as well: Many, many men look at Agassi and think, "This guy has had more thrills, more fun, than anyone alive."

Trade places with him? It's almost a case of "who wouldn't?"

Not that he needs to be treated reverently, because Agassi has certainly had his personal and professional mishaps. But simply in terms of living life to its fullest and coming across as appreciative about it, he's obviously someone to be admired.

I've written off Agassi as a tennis player before, and I'm here to tell you I regret it. He's not done, not when he can reach a Grand Slam final and lose only one set, as has been the case in Australia as he dismissed Brian Vahaly, Lee Hyung-taik, Nicolas Escude, Guillermo Coria, Sebastien Grosjean and, in Thursday's semifinal, Wayne Ferreira, without so much as a close call.

In each case, Agassi polished off his opponent not by blasting lightning-rod serves past them or relying on anything resembling brute force. What he does, as well as anyone from this generation or his era, is keep the ball in play and work it from side to side until conditioning becomes the central and determining factor.

And for all of the activities in his life and their possible distractions, no one is in better shape than Agassi. He prides himself -- and says as much -- in being able to force his opponent into a physical submission.

He compensates for not being 6-foot-4 and having the built-in leverage that height provides by skillfully maneuvering the ball to his opponent's most vulnerable area. Back and forth, in and out, if you're playing Agassi he's working your tail off.

It has to drive younger men crazy.

That Agassi is performing at this level at this point in time is doubly amazing given the slippage that was once evident in his game. But with a solid physical trainer in Gil Reyes and an introspective trainer and consultant in Brad Gilbert and the additional input of a relatively new coach, Darren Cahill, Agassi revived his career via grit and determination.

If he was one to gloat, he'd have plenty to gloat about.

But, instead, he seems legitimately humbled by the experience. He's polite, he takes his bows and expresses his thanks at all the appropriate times.

Of course it doesn't hurt that he has always been immensely popular with the general public, that he has found a mutual attraction with two equally famous women who became his wives, and that his Las Vegas roots play right into his image-is-everything persona.

He's held in such high esteem that millions of men now follow his lead and shave their heads every day and think it's chic. That, tennis fans, qualifies as the very definition of influential.

As he goes for Grand Slam title No. 8, Agassi may be in a position where he can do no wrong. Win or lose, he's fashionably tough.