By Alastair Himmer
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Andre Agassi said the world number one ranking was not on wish-list this year after his emphatic 7-5 6-3 victory over fellow American Brian Vahaly in the first round of the Australian Open Monday.
The 32-year-old, bidding to become the first overseas male player to win four Australian Open titles, said that his priority in 2003 would be grand slam success rather than ranking points.
“It’s fair to say that my focus is not on being number one. My focus is being number one at the end of a two-week tournament in one of the slams,” Agassi told reporters.
Agassi was in the running to become the oldest player to end the year in the top spot right until the season-ending Master Cup in Shanghai last November.
But his failure to win the event ensured that Australian Lleyton Hewitt finished the year as world number one for the second year running.
“To be number one, what Lleyton has managed to do, (takes) all year and I’m not convinced I have that in me anymore. The fact that I had a shot at it last year came as a pleasant surprise to me.”
On the eve of the first grand slam of the season, Agassi’s coach, Darren Cahill, predicted another tight race with Hewitt for the year-ending number one spot.
But Agassi left little doubt that he would be trying to peak for the four grand slams in 2003.
“Realistically speaking, I don’t know if it’s possible anymore for me to play all the events (between the grand slams),” he said.
Agassi, who has won seven grand slam singles titles, admitted he had felt a few butterflies before playing his first-round match in Melbourne after missing the tournament last year with a wrist injury.
“I felt a bit nervous…because it’s, unfortunately, been a lot longer than I wish it was,” he said.
“It turned out to be a big tournament to miss. It always is when you miss a grand slam but even more so last year because it would have helped my chances of finishing at number one.”
Informed that former world number one Martina Navratilova had tipped him to beat Hewitt in the final on January 26, Agassi remained circumspect about his chances.
“I think Martina will be the first one to agree that giving an opinion is a lot easier than doing it,” said Agassi, who won the Australian Open in 1995 and then back-to-back in 2000 and 2001.
“Unfortunately Lleyton and myself have the task of beating a lot of players to get to the finals. So do all the other guys — 128 of us in the draw.”
Ominously for his rivals, however, Agassi added: “But to win here is a great achievement one time. To do it again at this stage of the ball game would feel that much better.”
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