Tennis: Andre Agassi came along just in time to save Jerome Haehnel from a life of checking in every morning, hanging up his coat and planting himself at a desk. Agassi rescued the unknown player from proper work.  Johnny Watterson at Roland Garros reports

The 23-year-old Frenchman, who yesterday caused the first major malfunction in the seeding system at Roland Garros, was reconsidering his life and career until the most famous face in tennis stepped on to Centre Court with him and lost in three sets. Afterwards Agassi looked threadbare and shocked, Haehnel embarrassed at his 6-4, 7-6, 6-3 win.

Haehnel, who had never before played in a Grand Slam event and was ranked 271 coming into the competition to Agassi's six, had planned to cut his losses this summer and buy that suit.

He has no singles titles to his name, no coach and until yesterday had little prospects other than as a journeyman player bashing out a living in Futures and Challenger events in smaller towns around the world. The first round win has naturally caused him to review his work situation.

"Yeh, I thought about it (getting a job) this summer," he said before being asked what he would do instead of tennis. "Well nothing. I don't know really. But now maybe I will go on. Last winter I said 'this year is the year where I will do something else or I will stop'."

Endearingly honest about his featureless career, Haehnel had never met Agassi in person before, had seen him just once but otherwise knew the star like the rest of us as an unmistakable television figure and a winner of eight Grand Slams events stretching back to Wimbledon 1992.

At 34-years-old, it is for Agassi, now a case of diminishing returns and the longer he goes on chasing titles, the more difficult it will be to increase his major wins to nine. He may never return to Roland Garros.

"You want to come back but you just don't know," he said. "I mean, I don't know. It's a year away. That's a long time for me right now. Chances get less every year for sure."

It was the American's 16th visit to the French Open, the most of any player in the field and only his second defeat here in the opening match. In 1998, he lost over five sets to Marat Safin. There was little in the way of explanation from the man who can normally parse his game through every shot, other than that the ball simply wouldn't go where he wanted. But the sixth seed, whose greatness as a player has been greatly aided by his consistent and accurate striking of the ball, had come into the tournament having had only one clay court match last week in St Polten, where he also lost in the first round to unheralded qualifier Nenad Zimonjic.

"I never got comfortable out there, wasn't controlling the ball the way I wanted to, wasn't putting it where I wanted," he explained shaking his head in disbelief.

"It's disappointing. Listen, that standard is a long way off having any decent shot at winning here. In that regard, I probably got what I deserved. I just was never comfortable with my shot selection, never comfortable with where I was putting the ball. I wish I could give you and excuse."

Greg Rusedski had quite a simple reason for his early departure: "I just lost to a guy who was much better than me on this surface. There's nothing more I can really say about it," he said of the 7-6, 6-0, 6-0 defeat. Nobody asked if he was dope tested afterwards.

Compatriot Tim Henman appeared to offer up his match to Cyril Saulnier, who had never won in four previous attempts here, then reclaimed it in five sets over three hours 47 minutes. Henman's main concern is the inexplicable fatigue he is suffering, particularly as recently taken blood tests could not resolve the problem. Having lost the first two sets 4-6, 4-6, he struggled to claim the third in a tie-break before taking the fourth and fifth 6-4, 6-3 for the match.

"It's a bit strange. I'll definitely go again and speak to the doctor. If there's an explanation, it's probably just a virus of some sort," said Henman, "the doctor probably doesn't recommend five sets."

America's Andy Roddick was equally unhappy with his health. Suffering from a stomach problem, the number two seed nonetheless defeated veteran Todd Martin 7-6, 6-4, 7-5, having lost last year in the first round to Sargis Sargsian. Much to his relief, it is the first match Roddick has won here since advancing to the third round on his debut in 2001.