A leaner and meaner Andre Agassi is back on the comeback trail at the Australian Open after the worst year of his tennis career.
Having shed 22 pounds in three months, reached the semi-finals of the Australian Hardcourt Championships in Adelaide last week and beaten Thomas Muster and Goran Ivanisevic at the Kooyong Classic in Melbourne this week, Agassi has hopes of returning to the top at next week's Grand Slam event.
The 27-year-old American beat Ivanisevic 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3 at Kooyong on Thursday to reach the final of the classic and said: "I really feel like my game is coming around every time I am out there."
The return to form has already been welcomed by world number one Pete Sampras. "It is what the game needs. The guy is a marvel. He adds a lot of personality to the game," he said. It has been a long hard slog for Agassi, whose last Grand Slam title was the Australian Open in 1995 when he was also world number one for 30 weeks and had a golden 26-match winning streak.
In 1997, illness, injury and a confidence slump saw him end outside the top 100 for the first time since turning professional in 1986. Agassi was ranked 86th this week.
After losing in the first round of the final tour event of 1997 in Stuttgart last October, Agassi went on a strict fitness regime.
"I have been putting in a solid two hours in the gym, 30 minutes of intense cardio workout and one-and-a-half to two hours of on-court practice every day. Now I am hitting the ball well. My shots feel sharp. I feel the way that I did when I was at my best," he said.
Two-time Australian Open champion Jim Courier withdrew from this year's tournament yesterday because of a lingering shoulder injury that forced him to pull out of a warm-up event, organisers said.
