MELBOURNE, Australia -- The men's final was exactly what we expected. It came down to a much better player with all the experience in the world in Andre Agassi going up against a good player, Rainer Schuettler, who found himself in his first major final.

	Mal's Picks
	Washington Former ATP Tour pro MaliVai Washington is providing ESPN.com with analysis during the Australian Open.

Give every credit to Agassi for moving his way through this tournament against very good opponents but making them look like very average players. Very few players can accomplish what he has done at this tournament and throughout his career. He has firmly cemented himself as one of the greatest players of all time. I put him ahead of all the others he is tied with for eight majors because he has won all four.

After Agassi didn't win a major for 24 months, I thought maybe he was going to end his career with seven titles. Now, I feel like he might end his career with nine or 10 major titles.

His dominance in winning this Aussie Open, having dropped only one set, is almost unheard of. It seems impossible that you can have the best 128 players in the world and the best result seven players can muster up against him is winning a single set. But I believe it when he says he spent the off-season training and preparing for this Open. I now believe him and believe that he is 100 percent committed to the task of winning majors. It's nice to see someone enjoy the best years of his career in the last half of his career.

If Agassi is able to stay healthy this year, he has a great chance of finishing No. 1. I don't think anyone will win more than one major this year, except Agassi might be able to win the U.S. Open. If he does that, he finishes No. 1. If he doesn't win another major this year, it's going to come down to whoever plays well in the Tennis Masters Series events. Whatever happens, it will be a great race to No. 1.