| | Results
MELBOURNE, Australia -- The men's title match at the
Australian Open on Sunday will be a contest between two players at
different stages of their careers and with very different styles,
on and off the court.
One thing No. 1 Andre Agassi and No. 2 Yevgeny Kafelnikov share
is their close rivalry. It will be their 10th meeting, with Agassi
leading the series 5-4.
Agassi, the favorite, is the first man to reach four consecutive
Grand Slam finals since Rod Laver three decades ago. Kafelnikov,
the defending champion, has easily pushed aside opponents on the
way to the final.
Agassi won their last three matches on hard courts, so he may
have an edge on the Rebound Ace synthetic surface at Melbourne
Park.
An advantage for the Russian is that he's not expected to win,
which could free him up to play loose, dangerous tennis.
"Every time we've stepped on the court, we've had a big
battle," Kafelnikov, 25, said.
Agassi, 29, is intense, even agitated, throughout a match, often
trotting to his courtside chair during changeovers. He rarely seems
to relax. In post-match press conferences, he muses about focusing,
digging down, pushing himself to his limit.
Agassi, winner of the 1999 French Open and U.S. Open, did all
that Thursday with a five-set victory in the semifinals over Pete
Sampras in one of the greatest matches of their long rivalry.
In a syndicated newspaper column, John McEnroe expressed awe at
Agassi's recent achievements and wrote, "You dream about playing
tennis with such confidence, but with an inner calm at the same
time."
Kafelnikov, at least publicly, leans toward the negative.
In Melbourne, he has talked about his rustiness before the
tournament and his surprise at surviving the early rounds. He joked
about plans to play golf Sunday.
Their games reflect their personalities. Kafelnikov's all-court game is so fluid that his strokes look lazy, effortless. He's as comfortable at net as on the baseline.
Agassi roams the backcourt, and he hits unforgiving
groundstrokes and service returns with machine-like precision. His
serve is much more of a weapon than it used to be.
Agassi had a smooth run in Melbourne before his epic match
against Sampras. Mark Philippoussis was the only opponent who had
won a set against him. Kafelnikov has dropped only one set, against
Jens Knippschild in the first round.
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