LOS ANGELES -- When he was 17, Andre Agassi only worried about what he was going to do Friday or Saturday night. No way did he think he'd still be a top tennis player at 32.

"It was hard for me to plan a few days ahead," he says, "let alone 15 years later."

	“	It's my commitment and my obligation and my responsibility to keep going as long and as hard as I possibly can until I feel like I really can't win even if I'm playing well. ”
		— Andre Agassi

Yet here he is, still going strong and running younger players off the court. Agassi won his fourth title of 2002 and the 40th hard-court crown of his career at the Mercedes-Benz Cup, beating 25-year-old Jan-Michael Gambill 6-2, 6-4 in Sunday's final.

"I feel like he's playing better tennis than he used to," said Gambill, a friend and practice partner. "He used to just rip balls and make a lot more errors. He's just grown wiser."

Agassi agrees his accuracy has improved, but he said it's not because he's playing more conservatively.

"It's a function of just being stronger, being in position, moving better, taking a higher percentage cut at the ball," he said. "I'm stronger and I move better, so I'm hitting a big ball, but I'm hitting it with more margin for error than I used to. I'm making less errors but I'm still taking good cuts."

Five years ago, Agassi was in trouble. His world ranking plunged to 141 and he was reduced to entering USTA Challenger tournaments -- tennis' version of the minor leagues -- to work his way back.

It didn't take long. In 1998, he made the biggest one-year jump into the top 10 in the history of the ATP Tour rankings by climbing 122 spots to No. 6.

He hasn't been out of the top 10 since, including 1999 when, at 31, he became the oldest player to finish in the top three since 32-year-old Jimmy Connors was No. 2 in 1984.

Agassi is sixth in Monday's rankings.

"My body changed as I started getting older," he said. "I couldn't get around the fact that I was getting slower and falling off."

So he committed to getting into the best shape of his life. Four years later, he's maintaining his conditioning and it continues paying dividends.

He won his seventh Grand Slam singles title at last year's Australian Open. So far this year, he's 34-5 and has reached the semifinals or better in six of 10 tournaments.

However, his preparations for next month's U.S. Open supposedly hit a snag after beating Gambill. Agassi withdrew from this week's Tennis Masters Series tournament in Toronto, citing a lower back and hip injury that he never mentioned in Los Angeles.

As a result, Agassi was fined $80,000 by the ATP Tour on Monday for his late withdrawal -- his second such offense this year.

Agassi said he could play even better than he did at the Mercedes-Benz Cup. He dropped just one set, against Gustavo Kuerten in the quarterfinals, over five matches.

"I can serve better, I can even get more aggressive," Agassi said. "When I control the ball that well, I have room on the other side. I can let it go a little bit more."

Even when his physical conditioning diminished and he took a massive tumble in the rankings, Agassi's enthusiasm for the game never wavered.

"I enjoy challenging myself. I enjoy playing great matches and feeling like I'm playing better than I ever have," he said. "I feel like I still have the opportunity to get better and that motivates me."

At the same time, though, there are increasing off-court obligations.

The most important is his first child, Jaden, who was born in October, four days after Agassi married seven-time Wimbledon champion Steffi Graf.

"What greater joy is there than discovering your own child? It's pretty amazing," he said. "He likes food, so I'm thinking he got a little bit of me there. He doesn't like to sit still, he's got a little bit of Steff there."

Also requiring his attention is a charter school Agassi helped fund last year for at-risk kids in grades 3-5 in Las Vegas. His charitable foundation to benefit kids has been going since 1994.

"Had I stopped working years ago, there would be a lot of people that would have been affected by that," he said.

Graf retired from tennis in 1999, months after she and Agassi began dating, and the same year in which his two-year marriage to actress Brooke Shields ended in divorce.

"If there's anything Steffi has taught me, it's how to focus in on your own life and worry about the way you go about your own choices," Agassi said.

And his choice is to keep playing. Even though, as Kuerten points out, Agassi could be comfortably retired and watching tennis on television.

"It's my commitment and my obligation and my responsibility to keep going as long and as hard as I possibly can until I feel like I really can't win even if I'm playing well," Agassi said.

"I don't know how long that is, but I'm not thrilled sitting on the sofa watching TV."