Investigation of Agassi’s Absence Widens : Tennis: He might be fined $25,000, banned from 1991 Grand Slam Cup after skipping the tournament last week.

Andre Agassi should find out soon if he will be penalized by the International Tennis Federation for pulling out of last week’s $6-million Grand Slam Cup in Munich.

Bill Babcock, administrator of the Grand Slam Committee of the ITF and the man in charge of investigating Agassi’s withdrawal, said Agassi could learn by Friday if he will be banned from one or more Grand Slam events in 1991 and fined as much as $25,000 for signing a contract to play in the first-year event, then withdrawing.

Under threat of lawsuits, Agassi reluctantly tried to re-enter the Grand Slam Cup, but before the ITF could rule on his reinstatement, Agassi seemed to settle the issue when he was injured Dec. 2, the last day of the Davis Cup final between the United States and Australia in St. Petersburg, Fla. Agassi defaulted his match against Darren Cahill and walked off the court to a chorus of boos after suffering an injury that was first described as a torn stomach muscle and later identified as torn rib cartilage.

Babcock once thought it possible to confine the scope of his investigation to Agassi’s initial entry and subsequent withdrawal from the Grand Slam Cup, but said Monday that he must now investigate a report that Agassi either exaggerated the injury or manipulated it to the extent that he would not have to play in Munich after all.

Barry Lorge, a sports columnist for the San Diego Union, sat at a table across the aisle from Agassi at a restaurant in St. Petersburg Beach, Fla., at 11:30 p.m. the Sunday Agassi was injured. Lorge said he overheard Agassi and his brother, Phil, discuss strategy for finding a doctor to declare him unfit to play in the Grand Slam Cup but still save face with the media and the public.

Lorge, who also said he heard Agassi deride U.S. Davis Cup Captain Tom Gorman, believes that Agassi was in fact injured.

“Who knows how bad it was, though?” said Lorge, formerly the tennis writer at the Washington Post. “It was obvious from the conversation I heard (that) they were planning on how best to utilize the injury to get out of the Grand Slam Cup. . . . They obviously weren’t looking for a doctor to cure him to play in the Grand Slam Cup.”

Agassi, however, told the New York Times that Lorge was not seated in the same section of the restaurant and denied plotting to use the injury to avoid playing in Munich. Lorge said he was facing Agassi, not more than 10 feet away, close enough to note that Agassi ate two orders of white toast.

“To be called a liar, to hear people say it’s a disgrace that I faked an injury during Davis Cup, well, it would be a disgrace, but it’s not true,” Agassi told the New York Times. “It’s fine if somebody wants to doubt my motivations, but they better look into it and check the facts before they make their accusations.”

Babcock said his investigation might reveal troubling information, but even so might not affect whatever penalty he recommends when he presents his report to the Grand Slam Committee: John Curry of the All England Club, David Markin of the U.S. Tennis Assn., Philippe Chatrier of the French Tennis Federation, Geoff Pollard of Tennis Australia and Brian Tobin, president-elect of the ITF.

“There is a question whether the injury is even relevant to his breach of contract,” Babcock said from the ITF office in London. “The rules say a player cannot withdraw without ‘good cause’ and ‘good cause’ is almost always injury. Yet at the time he withdrew, we know he did not have an injury because he was playing in the ATP finals at Frankfurt. It seems cut and dried.

“As for the other allegations, I have read the reports and I think if there were truth to it, it would be, well, more than disturbing,” Babcock said. “And if you can’t prove it, that’s disturbing, too. You have to give people the benefit of the doubt. None of us are going to be hanged if we haven’t committed a crime. What we must do is . . . be satisfied that what we are talking about is an injury that cannot be proven to be fake.”

Agassi’s orthopedist said Monday that he has not heard from Babcock. Richard Westbrook of El Paso said he found that Agassi had torn the seventh and eighth ribs from the cartilage that connects them to the sternum and that Agassi could be out as long as six weeks. Westbrook, who examined Agassi two weeks ago, said Agassi was in obvious discomfort.

“He couldn’t even get into the back seat of his car,” Westbrook said. “He had to crawl into it and then when he was inside, he sort of sat down and turned around. I couldn’t care less about the politics in the tennis and the tournaments, but it was specifically per my instructions not to play (in Munich). It could have been any other player, not just Andre, and I wouldn’t have let him play.”

It is not clear what penalty, if any, the ITF will levy against Agassi, although some expect the maximum $25,000 fine and a ban from next year’s Grand Slam Cup.

Lorge said the ITF should be lenient. “Exaggerating injuries or using injuries to get out of tournaments didn’t exactly start with Andre,” Lorge said. “I don’t think they ought to invent a new set of standards just because it’s Andre.”