TENNIS / ELLIOTT ALMOND : Agassi, McEnroe Could Make Each Other Doubly Tough

PARIS — John McEnroe, his singles career all but over, was looking for a doubles partner. He approached Pete Sampras, who at first agreed, then politely declined.

He tried Jim Courier, but got another rejection. Then he asked Andre Agassi.

“I said, ‘Why not?’ ” Agassi recalled. “It’s a great feeling to walk through the tunnel onto the court with him.”

The team made its debut last winter at a tournament in San Francisco. They did it for fun, but McEnroe suggested the next time they get serious.

“People tend to view it as a show,” Agassi said.

The two advanced to the quarterfinals at the French Open, where they were eliminated by Pablo Albano of Argentina and Cassio Motta of Brazil on Wednesday. The loss did not come a moment too soon for Agassi, whose sole purpose here was to win his first Grand Slam tournament.

But not even the rest helped Agassi, who lost to top-ranked Jim Courier in Friday’s semifinal.

But for a young man who is trying to recapture the essence of tennis, playing with McEnroe was a joy. In their first match, they were down a break point when McEnroe mentioned he liked the new clothes they were wearing.

“We were talking about our tennis shorts while down break point,” Agassi said. “It seemed appropriate.”

McEnroe, a left-hander, and Agassi, a right-hander, complement each other. Both are Davis Cup veterans, but neither would say whether their partnership would lead to a Cup appearance. They are leaving that decision to Tom Gorman, the American captain.

For McEnroe, 32, it takes the likes of Agassi, 22, to keep him interested in tennis.

“It’s either that or not playing,” he said.

Agassi is glad to oblige. Playing with McEnroe gives Agassi a chance to improve his knowledge of the game. For example, an opponent tried a trick volley cross-court with McEnroe at the net.

“John was standing in the spot where (the opponent) hit the ball before he even made contact with the volley,” Agassi said.

After the play, McEnroe went over to Agassi and said, “I’ve been around too long to fall for that one.”

Torching the pass: After losing a first-round match at the French Open, Jimmy Connors, 39, wondered when some of the young players would take over for him, John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg.

The heart of the issue is personality, and Connors’ comments touched a raw nerve to some of the young Americans who have begun to dominate the game.

Connors was suggesting that such players as No. 1 Jim Courier, No. 3 Pete Sampras and No. 6 Michael Chang are less than electrifying characters.

So what, said Sampras, a quarterfinal loser to Agassi.

“I don’t know what he’s talking about,” Sampras said. “You got (Jim) Courier No. 1 in the world, I’m No. 3; Chang is sixth and Agassi is top 50 (No. 12). I don’t understand his quote, I really don’t. I don’t know where he is coming from.”

Not-so-sweet Sweden: Nicklas Kulti, who lost a quarterfinal match to France’s Henri Leconte after taking a two-set lead, has been expected to become one of Sweden’s next great players since he won the world junior championship in 1989. By 1990, he reached No. 34 in the world.

He was pleased with his ranking, but the Swedish media wondered when he would crack the top 10. It hasn’t happened, and the pressure mounted. Kulti fell out of the top 100 last year and slowly has worked his way back.

“The expectations are huge in Sweden,” said Kulti’s coach, Martin Bohm. “It’s quite unfair.”

Clan of the Changs: Michael Chang, 20, prefers the comfort of his family’s company when he travels the world playing tennis. Unlike more independent-minded players, Chang is accompanied by his older brother, Carl, who is his coach, and his mother and father, Betty and Joe Chang.

“The Asian family is very close,” Chang told the Paris newspaper Le Figaro. “The American way is without a doubt different. Once you arrive at a certain age, you leave home. One wants to live alone. But an Asian will stay home until he or she marries.

“I believe that this cultural difference has provoked a lot of misunderstanding with regards to me.”

Parent trap: A lot has been made about fathers and daughters in women’s tennis. Specifically, fathers who take matters into their own hands and coach their children. Foremost among those are Stefano Capriati, whose 16-year-old, Jennifer, is among the top 10, and Jim Pierce, whose 17-year-old, Mary, is among the top 15.

Steffi Graf of Germany, who will turn 23 soon, also had a high-profile father during the early stages of her career. Peter Graf is not as visible on the tour these days, but there was a time when he made as much news as Capriati and Pierce.

“You grow up quite quickly (in tennis) by having to deal with so many people and by having certain responsibilities,” Steffi Graf said. “It is just at a time when it is important to have the right friends and to have the right people around you who take you away from the tennis.”

Graf said parents are an important influence. But as much as parents can help make the right decisions, she said it is important to have friends the same age.

“My parents pushed me in a way to go to parties,” she said. “I never wanted to do that . . . but it definitely was right.”

Graf said she was not confused about who she was when she was winning Grand Slam titles with regularity as a teen-ager.

“I was very sure of what I wanted to do and I have no motivation problems,” she said.

In the field: Monica Seles, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Pam Shriver are the first three players entered in the $350,000 Virginia Slims of Los Angeles. Seles, the event’s two-time defending champion, is the No. 1-ranked player in the world.

The $350,000 tournament at Manhattan Country Club awards $70,000 to the winner. There is a 28-player field.

Tennis Notes

John McEnroe will hold the John McEnroe “Love Match” celebrity tennis tournament July 11 at North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village. The event will benefit the United Cerebral Palsy-Spastic Children’s Foundation. . . . Jim Pugh is the honorary chairman of the June 13-14 Peninsula Racket Roundup, a mixed doubles tournament to benefit the Harbor Foundation for the retarded. . . . Mayor Tom Bradley and Jack Kramer will help kick off a U.S. Tennis Assn. school program that will introduce tennis to the physical education curriculum of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s elementary and junior high schools at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Parmelee Avenue Elementary School in Los Angeles.

Times staff writer Thomas Bonk in Los Angeles contributed to this column.