TENNIS / WENDY WITHERSPOON : Agassi’s New Coach an Old Friend

The relationship was forged over a casual dinner at Key Biscayne, Fla., in March.

Andre Agassi, dining one evening after playing in the Lipton Championships, asked his friend, Brad Gilbert, to give him some pointers on his game. They went to the tennis court the next day.

And so it was that Agassi, ranked 20th on the professional tour, and Gilbert, ranked 35th, have become player and coach.

During the Player’s International tournament in Toronto this week, Gilbert was asked about the situation.

“I don’t think (Agassi) was looking for somebody to come in and make all kinds of changes in his game, and I wasn’t looking to coach and it kind of just happened,” Gilbert said.

Agassi was coached by Nick Bollettieri until 1993, when he split with him and hired Pancho Segura.

The arrangement between Agassi and Gilbert is informal. They hit when they can and talk on the phone often. Gilbert attends Agassi’s matches when he is not involved in another tournament.

Since striking the partnership, Agassi and Gilbert have appeared in five tournaments together but have not played one another. That streak could end in the L.A. Open, beginning Monday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center, where both are scheduled to play.

If they meet in the tournament, Gilbert, 4-5 against Agassi in his career, will be at a distinct disadvantage.

“I’ve given him too many of my secrets in practice,” Gilbert said. “He won’t let me get away with some of the things I used to get away with.”

The L.A. Open field also includes sixth-ranked Michael Chang, ninth-ranked Boris Becker and 26th-ranked Richard Krajicek, the tournament’s defending champion. Krajicek is scheduled to play his first match Monday night during a session that begins at 7; Chang and Becker will make their first appearances Tuesday starting at 11 a.m., and Agassi will play his first match Tuesday night on a program that starts at 7:30.

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Add Agassi: The neon-spandex-wearing player of the early 1990s is staying one step ahead of the fashion police.

Agassi modeled his new line of clothing for fans during an Arthur Ashe Foundation benefit match against Chang on July 23 at the National Tennis Center in Toronto. Tom Tebbutt reported in the Toronto Globe and Mail that the color scheme “derives more from a barroom shiner than bright-eyed visions of tennis elegance and civility.”

Agassi told Tebbutt that he wanted his new line to be casual, labeling it, “Something that guys could wear skateboarding down the street.”

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Road to recovery: Steffi Graf, who has lost consecutive matches for the first time in more than nine years, will defend her championship in the $400,000 Toshiba tournament starting Monday at the La Costa Resort and Spa.

The top-ranked Graf won the Australian Open while dominating the first five months of the season. She then lost to Mary Pierce in the semifinals of the French Open and to Lori McNeil in the first round at Wimbledon.

The La Costa field includes the top three women in the world: Graf, No. 2 Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, who won the French Open, and No. 3 Conchita Martinez, who won Wimbledon.

Among the other entrants are sixth-ranked Lindsay Davenport, eighth-ranked Jana Novotna and ninth-ranked Natalia Zvereva.

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Farewell: Organizers of the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles tennis tournament say they have received hundreds of letters to Martina Navratilova wishing her farewell.

Tournament officials asked that fans of Navratilova, nine-time Wimbledon champion, participate in a tribute to her final singles appearance in Los Angeles by writing letters and making a donation in her name to the Los Angeles Disaster Relief Fund benefiting victims of the Jan. 17 earthquake: Martina Navratilova Farewell, P.O. Box 570506, Tarzana, Calif. 91357.

Navratilova, ranked fourth, will join Davenport, Novotna, Zvereva, fifth-ranked Kimiko Date, 10th-ranked Gabriela Sabatini and McNeil in the tournament Aug. 8-14 at the Manhattan Country Club in Manhattan Beach.

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Hometown jitters: Davenport, who spent much of her childhood in Palos Verdes before moving to Murrieta and graduating from Murrieta Valley High in June, enjoys the two Southland tour stops because it means coming home.

But it also means playing in front of more of her fans than usual.

“You hope to do well when you’re (playing) kind of near where you’re from, but it also can make you a little more nervous. There’s a little more pressure,” Davenport said.

Tennis Notes

Lindsay Davenport was asked to do a sound check recently before a television interview. “One, two, three, four, five,” Davenport said. “Do you want me to count higher? I can, I have a high school diploma.” . . . Davenport and friend Natalia Zvereva plan to become roommates and move to Newport Beach. . . . The Southern California Tennis Assn. stages exhibitions between matches at the L.A. Open to showcase programs such as junior tennis, and these matches often feature the tennis stars of the future. In 1987, for instance, a highly touted, skinny 15-year-old boy who had just been named to the Junior Davis Cup team played in one of the SCTA exhibitions. Pete Sampras returned to win the singles title at the tournament four years later. In addition to junior tennis, exhibitions this year also will include adult and wheelchair tennis.