Agassi and Muster to Meet Next

When Andre Agassi and Thomas Muster meet there are several agendas. There’s winning, there’s humiliating the opponent and there’s revenge.

Both won in the fourth round of the U.S. Open on Monday, setting up a quarterfinal meeting. Agassi beat fellow American David Wheaton, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4. Muster beat 13th-seeded Thomas Enqvist, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.

Agassi downplayed the revenge angle, but Muster has a long memory for slights and will not soon forget Agassi’s criticism of him when the Austrian clay-court specialist became No. 1 earlier this year.

“If anyone makes this more than a tennis match, it’s their own issue,” Agassi said. “Come on, we’re in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open. We both have won big events. We both want to do it again. That’s what we’re both going out there and trying to do. To make it anything more than that is a waste of time.”

Agassi predicted big returns, big hitting and big egos for the match. “Big Tennis,” he called it.

“Big tennis is when you get two guys trying to establish their will out there on the court,” he said. “We both are going to be beating the ball pretty good from the baseline. You’ll hear explosions off the racket four, five, six times a point. That’s big tennis.”

Agassi was coy when asked about his tete-a-tete with first daughter Chelsea Clinton during the Olympics. The young Clinton had requested a meeting with Agassi and he obliged. The newly-engaged Agassi would not divulge what was said. “You know, out of respect for Chelsea and the nature of both of our lives. . . .”

In the evening match, second-seeded Michael Chang defeated Jakob Hlasek of Switzerland, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.