Agassi, Hewitt: Tale of Agendas

Andre Agassi hires a new coach and you could practically hear a sigh of relief from sponsors and tournament directors, as the change suggests a renewed commitment rather than a lessened one.

Lleyton Hewitt parts with an old coach and you could practically hear a collective groan from Down Under, as the switch from a highly respected mentor who guided him to No. 1 and the U.S. Open title seemingly represents an errant turn along the road to greatness.

Interestingly, the coach, Darren Cahill, is at the center of both cases. Call it Trading Places.

Agassi, Cahill and Hewitt could all collide at next week’s tournament in San Jose. It will be Agassi’s and Cahill’s first tournament together, and Hewitt’s first action since a draining bout of chickenpox led to his first-round exit at the Australian Open.

It’s not out of the question that Brad Gilbert, who had coached Agassi since 1994, will show up since he lives in the Bay Area. Maybe they can all have dinner when Hewitt turns 21 on Sunday.

A coaching change--unless a player makes one every few months--provides definition of a player’s career. Agassi, who turns 32 in April, is not far from the end and this move appears to signal one last significant charge. The last time he made such a change, hiring Gilbert in 1994, it led to six Grand Slam singles titles, an Olympic gold medal and the season-ending No. 1 ranking in 1999.

Agassi’s decision was easier to understand once he hired Cahill. After all, Cahill had coached Hewitt, the new Agassi, for three years and together they reached extraordinary success quite early, which included victories over Agassi.

Hewitt’s move--parting with Cahill and hiring Jason Stoltenberg--was considered controversial because it appeared shrouded in mystery in December. Since then, Cahill has taken the high road, not explaining what happened in his newspaper columns for the Melbourne Age during the Australian Open.

And the other day, Hewitt was asked about it on a conference call, saying: “You know, it’s sort of between Darren and I, and that’s the way it’s going to stay pretty much the whole time as well. We just sort of came to the end.”

In Hewitt’s defense, he is hardly the first player to make a big change early in his career. Pete Sampras won his first Grand Slam event, the 1990 U.S. Open, at 19, and was coached by Joe Brandi. Brandi coached Sampras in the 1990-1991 seasons. By the time Sampras won his second Slam, Wimbledon in 1993, he was coached by Tim Gullikson, who died in May 1996.

If you listen closely to Hewitt, he is saying all the right things. Though No. 1 in the Entry System rankings, Hewitt was not completely satisfied.

“Even though I got to No. 1, I’m not as good a player as I can be,” he said. “It’s great that I’ve had the success that I have, but there’s still areas of my game--I’m only 20 years old--there’s areas of my game that I still know and think that I can work on and become a better player.”

He is a credible threat on all surfaces, having reached the quarterfinals at the French Open and fourth round at Wimbledon last year. His best finish at the Australian Open was the final 16 in 2000.

“To produce the results like the U.S. Open on all different surfaces, for me, I’ve got to change a few things,” he said. “I think I’ve definitely got to get a little bit stronger ... obviously a high percentage of first serves, getting more cheap points off my first serve, getting those easier points, and also becoming more of an all-court player.”

To that end, he has spent more time working in the gym with Stoltenberg. The chickenpox, which hit him during the season-opening Hopman Cup in Perth, actually allowed him time to rest. Instead of rushing back into action, prematurely, he skipped the first round of Davis Cup at Argentina.

The additional strength could pay off, in particular, during the clay-court season, as he states the obvious: “I’m not the biggest guy out there.”

He downplayed the Cahill factor in the event he should play Agassi in San Jose.

“I’ll go out there, it’s between me and Andre basically,” Hewitt said. “Last time I played Andre was in the Masters Cup. I played one of my best matches ever. In the past, we’ve had extremely tough matches.”

It would be different if Cahill had been hired by one of Hewitt’s young peers, such as Andy Roddick, Juan Carlos Ferrero or Marat Safin. Roddick and Ferrero are in stable coaching situations, but, Safin, who seems to have a new coach each month, had been in discussions with Cahill before Agassi became a free agent.

Mystery Story

On the surface, Indian Wells would appear to be the ideal choice for Jennifer Capriati to pick up some serious points in the ranking race because she skipped the tournament last year. Additionally, she will be relatively close, playing the week before in Scottsdale, Ariz., and the Indian Wells field has been hit hard with losses at the very top.

Venus and Serena Williams are skipping the tournament, and Lindsay Davenport is out, long-term, because of knee surgery.

The top players will be Martina Hingis, Monica Seles and Kim Clijsters, if she is recovered from recent arm trouble.

Capriaiti’s explanation raised more questions than it answered. She said it was difficult because of the busy schedule, having planned to play Key Biscayne, Fla., which follows Indian Wells.

“You never know,” she said. “I can’t say that I won’t ever play there. I think I should keep my options open. But just for this year and for the time being, I don’t have any plans on going out there. Maybe there’s more reason behind that than I wish to comment on right now.”

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The Times’ Rankings

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