Agassi Is Enjoying His Newfound Role

This is how rough it has been for Andre Agassi, getting reacquainted with the Davis Cup drill after nearly five years: Agassi already had spent 10 days away from wife Steffi Graf and their two children because of a globe-trotting journey, to Dubai for an ATP tour event and to Southern California for the upcoming first round of Davis Cup matches against Croatia, starting Friday in Carson.

He apparently made an unusual appeal to Graf.

“When you get older, your capacity to embrace special moments grows. I certainly feel that way this week,” Agassi said Tuesday.

” ... I even requested from the home front a few extra days to be able to enjoy being around the guys and get to know them better. That speaks to my enthusiasm about this environment and how much I’ve missed it.

“It’s something I’m really looking forward to, and I hope it’s not the last time.”

Agassi wasn’t wallowing in nostalgia during a news conference at the Home Depot Center in Carson.

If anything, he seemed annoyed when asked if these matches would be more special because it could be “kind of the end” of his career.

“That’s what you think, that I’m at the end of my career,” said Agassi, who will be 35 in April.

That was a rare flash of mild irritation at an upbeat session with captain Patrick McEnroe and teammates Bob and Mike Bryan, Taylor Dent and Andy Roddick, who reported that his recently injured ankle was fine. Agassi teased Roddick. One of the players coughed when asked about the air quality in Carson, and a couple chimed in when Agassi said he was “still learning” from the guys.

Like what?

“Nothing, he’s just being nice,” Dent said.

Roddick echoed Dent, saying: “He’s just trying to be nice.”

Said Agassi: “I can’t say what I really want to say. I’m learning a lot.”

They all laughed and for a moment they seemed more like fraternity brothers having a good time than professional tennis players.

Which is what McEnroe had been hoping for when he spent so much time trying to convince Agassi to return.

Agassi has jumped into the team concept with both feet. So much for readjustment. He could have had a day off after the Dubai trip, having lost to Roger Federer in the semifinals, but he impressed McEnroe on Monday with a workout lasting almost two hours. Then the team dynamic became evident at a group meal.

“There’s not a lot I have to do,” McEnroe said.

“At the team dinner, Andre just sort of held court. It was fun for me.”

The Bryans quizzed him, curious about how many times Agassi had won matches without losing a game.

According to McEnroe, Mike told Agassi that when he played him at the U.S. Open once, he could barely walk after losing the first set.

And Agassi, displaying his encyclopedic knowledge of his matches, started talking about once losing the first seven points against Hyung-Taik Lee and going on to win, 6-1, 6-0, 6-0, at the Australian Open.

“Andre is the new guy and he’s been talking to us a lot about stories from the past, great moments we have from watching him on TV,” Bob Bryan said.

Though McEnroe had put together a close-knit team without Agassi, the chemistry was maintained when Agassi called all of the players on the 2004 squad, which lost in the final to Spain in December, to discuss his decision before he announced he would return to the fold.

Agassi was a favorite of the Bryans when they were growing up, and his association with Roddick goes back several years. Roddick was his practice partner the last time Agassi played Davis Cup, in 2000 in the quarterfinals against the Czech Republic at the Forum.

The kid showed he could take it, on the court and off.

“Well, there’s a difference if he’s hard on you and if he’s treating you poorly,” Roddick said. “It’s not poorly if you enjoy it. Definitely as a 17-year-old, he liked to ride me a little bit, but I loved it. It was kind of his way to see if I could overcome it a little bit, and I always had a blast with it.”

Membership on the Davis Cup team, even as a practice partner, had its privileges. Roddick was one of the few at the official team hotel, and he was living large.

“It was fun. I was 17, staying at the Ritz in L.A.,” Roddick said. “I had my own chef.”

Now that got Agassi’s attention. “What happened? Why aren’t we staying at the Ritz this time?” he asked.

Said Roddick with a smile: “You and Pete [Sampras] took off for a while, so it sort of just dropped down.”

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Officials said that a couple hundred tickets are still available for all three days, and can be obtained at the Home Depot Center box office, ticketmaster.com or any Ticketmaster outlet.