Limp Agassi offers a lame explanation

THE increasingly bizarre and bewildering world of Andre Agassi took another lurch down the misty path of incredulity and scepticism yesterday when the shaven headed American, playing his first match of this year's ATP finals, tumbled to the limpest of limp 6-2, 6-1 defeat against the world's number one Pete Sampras.

The German crowd, having paid a minimum of £70 a ticket, shrilly whistled their disgust at such a pathetic performance. Agassi's excuse was illness. He had failed to turn up for Monday's live televised draw when news of his sickness first filtered out, although the ATP, with a total disregard for their public, chose not to issue any sort of explanation.

Yesterday Agassi claimed he was still unwell. So what kind of medication has he been taking? "A couple. I'm trying to remember their names." Was it, then, flu or a heavy cold, or what? "I think it is a bit of a combination. It is definitely a symptom with the stomach as well as congestion in the head."

The one moment of visible proof of illness, other than his generally static, lacklustre display, was when he ejected the contents of one nostril onto the carpet court and rubbed it into the pile with his foot. Charming.

Sampras, who has now won their last four encounters for a 12-8 head to head lead, served with fierce precision and hit any number of winning passes, but then it is not altogether difficult to strike the ball past a man who rarely displayed the least inclination to chase or cover the court in anything other than mucus.

Sampras, who meets Boris Becker today in his second round robin match, claimed he had played some of his best tennis in recent times. This may be true, but singularly failed to address the reality of the confrontation which was, as a contest, virtually nonexistent. The Hanover crowd was certainly not fooled.

Agassi, for his part, said he had been very close to withdrawing after flying into Germany from Las Vegas last weekend.

Austria's Thomas Muster, having lost to Goran Ivanisevic in the opening match of his four-man group, inflicted a second successive defeat on the world number two Chang winning 7-4, 6-3 in, praise be, an encounter of genuine conflict and competition.