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Q. Were you injured after the third set?
ANDRE AGASSI: Middle to the late part of the third, the nerve in my back
started getting inflamed and sending pain all the way down my leg, and it
was getting worse by the minute.
Q. Any particular reason, you think?
ANDRE AGASSI: Just, you know, slightly under two hours of tennis. You know,
that particular concern -- you know, it's bad. It's something that needs to
be addressed because I can't be out there like that. I mean, I literally
hurt.
He did what he needed to do, given the circumstances. Surprising that it can
happen like that, but it's obviously what I have to live with.
Q. Anything a trainer could have done for you or did you just consider
walking off at that point?
ANDRE AGASSI: Well, I mean, yes, I knew it wasn't going to be pretty after
that. But I didn't want to walk off. I just didn't want to do it. And
there's nothing the trainer could do. I mean, I've had this for a while.
I had an injection in the nerve deep in the back a few months ago, and it
lasted for a while. You know, week by week, you could feel it less and less
effective.
Yeah, so, no, I live with this.
Q. You said something has to be done. What do you think needs to be done?
ANDRE AGASSI: Well, I had a cortisone injection a few months ago sort of
after San Jose, before Dubai. It had great results for me for a few months.
But everything was on hard court, two out of three sets. But it did feel
good. It gradually, gradually got worse at a slow rate and then started
picking up, you know, in the last month or so.
Different people, the amount of time that that injection lasts, it varies.
So for me it seems like it was, you know, two, three months. So maybe to do
it again, to hope it can give me some relief for a period of time.
Q. As of now, what would be the factors that you'd weigh in playing
Wimbledon?
ANDRE AGASSI: Oh, well, I mean, I have every intention of playing. This is
obviously -- I mean, I think I have high hopes with another injection. But,
you know, something tells me I'm at a stage of my career where I'm going to
be living with these injections because this is unplayable when it feels
like this. There's nothing you can do to get comfortable. Maybe some of you
know what I'm feeling.
To be out there against some of the best athletes in the world, it's
impossible. I mean, to feel this, it's impossible.
Q. It's an emotional time right now, sometimes a very difficult time to make
decisions. How long would it normally take you after something like this to
sit down and think seriously, "Do I want to go on with these injections for
what I'm getting out of tennis right now?"
ANDRE AGASSI: If I'm getting a few months out of it, it's fair enough for
me. Injection only takes about 10 minutes, so (smiling). If I can give up
10 minutes for a few months, I'll probably still choose that.
It's hard to deal with hypotheticals as I head down through the rest of
the year and how things are going to respond, where I find myself mentally
or emotionally. You know, but right now it's disappointing to feel this and
it's disappointing to not be in a position to be competitive out there. It's
disappointing, you know.
But I'll keep plugging along until I feel like there's nothing I can do
about it.
Q. There doesn't appear to be any long-term solution to the problem because
the manipulation you were having done in your back isn't really quite
working; only cortisone it working.
ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah.
Q. You get a couple months out of cortisone, but you can't be taking
cortisone shots forever, I'm assuming.
ANDRE AGASSI: Well, you can do up to they suggest three in a year or so.
Sometimes the second and a third have a greater effect than the first.
Yeah, that will be decisions that have to get made based on more information.
You know, I don't know if it means I can do it every three -- three or four
months for a period of time. I don't know what it means. I know I was told
I could take up to three in a given year. The French is over with. I still
have two to go.
Q. You had no anticipation coming into this tournament that you were going
to be out there in the third set of any match and it would flare up again
to the point where you could barely walk in the last two sets.
ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah, I wouldn't expect it. It comes quick. Listen, when I
go home in the evening and I'm walking three blocks from the restaurant,
you wouldn't guess I'm a professional athlete. You know, you really wouldn't.
I mean, 'cause when it cools down, it's a problem. Usually it's not a
problem when I'm active and moving. But when there's temperature issues
and, you know, wind's blowing, and I'm getting a little stiff, and it
starts, there's nothing to turn that around. The pain starts getting worse
and it goes from the top of my right hip all the way into my ankle.
Unfortunately, my experience is that it only gets worse from there. There's
no way of -- there's no way of controlling it at that point. A day off and
hot weather might give me a look at a different match, the perfect scenario.
But it's all living on hopes there.
Q. Does it especially hurt your game in temperatures which you normally
don't like, like remembering Hamburg two weeks ago where it was extremely
much colder than today?
ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah, that's right. No, yeah, the cold temperatures are much
worse for it. I now have a better understanding as to why people eventually
move to Florida (smiling).
Q. You mentioned earlier you had a good preparation compared to the last
French Open. I understood you also had a practice session with Jarkko
Nieminen last Thursday. What about the match just before this happened
for you, what can you tell us about it?
ANDRE AGASSI: About my practice?
Q. About your preparation and also about Jarkko Nieminen. I understand you
practiced with him.
ANDRE AGASSI: No, listen, I've been playing well, practicing well. I was up
6-4, 5-0 in an hour and a half. Hard first set. Then I opened it up. But,
you know, it's practice. It's different when you get out there. I felt good
about my game, but I needed just to settle in a little bit and start finding
my shots. I know how much I can improve quickly once my matches start
resembling more of my practices.
But an hour and 15 minutes, two hour mark, I started feeling what I was
feeling physically, everything was a moot point from there.
Q. Is the injury essentially from the disc in the lower back?
ANDRE AGASSI: No, it's a nerve.
Q. Sciatic nerve?
ANDRE AGASSI: It's the sciatic nerve that doesn't have much room based on
years of developing bone and growth. There's less space for the nerve. If
it is inflamed, it takes less inflammation for me to feel the result of
that.
Q. Like a burning sensation down your leg?
ANDRE AGASSI: Sharp, real sharp, yeah.
Q. You tossed in a few pills at one point, one turnover. Were they
painkillers?
ANDRE AGASSI: No, just Advil. It had been a few hours since I'd taken them,
so I figured might as well, it will help something. I didn't have high
expectations on that. It was worth a try, though.
Q. Obviously you just stepped off the court. Two kind of tough French Opens
in a row. What does this loss mean to you? Tough to take? Can you talk about
those things.
ANDRE AGASSI: It's sort of more of a bigger picture to me because of the way
my body is. I mean, that's not good, you know, to be out there and to not be
able to play for four or five hours. Doesn't leave you with high hopes. So,
I mean, the tennis is unfortunately the next thing that I think about. And
it's disappointing to lose.
But first and foremost is the way I feel, the chance that it gives me one
way or the other. I mean, if I feel this way, it's impossible. That's very
disappointing.
Q. But you sounded really positive about playing Wimbledon. Do you imagine
you'll be able to get through the US Open, as well?
ANDRE AGASSI: Well, I hope. You know, I know that last time I took an
injection, it helped for a few months. But I didn't play three out of five
on clay. I'm going to probably get another one and hope the three out of
five on grass is different. You know, I mean, I'll keep you updated, I
promise. I don't know what to say about it except that I hope it works.
Q. At the two-hour mark, you're ahead by two sets to one. Did you feel
there was no chance for you to win the match?
ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I almost shook hands at two sets to
one up because, yeah, to serve was painful, to move, you know, to stand,
then even to sit. It was just all -- everything builds on it. You know,
it gets more irritated, more inflamed, more stiff. So it was getting worse
and worse for sure, and I knew it. It was hard to stay out there.
Q. Knowing you were having this problem with your nerve, knowing how
demanding the clay is, what made you decide to come here and take the risk?
ANDRE AGASSI: Well, I didn't have the luxury of hindsight before coming
here. You know, I felt good in Rome. Physically, I was okay in my one match
in Hamburg, and my practices have been good. But, you know -- so I wasn't
thinking it was going to be a terrible risk. I mean, I knew I'd be needing
an injection sometime over the summer. But for it to feel that intense
during the match is a big surprise to me.
Q. Is the only difference between this year and last year, because you
missed Wimbledon, the fact that the cortisone shot could make it possible
this year?
ANDRE AGASSI: I didn't know last year what it was. I've lived with this
thinking it was a hip issue for a long time. You know, gradually getting
worse over the last couple years. Then we found out it was coming from the
back and coming from the nerve. I couldn't even have told you what a nerve
pain was before having this. I wasn't sure it was nerve. So then we
addressed the nerve, you know, with the cortisone.
So last year I just rested it, and that helps inflammation, too, you know,
just giving it rest, giving it time and antiinflammatories. But I thought
it was the hip. But it's not the hip. It's where I feel it, in the hip, but
it's coming from that nerve that I can't shake.
Q. You don't know the exact date you had the last cortisone shot?
ANDRE AGASSI: I had it straight after San Jose, so it was before Dubai. Like
a Monday maybe after San Jose.
Q. You've been so gracious and blunt describing the pain from today. Could
you also explain the joy that you still get out of the game, what the
flipside of it is for you now?
ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah, that's a tough question right now. Sorry. You know,
things that are tough are tougher now than ever.
But, yeah, I don't enjoy feeling that way. I don't enjoy being on the court
like that. There were a lot of things about today that were difficult.
Q. You saw Steffi go through a lot to physically recover the year after she
retired, how much pain she was in. Has she or the kids said to you, "Look,
we're sick of watching dad limp around the house. It's maybe time for you to
do something else"?
ANDRE AGASSI: Well, I never saw her go through it. She retired, you know,
maybe weeks after our first date. I didn't really know. I mean, I knew she
struggled with injuries throughout her career.
No, no, they've been very supportive. I mean, ultimately any decision I have
to make is one that I'm going to value their input, but she also knows it's a
decision that I have to be comfortable with and ready for.
Q. I know it's hard to put aside the pain, but is there any joy in having
just set the record now for the most appearances in Grand Slams? You have 58.
This is the all-time record. Were you aware of that?>
ANDRE AGASSI: Wasn't aware of that.
Q. You passed Connors, all the others. You have 58. Close ones are at 57.
You played in more Grand Slam tournaments than any other individual in the
history of tennis. How does that feel?
ANDRE AGASSI: The more you play, the more chance you have to win, right?
Q. You said you almost went up and shook hands. What was it that made you
stay out there?
ANDRE AGASSI: I just -- yeah, I couldn't walk off the court. I don't know.
I don't know. I just --
Q. Just didn't want to leave that way?
ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah, just didn't want to leave that way.
Q. So many players reach into their 30s. They really don't have a viable
alternative to life after tennis. You have so many options: a growing
charity, a family. When you weigh what you could do as a full-time parent
and husband against being on tour, what is still the upside of playing? You
don't have anything to prove, you've won all four Slams.
ANDRE AGASSI: Well, it's what I do. I mean, it's what I do until I don't do
it any more, you know. And it's given me a lot. You know, I'll assess the
necessary components at the end of the year. But I can't afford to pollute
the potential of my winning matches or tournaments with sitting on the fence,
with where I am, what I'm doing, why I'm doing it. You know, some things you
have to question; other things you have to not question. You have to just
put your head down and work.
So I don't use every day as an opportunity to second guess myself, as easy
as it is sometimes, and as convincing as your argument is. You know, I choose
to put my head down and work and look at it at the end of the year.
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