Henman sneaks past Agassi
January 15, 2005

IF Andre Agassi is carrying a serious injury, England's No.1 tennis player Tim Henman has a lot to worry about.

Agassi, who pulled out of the Kooyong Classic on Thursday with a hip injury that has placed his Australian Open campaign in doubt, dragged himself back onto the court today and came within a couple of points of beating Henman.

Henman won 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 in a match that said a lot about his Open prospects, but little about Agassi's.

The American neither ruled himself out of the Open which starts on Monday, nor did he declare himself a certain starter.

But he gave a clear impression that he would be at Melbourne Park and ready to play his first round match.

"I have plans on playing, that's what I'm here for," Agassi said.

After initially believing he had a muscle injury, Agassi said today scans showed small tears to a tendon near his hip – which apparently is the lesser of the two evils.

"It's better if it's a tendon because it's manageable," he said.

Despite Agassi's competitive showing against a player seeded seventh at the Open – one place ahead of himself – Agassi said he hadn't extended himself in today's match.

"I definitely felt I wasn't getting to balls I normally would have got to," he said.

"I'm certainly aware of it, but it was better than when it happened on Thursday."

Agassi is due to play a so-far unnamed qualifier in the first round of the Open on either Monday or Tuesday.

While he has the option of requesting a Tuesday start to the championship, Agassi said he would be ready to play on whatever day he was drawn.

"An extra day won't make any difference," he said.

Henman seemed set to breeze through the match which was little more than an exhibition within an exhibition.

But as Agassi's hip warmed up, his competitive instinct came to life.

After producing a series of typically brilliant service returns, he won the tiebreak and then kept Henman on court for another hour.

"That was the most positive thing, to get a couple of hours play," he said.

Agassi intends to train tomorrow as a well as getting treatment for his injury which includes a course of "heavy anti-inflammatories".

AAP http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,11951196-23216,00.html