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Agassi eyes Grand Slam sweep
October 27, 2004 11:35 IST
At an age when most professional tennis players are contemplating retirement or already enjoying the spoils of a lucrative career, Andre Agassi is still gunning for bigger and better things.
The 34-year-old says he will not be satisfied by one more Grand Slam crown to add to his haul -- he wants to win all four in 2005.
"I'm very clear about the fact that I want to play next year," the American told a news conference in Sweden a day before his first round match at the Stockholm Open where he is top seed.
When asked about next year's Grand Slam events -- the Australian, French and U.S. Opens plus Wimbledon -- Agassi said he wanted "to win them again, all of them, that's my goal."
Australia's Rod Laver is the only men's tennis player to have won all four Grand Slam tournaments in one year. He did it twice, as an amateur in 1962 and as a professional in 1969.
Agassi, who is on course to finish 2004 in the top-10 in the world rankings for the 15th time in his ATP tour career, which began in 1986, has eight Grand Slam titles.
In 1999 Agassi became only the fifth man to win all four Grand Slam titles in his career, joining Laver, Fred Perry, Don Budge and Roy Emerson.
Agassi won Wimbledon in 1992, Australian Open in 1995, 2000, 2001 and 2003, U.S. Open in 1994 and 1999 and French Open in 1999.
Agassi's wife, former women's world number one player Steffi Graf, won all four Grand Slam titles, plus Olympic gold, in 1988.