Andre Agassi vs. Michael Chang Extended Highlights _ 1988 US Open Round 4

Well, Chamberlain was around all afternoon. In fact, he may still be here. Boy, is he a spectator. Just wide. And Michael Chang needing to hold serve to force a tiebreak. Michael Chang is going to finish up high school with a correspondence course, Ted. Folks told me. Definitely hear the Agassi groans as this match wears on. Well, what'll happen Thursday if Agassi wins and plays Connors, his idol in tennis, and it'll be grunt versus groan. Winner of this match to play Jimmy Connors in the quarterfinal. Five-time U.S. Open champion. Agassi opens up the court. This is just pure power from Andre Agassi. He opens up the court. Now, Michael Chang starts to move to his right, but watch where that ball ends up. Right in the corner. Another shot of this stroke. Beautiful follow-through by Agassi. And again. He stayed back even on that first short ball. He did not come in. Loves to hit the winners from the baseline. It's a really different style than we're used to seeing. He'll get it. Best point of the match so far. No question about it. Agassi finally comes in, gets forced into a low forehand volley. The court wide open. Michael Chang will hit it right into that open court. Watch how quickly Chang moves now. Gets his racket back as he's on the move and then sweeps over that ball. It was a safe shot for him. And was he glad to win it? Look at the relief. There may not be a player right now as quick, as fast as Michael Chang. The first couple steps he takes are the key. He just spurts. Head court. A real break for Chang on that shot. 48-30. Now a point from a first set tie break. The two-handed noose tried to put that ball away. A baby in the crowd. Started to cry. Michael just about ready to start his swing. He had to stop. That is Richard Kaufman, Seattle, Washington, in the chair. It is Deuce, 6-5, Agassi, first set. This is where Agassi shows some great talent now. He takes a swinging shot. He puts that forehand volley away, but it was all set up for that big swinging forehand that he took in the pole. Set point for Andre Agassi. So Agassi with that big volley. Finally broke that first set open. Seven games to five. Agassi wins the first set in a best-of-five set match. Brian Godfrey, Michael Chang's coach, but Ted, we saw some fine tennis in that first set. Clean shots, great exchanges from the baseline. This is great fun to watch. And there were very few net points. It was a lot of powerful ground strokes. They picked a great guy in Brian Godfrey because he knows the game well. He's a real orthodox player, a fine fellow, and Brian can impart a lot of knowledge to these young players. Now you see Agassi lining up midway between the center service and the sidelines. Sometimes he moves way over to the left, very unusual. It's almost like Agassi conceded that point. He threw the lob up, came back very slowly, almost like he said, okay, you outplayed me, Michael. It's your point. 30-15. Chang said he learned a lot about playing big matches this year at the French Open. He lost to John McEnroe 6-0, 6-2, 6-1. He said after he went out and he realized he had done nothing but be in awe and be intimidated by McEnroe and what McEnroe had done before. Agassi toys with one of the ball boys. Andre giving a little body English to go out. 40-15. Watch it here now. Agassi really hits that forehand. Now the lob goes up. He looks at it. We haven't seen much of that side of Agassi during this Open. The showmanship's there. You're right. I wonder if he doesn't do that when he feels like he has control. First double fault for Andre. Looking at that ball now, he's changed a couple times. Game, Agassi. And Agassi wins the set and holds to start the second. Love 15. Michael does not want to try and over hit that forehand. He's got a fine forehand, but he cannot hit the same kind of shot that Agassi did. Much more powerful. 15-0. Devastating. That's all you can say about that shot. 15-30. His timing is just unbelievable. 15-40. An important juncture of the match right now for Michael Chang. Very big game right here. He does not want to lose the serve. Get down to Love early here in the second set. The momentum is definitely starting to swing towards Agassi at this point in the match. And Agassi breaks to go up to Love in the second set. He likes to do his practicing out in court in actual matches. Nick Volatieri. Quite a contrast. We saw Jimmy Connors win so easily today that he came back out this evening and hit with Ilya Nastasic for quite a while. But you know, I asked Jimmy the other day, was he practicing a lot during the tournament? He said, I know what I'm doing, Barry, but I really don't need to practice quite so much as I used to. I just go out and play the match. Agassi hits his first drop shot of the evening. That surprises Michael Chang. Agassi decides for the first time tonight to serve in volley, and he may rethink that strategy quickly because Chang just unloaded a terrific two-handed return. Game, Agassi. And Agassi begins to assert himself. 15, Love. Michael Chang serving down Love. 3, second set. At this stage, Chang was so successful early there in that first set, the first couple of games when he snuck in behind some good approaches. And hit the volley. I think he ought to try and do a little more volleying right now. That is amazing what Agassi just tried there. He watched the ball float, let it fall below the net, and then takes a full swing, hits it on the volley. His timing, though, is just so incredible. He can get away with those shots. 40, 15. Agassi has begun to establish his tempo to this match, his power, his pace. And he plays very fast. Between points, he walks faster, kind of like Steffi Grof. Game, Chang. Now Chang holds here, and it's 3-1 Agassi in the second set. Agassi leads 3-1. Agassi's got one of the loosest-fitting shirts. I think he takes an extra-large. He's probably a larger medium. Boy, that shirt just hangs on him, but that's what he likes. Love, 15. Is it important, Barry, for the development of the young American players like Agassi and Chang, that their games become more well-rounded, so that Agassi can play Wimbledon effectively, let's say? Definitely. I think they ought to try some play on different surfaces. I think Agassi ought to give it a shot over there on the grass at Wimbledon, and certainly since there is so much deco-turf and hard surfaces, as we have a look there at that great winning streak of Andre Agassi's. But I think the old play courts were a great developer also, Ted. No, very few play court tournaments anymore, but over in Europe, of course, a lot of them. This is Richard Kaufman, who is in control here. The ball. It was... That ball is dead. It's a soft ball. They're gonna put it out of play, and Agassi had some fun. He loves it and balls into the crowd. He does it after every match. Bye, please. Michael doesn't seem to mind. Crowd is a little quiet tonight. They really are. Agassi loves to get him involved. He said that this is such a big stadium, he's had trouble doing that. This is the most powerful forehand we have seen Michael Chang hit tonight. He makes a great get here. Now Agassi goes wide again. Watch this shot. He just pounds it right into the corner. Good power from Michael Chang. I think Chang's getting inspired by all the big powerful forehands of Agassi's. He's got a chance here to get back in the set. Two great points. Big points. You see good hands there. He let that ball go. 30, 40. Quick reactions from Andre Agassi, who was just about ready to hit that ball. He knew the ball was gonna go long and got his racket out of the way quickly. But we are seeing two good athletes as well as tennis players. Natural talent. That's big. Agassi saving two break points. He's up a break in this set. He does look a bit more loose, but at least as if he's enjoying this a bit more. It doesn't look like he enjoyed his other matches here. Chang with an unlucky break. That ball just hovered on the top of the net. Agassi being very careful which tennis balls he's using here for the serve. No, it goes way wide. About to change the pace. You don't see him try those kind of shots very often. He stays with the power. Great point for Chang. Second set. 15-9. Agassi's ball out on the baseline. Chang serving much better. First serves, that is, than Andre Agassi. They've been up to the net just about the same amount and Chang has been a little more successful. But look at the winners. Agassi with 15 clean winners. Chang made his move. Committed himself too early there and Agassi saw it. 15-all. Ladies and gentlemen, no flash photography. Richard Kaufman telling everybody no flash photography. It is distracting. Now we're seeing Chang at net a little bit now, Barry, and the results seem to be good for him. 30-15. Joe Chang and Betty Chang, Michael's parents who are just delighted to be here. Betty travels with him most of the time and there is Brian Gottfried who has been working with Michael now for almost a year. 40-15. 40-15. Brian Gottfried, of course, one of the real good Turing pros and was one of the best doubles players in the world with Raul Ramirez about six or seven years ago and certainly one of the most knowledgeable players in the game today. And they picked a good guy when they got Brian involved in this program. Game change. Chang holds and we're at 3-all in the second set. Brian Gottfried, a Davis Cup player from the United States, had a lot of experience internationally. Had a pretty good run in singles at one point. He was a top-ten player briefly. Absolutely. 15-love. That was a well-played point from Michael Chang because Agassi had drawn him way out of court, tried to knock off the forehand winner, but Chang came back with a better forehand, opened up the court. He's staying with him here power-wise. 30-15. Look at how Agassi's rise. Look at how meteoric it's been at this year's rise from 27-4 by winning six tournaments. You know, they say that you don't move on that ATP computer very fast, but Agassi has proved everybody wrong. The way you move is to win tennis tournaments, and he's won six of them. 30-all. Double fault to 30-all. One caveat to that is that Agassi has won all the tournaments this year and has played only four matches all year in Grand Prix events against top-ten players. Michael Chang used early in the first set. Joe Chang very happy with that shot. Watch the way he sees the opportunity here. A couple quick steps, and he's inside the service line. Good motion there. Moves the weight into it very well. Short swing. Agassi saving a break point, and it's deuce. Agassi played that point very well. Got his first serve in. Pulled Chang way out of court and hit a good safe shot to come in on. Well played by Agassi. Advantage Agassi. Chang caught the serve out. Michael not happy with the service call. Felt it was... This is Richard Kaufman. Cyclops doing some double duty over there. Game, Agassi. And Agassi saves that break point and winds up holding championship. There has been a lot of talk about that during the tournament this year. Love 15. Championship moved here to the Flushing Meadows site in 1978, so it's been a while. And there's some pros and cons, I think, about the overall situation here, but there has been talk that Trump is talking about another possible site. Agassi showing some good defense there on a good approach shot by Michael Chang. Chang's percentage. Excellent at 80, and Agassi picking up some steam, too. But Michael Chang does not go for too many big first serves, and that's why his percentage is so high. He's content to get that first serve in play. And now Agassi showing some real strength off that two-handed backhand. Everybody talks about the forehand, but you cannot take it for granted when you come in on this two-hander. Agassi just unloads here. It's a good, low, difficult shot. Now watch how quickly he gets those two hands together and then jumps at the ball. Knew he had it immediately. Three break points, and Agassi now will get the vulnerable second serve. Well, you know. Did he go for it there? 15, 40. He knows how to play the score so well. When you got somebody down low, 40, that's the time to take a chance, which is exactly what Agassi did there. He just hit out on it. So he loses a point. He's still got two break points. 15, 40. Game, Agassi. Ball changed. And now Michael Chang is in trouble. Being broken, Agassi will serve for the second set. Education of a very young American who came from a two sets to one deficit to beat Svendsen in the second round, came from two sets to none down to beat Wilkerson in the third round. But neither is Agassi. Agassi gets some help as he raises his racket. That ball just touched the top of the net. Chang ready to volley. Now watch how the ball, as it hits the top of the net, right there, just jumps over the racket of Michael Chang. Virtually impossible to be that quick with your hands when you get a break like that. 30 left. What Chang needs here is what Aaron Krikstein was able to do last night at this exact juncture of the match. He was able to break and wind up winning. 3-5 in the second. That's what Chang needs to do here. But it doesn't look like it's going to happen. Nick Boletarian, that is Phil Agassi, Andre's older brother. The pace of Agassi must wear you down. It looks like it's wearing Chang down. His second ace. And Andre Agassi now leads two sets to none. A player not nearly as talented as Andre Agassi. I can't help but think at this stage, Ted, that those two very tough matches that Chang played perhaps now have taken their toll just a little bit. 30. Everything going Agassi's way at this moment as he's getting let cords. Chang, it's a good-looking approach out here. Now watch this ball again. Just hits on the top. Michael tries to react and hit the two-hander down the line, but it just was too high over his shoulder. That's out. Late call. Called out. It's interesting, Barry, because Michael Chang said yesterday he remembered a match against Agassi as juniors. Chang had a set point, hit a volley that he thought was good. It was called out by Agassi. They were calling their own lines. What a great reaction there. Agassi hits a good approach shot. Now watch Agassi lunge into the far corner. Chang just gets his racket on the ball and half-volleys it. Remarkably here, he half-volleys this ball up the line. Agassi had no play on it. Watch this as he looks over at Andre. Hey, I didn't think I was gonna get it either. I'm sure Michael thought that ball was wide, but... Great point for Agassi. He's leading two sets to none, so this obviously crucial for Chang. Game, Agassi. First game. Agassi breaks to start the third. And Andre Agassi has asserted himself into control of the match against Michael Chang. But now, right now is where Andre really has to concentrate. He's got two sets. He's got a break in the third. Everything's rolling for him, but there's a tendency sometimes when you're this far ahead to loosen up and let up just a little bit. That's exactly what he did on those two points. The number of ground stroke errors from Chang seems to indicate just simply how hard Agassi's hitting. When you look at the winners, Agassi has twice the number as Chang, and that indicates too that Agassi has controlled the tempo, the way the points are being played. Agassi playing very quickly now, getting the points over with in a hurry. He walks fast. He plays fast. Rarely uses any of that 30 seconds up in between points. Finally, Michael Chang unloads. It's one of the few winners he's hit here in the last few games. It's the first time, Barry, in the four matches that Agassi has played that we've have heard him talk a little bit and be the Agassi that has charmed everyone this year. Yes. Well, he's three for three on that top spin lob now over Michael Chang. 30-15. We should say that, of course, Agassi has charmed so many fans, he hasn't charmed all of his peers. Some of the fellow pros, John McEnroe notably. A bit outspoken about what Agassi does. Feeling it shows up players. Agassi runs right over to where all his fans are sitting there. Now watch this running forward. He barely gets one-hander back. On the full run now, up the line, and he carries right into the sideline. Watch it from another angle here. Beautiful wrist action. Racket over the shoulder, and as he looks up, there's his brother, Nick Bolletieri. And the entire Agassi entourage about five feet away from him as he finished that shot. 40-30. That's so difficult in tennis because while the Agassis cheer, wander on front, Changs are sitting. Game Chang. And Chang holds. Agassi serving stadium court. U.S. Open. Fourth round men's singles. The winner gets Jimmy Connors in the quarterfinals Thursday. Here's a winner by Chang. I'd like to thank the good folks at Unisys Computers for supplying the computer system, keeping track of scoring and statistics during the U.S. Open. And our match statistics and research, we thank Leo Levin and Barbara Trappers. 30-15. There you see a little inexperience from Michael Chang on that volley. Watch it here now. Michael Chang, not real comfortable. That ball kind of jammed him, got way too far in there. He is not comfortable at net quite yet. He needs to hit a real good approach shot to have the floater to put that ball away and Agassi quickly with another game. Agassi, what a year he's had. Six tournaments. He picked up more than $250,000 in prize money this year just from February to May. And he's taken Chang's net game away. Chang has won only four of 13 points at net since the first set, but he starts this game with his first ace. 15-9. Well, it's a lot easier to do that when you're leading two sets to none. Tom Gorman about Agassi and McEnroe down there in that Davis Cup match. Tom said that on the day before the match started, at the draw, which is when you normally don't play too much as we look at a good match record, but on the day before the draw, Ted, they were supposed to go out and warm up for maybe 10-15 minutes and they played for an hour and 45 minutes and they said it was one of the best matches, Agassi and McEnroe, a practice match down in Argentina that anybody had ever seen. Drew a big crowd. They helped put the Americans back in the World Group of Davis Cup next year with that win, McEnroe and Agassi. Now there you saw Agassi hit a fault return. He hit it around the side of the net for a winner. Of course, it didn't count. But Barry, maybe not tonight, but down the road, isn't this good for Chang that he's willing to come to net? Definitely. As you watch him in here now, knocks off that bat. But the thing is that he needs to have a fairly easy volley at this point in his career to hit it just like that. He needs to be a little more flexible on the ones that get low on him. This is not an easy shot and Andre Agassi made it look like an easy shot. That's a deep approach shot. Look at that. He just drills it up the line, virtually on a half volley. Chang, totally stunned and helpless. Nice kicking wide serve. Chang does hold. Perhaps you can give us your impressions of the way these fellows hit that two-hander. Michael hits it. They're both very deceptive. We saw just Michael make a great lob and he caught Andre flat-footed as he was coming in. I think it's a fantastic shot because it's harder to read because you have to rotate your shoulders and I like to pivot and rotate your shoulders. The opponent cannot read the shot. That's the advantage of it. Of course, we know the disadvantage. You lose reach, but these boys are in such great shape. That doesn't bother them. Yes, they're so quick, both of them, but the lack of reach on the two-handed side really isn't a handicap at all. What I like to see them do more with that two-handed side, when they return serve, to come to the net behind it once in a while. They don't do that enough. They should have another net. Michael should have another net. Michael is so quick. It's unbelievable. So is Andre. They're both very quick. Andre's a little stronger right now, physically. I think that Michael, without taking anything away from Andre, Michael's played two tough matches. As you know, he won one from two sets down, but he got a heart of a champion. His concentration is fantastic for a 60-year-old. That's the reason I predict in two years' time, he should be one of the best players in the world. Right, I know you used to work with Jimmy Connors in the old days, didn't you? There's another one with great concentration. And he's playing the winner of this match. So you're going to have your loyalties a bit divided there. Andre is the only one who can drive a forehand volley from the middle of the court and place him like a ground shot. I've never seen anybody do it so well. He's outstanding. He's playing. I think he's going to a good patch. But, you know, we don't know. We've got a few more days to go, John. What's your prediction on this event? And you're pretty good at picking up winners. Well, I think I'm going to have to go with Mr. Lengel, the holder of the title. He's playing pretty well. He's playing well. Well, he's so big and ranging. I think he can hold off these boys and hit the ball so hard, at least from the baseline. So, Pancho, really, it's been a marvelous experience for you, I'm sure, to see two such great young Americans coming along. You need Americans now. We do indeed, but I think that within two, three years, we're going to have quite a few Americans up there. There's another boy named Michael Sampras. I don't know if you've seen him. He's got a great serve, great net game. He plays a little bit different than these boys, and I think he's got a future in the game, too. Well, Pancho Segura, thanks very much for joining us, giving us your thoughts on the match. Back now to Ted. Hey, John, before you let Segu go down there, tell him we called him Sneaky, and the reason we did is because he snuck in behind so many balls, and he killed me with it. Thank you. Well, Barry's just reminding us that we used to call you Sneaky in the old days. Because he used to play such great surprise shots. One of the great, all-time greats of this game of ours. I used to sneak in with good ground strokes. Well, a great pleasure to talk with one of the game's legends, Ted. Well, thank you, John. Appreciate it. Thank you, John. And Pancho, we're at 15-all. Michael Chang on the brink here, trying to stay alive. One of the interesting things, Barry, that Segura has said, being here these last couple of days, is that Michael Chang plays the same way Jimmy Connors played at age 16. You know, Segura is so much fun to listen to, Ted, because he is one of the great students of the game. And talk about charming crowds through the years. When we used to travel on the old Pro Tour days, you'd think Agassi charms him. Segura was a knockout. Everybody loved him. They'd all say, where's that little guy with all the teeth? Sneaky. And what a great two-handed shot he had. I think of all the pros that were playing the game in those days, the one guy you wanted to keep the ball away from was Pancho Segura's forehand, including Gonzalez, who would rarely even serve to it, because he had such a great return of serve off that two-hander. Agassi, on that shot, hits the two-hander on the full run, on the volley, swings at it. But I'll tell you, Agassi won the point, but did Chang again show you how quick he is? He ran down a ball that very few would have gotten to. This guy's going to play a lot more matches against each other before their careers are over. That's what I'm wondering, Barry, you watch and you wonder, will this be all maybe like Martina and Chris have been for the women that 12 years from now we may still be watching them? Could well be. 85 matches to 60 or something like that. Chang, must hold serve, and 2-4 in the third, down two sets. His first double fault of the night at an awful time. Well, on paper, Chang's serve has looked better, his first serve percentage much better than Agassi's, but as we mentioned, he's just getting a lot of first serves in, content to get the ball in play. Max, utter sheer strength, and Agassi will serve for the match. Jimmy Connors, Thursday on USA. And Michael Chang got a tremendous ovation as he came across here to perhaps play the last game of this match. Seeing that backhand, it has just been the power of Andre Agassi throughout these three sets that has been devastating. I'm impressed with the way that he swings on those low volleys, taking chances, but for him he seems to have the timing. It's only the fifth point Agassi has lost on his serve in this set. Bill Agassi on the left there with Nick Bolletieri on the right. Tom Gorman was sitting right behind him, the U.S. Davis Cup captain, who obviously is pleased to speak to such good young Americans who will hopefully bring that cup back to this country. Well, it won't be this easy, I'm sure, or this calm for Phil Agassi and Nick Bolletieri Thursday. Agassi-Connors will be a terrific match. It's out. And match point. 40-15. One more match point. 40-30.