Taipei, Jan. 5 (CNA) Tennis great Andre Agassi talked about his charity efforts and his career Wednesday in Taipei and predicted that Rafael Nadal will beat out Swiss world No. 1 Roger Federer this year.
He made the remarks at a press conference ahead of his appearance in a pair of exhibition games in Taiwan.
The eight-time grand slam winner, visiting Taiwan for the second time in 22 years, also said the rivalry between Federer and Nadal is "more compelling" than his rivalry with former U.S. ace Pete Sampras.
Agassi, 40, arrived in Taiwan to play in the 2011 Rise of Legends exhibition games, which also feature retired Russian star Marat Safin, current world No. 10, Mikhail Youzhny and local players Yen-hsun Lu and Jimmy Wang. The matches will take place in Taipei Thursday and in Kaohsiung Saturday.
He said he was glad that at this stage of his life he "can still do this well enough and come back and hopefully bring you a little joy." Agassi will meet two-time grand slam winner Safin in a three-set match Thursday at the Taipei Arena.
He said he is impressed with the growth of tennis in Taiwan over the years, adding that "you have so much to be proud of with Lu and so many accomplishments are still ahead of him, " referring to world No. 35 Lu, currently the top-ranked player in Asia.
Asked about his charity work, Agassi said that tennis was a vehicle for him to do what he does now. While his greatest connection with tennis in the past was to impact people during two hours on the tennis court, now he is able to devote his life to helping those in need with his charity foundation.
Responding to a reporter's question, Agassi said that tennis is at an amazing time with the strong rivalry between Federer and Nadal.
"You got somebody who's dominated this game for such a long period of time in Federer but having a losing record against the No. 2 player (Nadal) in the world for so long, " he said.
Tennis is the winner at the end of the day, Agassi went on, adding that if he and Sampras were playing now with Federer and Nadal, who comes from Spain, people would still be asking the question "what's wrong with American tennis."
On his autobiography "Open, " Agassi said he wanted to "walk you through my life through my own lens, and through my own learning curve" because there were different times in his life when he saw things in different ways.
The charismatic star took time to poke fun at Safin, who was seated beside Agassi and started sweating less than 10 minutes into the press conference, saying that Safin, who retired last year at the age of 29, was nervous and "still scared" about playing against him. (By Chris Wang) ENDITEM/J