Tennis: Language no barrier to Agassi: Actions speak louder than words for American who loses his temper but wins first match

ANDRE AGASSI was fortunate to survive his first-round match at the Italian Open here yesterday for two reasons: the way he played, and the way he swore.

The former Wimbledon champion shouted the F-word on four occasions while attempting to string together sufficient decent shots to rescue himself against Tomas Carbonell, of Spain, eventually managing to do so, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5.

Everyone in the Centre Court of the Foro Italico heard the expletives, but the umpire, Romano Gillotti, who admitted to hearing three of the four, surprisingly decided they were pianissimo, and took no action.

The ATP Tour superviser, Ed Hardisty, said: 'The ATP doesn't endorse obscenities, but the umpire didn't find them sufficiently loud. On two occasions, he thought they were soft. On the third, which was between a first and second serve, he thought it would have put Carbonell off to give a code violation.'

Agassi considered his choice of language superior to his selection of shots. 'I think as far as which words you use,' he said, 'you have a little more freedom in a country where it is not your natural language. Still, it's never good to lose your temper in a way that reflects badly on the game. I regret it in that sense.'

Umpires are supplied with a glossary of international obscenities, not that one was needed on this occasion.

Agassi's swearing was addressed to himself and not directed at the officials. Even so, he appears to have taken a literal meaning of the title of his coach Brad Gilbert's book: Winning Ugly.

'I had trouble getting into the match today,' Agassi said (21 unforced errors did not help). 'I felt that I wasn't moving right and I wasn't fast enough in changing direction. I think everybody has one or two bad matches in a week.'

Agassi also made a dodgy start in his first match on European clay in Monte Carlo last month, and paid for it by losing to the rising young Russian, Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Carbonell, ranked No 67 in the world, was unable to grasp his opportunity, double-faulting when leading 3-1 in the final set.

Pete Sampras's first impression of the year on the sport's slowest surface was in stark contrast to Agassi's. Though his serve was less reliable than usual, the world No 1 compensated with 35 winners past Aaron Krickstein in defeating his American compatriot, 6-1, 7-6.

The Wimbledon champion was 5-1 ahead after only 18 minutes as he began to wind up for his bid to win a fourth consecutive Grand Slam title at the French Open. Krickstein, a finalist in Rome 10 years ago, recovered to provide more of a contest in the second set, but found little response in the tie-break, which Sampras won, 7-2.

'I hit some really nice shots today, so I'm quite pleased,' Sampras said. 'I started much better than I thought. On a hard court I just roll my way to victory, whereas on clay you have to hit that extra ball.'

Aside from the quality of his serving, Sampras was concerned with his lack of movement at the net. 'I feel off balance, slipping and sliding,' he said, 'but that's because of not growing up on clay.' Even though his attacking style has still to adjust to the conditions, he was pleased with the way he was able to disabuse the counter-punching Krickstein with 'controlled aggression'.

Krickstein agreed that the clay courts have been made to play faster in recent years, and considers Sampras's prospects promising, both here and for the French Open. 'He's got a lot of confidence, and that's a plus in his favour right off the bat,' he said. 'He can beat anybody when he serves well, and the serve is still a big factor, even on clay. But I think he'll have to do better each match. There are no easy ones on clay, as he'll find out.'

Jim Courier, the winner in Rome for the past two years, came through his opening match against Libor Nemecek, defeating the Czech qualifier, 6-3, 6-3, and Michael Stich, the No 2 seed, steadied himself to defeat one of Nemecek's compatriots, David Rikl, 7-6, 6-4. Boris Becker, the eighth seed, won a topsy-turvy contest against Karel Novacek, 6-1, 1-6, 6-1.

(Photograph omitted)