Wednesday, June 28 2006 14:18 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: Andre Agassi has admitted there were times when he felt embarrassed as he laboured to a first round victory over Boris Pashanski in his final Wimbledon.

Agassi, who announced last week that he will retire after this year's US Open, looked in considerable discomfort at times as he recovered from losing the first set to win 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3.

Although he ultimately came through fairly comfortably, helped by an erratic display by Pashanski, Agassi acknowledged he had come pretty close to losing control of the match.

"To be down a set and breakpoint at 0-1 in the second, the match is really going to get away from you," the American said.

"So when I settled in the second set, I relaxed a lot. But I was a bit uptight. I went from nervous to slightly embarrassed to digging in and getting more comfortable as it went on," he said.

The 36-year-old was treated to a standing ovation from the Centre Court crowd and he reciprocated with broad smiles, bows and kisses to every corner of the packed showpiece stadium, scene of his first Grand Slam victory back in 1992.

But for much of the match, Agassi's face had born a grimace rather than a grin as he made hard work of despatching an opponent he would have brushed aside with ease when he was in his prime.

Agassi, making his first appearance here since 2003, went into the match badly short of match sharpness after missing the entire clay court season to avoid aggravating a back injury which has dogged him over the last year.

It showed as Pashanski claimed the first set but the Serbian's high count of unforced errors, typified by a double fault on match point, allowed Agassi to reclaim the initiative.



The win sent Agassi into a second round tie with either Italy's Andreas Seppi or British wildcard Jamie Baker.

If he can get through that match, he could come up against French Open champion Rafael Nadal in the third round.

Agassi admits it will be something of a relief when he does finally stop playing, but he insists that his decision to quit will not make any difference to his approach to the matches he has left here.

"I'm out here giving it everything I've got," he said.

"That's my mentality, I'm just going to do that until the end," he said.

"I don't know if that will come the day after tomorrow or much later. I need to see that through. That's what kicks in with me when I get out there," he said.