Agassi Is Using His Head to Pull the Purse Strings

NEW YORK —  The first thing you notice about Andre Agassi is his hair. Surprise. It’s the first thing he wants you to notice.

Agassi, whose hair would be black if he did not bleach it, turned his hair to an even lighter shade before he played his third-round match Saturday.

So it was a blond-maned victorious Agassi who met reporters Monday after his fourth-round, 6-1, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Jim Grabb, and explained his secret to his success in explicit terms.

Asked why he bleaches his hair, plays to the crowd and behaves the way he does, Agassi provided a one-word answer:

“Money,” he said.

Although Agassi’s father, Mike, and brother Phil, 26, are bald, hair will continue to be his fashion statement for at least the near future.

“My hair, I want to do things with it while I still have it,” Agassi said. “And as far as the crowd goes, I have fun doing that.”

Agassi’s ranking has been as high as No. 3 and he is now ranked No. 6, although he has never beaten a top five player nor won a Grand Slam tournament.

Agassi insists he does not have to win a major tournament for his act to continue to enjoy a successful run.

“There’s different things about me that people like,” he said. “It’s not just watching me win. Lendl has set up his reputation so that people can watch him and see him win. He’s like a machine out there. If he doesn’t win, it’s almost as if they didn’t get their money’s worth.”

Agassi said he is different.

“People come to have fun. They come . . . since they don’t know what’s going to come out of me, whether I’m going to lose my mind or whether I’m going to laugh.

“I don’t feel pressure as far as winning or doing this or doing that. As long as someone wants to do a poster of me, I’ll let them. I don’t know how long it’s going to last.

“It’s been great so far.”