Once Confidence Went, Agassi Lost Whole Game : Davis Cup: His ranking has dropped to No. 14, but 21-year-old hopes to regain form in matches that begin Friday against Czechoslovakia.

By THOMAS BONK

March 26, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

FT. MYERS, Fla. — As far as history goes, tennis is a latecomer to the flat, scrubby finger of land at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River known as Punta Rassa, where the United States will play its next Davis Cup match against Czechoslovakia beginning Friday.

This is believed to be the site where Juan Ponce de Leon, legendary seeker of the Fountain of Youth, was mortally wounded by a Calusa tribal arrow in the 16th Century.

In 1885, a big gamefish, a tarpon, was caught by rod and reel for the first time.

And in 1898, Punta Rassa was the point where news of the sinking of the battleship Maine was received by telegraph from Cuba, information that plunged the United States into the Spanish-American war.

Now, nearly a century later, it’s once again the scene of an event of some historical significance--at least by tennis standards--where some light may be shed on the tennis questions of the year:

--What’s the matter with Andre Agassi?

--Can he find the Fountain of Youth at 21?

--Will he ever reel in a Big One?

--How low has he sunk?

Actually, the last question is pretty easy to answer. Agassi’s ranking is at low tide, No. 14, his worst since 1988, but that was when he was on his way to finishing the year a career-best No. 3. Now, Agassi is going in the other direction.

His 4-5 record in IBM/ATP Tour events is the poorest start of his five-year career. So far, Agassi has lost in the first round at Milan, the second round at Brussels, the second round at Scottsdale, the third round at Indian Wells and the opening round at Key Biscayne.

All of this has prompted Agassi to do something he almost never tries to do when he plays tennis. He has begun to think too much.

“It feels like I’ve been playing horrible for an eternity,” Agassi said.

The secret of success for Agassi, besides his uncanny ability to send the ball spinning into corners and down the lines from angles that would impress a geometry teacher, has always been his confidence level. Its source is slightly different than normal, he said.

As Agassi explained: “Most players win matches and then have confidence, but I have confidence and then I win matches.”

So it seems like a troubling problem. How does one recapture an intangible? Or how does a player again find something that he doesn’t know how he got?

“You give me a little doubt and I’ll take it a long way,” Agassi said. “My mind . . . at times is my worst enemy.”

Since he swamped Wimbledon champion Michael Stich in last year’s U.S. Davis Cup semifinal victory over Germany at Kansas City, Agassi has been able to use the international competition as sort of a refuge from the normal pro tour events.

He played on the U.S. team that beat Australia in the final to win the Davis Cup in 1990 and on the team that reached the final last year before losing to France, but Agassi realizes he isn’t exactly vaulting into this weekend’s matches at his tennis zenith.

“I’m not going to b.s. myself, they are probably going to think they made a bad decision if I have a bad match Friday,” Agassi said. “I’m aware of that.

“I’ve always been such a confidence player, I’ve always believed in myself. But now, I’m stepping onto the court with questions.

“Before, if I tried the right shot, even if it was a tough one, and missed it, at least I felt good about going for it. Now, if I try a shot and miss it, I wonder if I am even capable of hitting it.

“When that happens, there’s nothing that separates you from the rest of the players.”

Tennis prodigy Agassi began separating himself from the rest when he reached three Grand Slam finals--in the 1990 French Open, the 1990 U.S. Open and the 1991 French Open. Favored in each one, Agassi instead lost all three, and doubts began to set in.

After Jim Courier, his one-time Bollettieri Tennis Academy roommate, upset him in last year’s French Open final, Agassi was distraught, but pulled himself together to play admirably on his least favorite surface, the grass courts at Wimbledon. He managed to reach the fourth round.

Then as a returning finalist in the U.S. Open, he lost his opening match to Aaron Krickstein.

“Wimbledon was my last hurrah for the year,” Agassi said. “I felt fried mentally. I think after Wimbledon, the French Open (loss to Courier) took its toll on me. I almost felt like it wasn’t worth getting to another final to feel that amount of pain.”

Agassi eventually decided that time off was what he needed, so he skipped this year’s Australian Open. He admits that was a mistake.

“I was getting away from the burned-out, latter part of the year,” Agassi said. “I had no motivation, no desire to dig down and fight. I just wanted to get away. I thought that was the right play.”

Then, once he began to lose at the start of this year, Agassi committed a series of additional errors out of frustration. He changed strings on his racket. He tried a new racket tension. He tinkered with his serve. He altered his footwork. He tried a diet to lose weight. He practiced more.

But nothing worked for him.

“Here I am in the hard-court season, digging myself out of a hole again,” Agassi said.

The Davis Cup could help him out, Agassi says.

“I’d be lying to try to convince people I’m playing well, but the breaks just aren’t going my way,” he said. “Good tennis, great tennis, my tennis, I haven’t achieved any of that.

“I really have all the pieces right here. I just have to grind through. I’ll never tell you I’m not scared stepping on the court in Davis Cup, but when I’m scared, I feel I am capable of playing my best tennis.

“Not questioning, but believing, not so much what the opponent believes, it’s what I believe. I’m hoping I can use this Davis Cup. I sure know it can only help. At least, I’m on the road.”