30th January, 2000 No stopping awesome Andre Andre Agassi is an overwhelming favourite to win the Australian Open today and for very good reason. He has been awesome throughout the tournament and shows no sign of slowing down. As defending champion and a great baseliner, Yevgeny Kafelnikov clearly deserves his place in the final after stringing together six wins in a row. But as well as Kafelnikov is going, I can't see him knocking over Agassi. The Agassi match against Pete Sampras was huge. It had everything and was obviously the match of the tournament. It was a shame it wasn't the final. Agassi has given up only three sets in six matches and Kafelnikov has lost only one, so they are both in outstanding form. Kafelnikov says he knows what Andre's weaknesses are. That's fine, but it's another thing to be able to exploit them. They are going to sit on the baseline all day long, although Kafelnikov is more likely to come into the net if he gets the opportunity. Kafelnikov has to make a good start, just as he did at the US Open last year. If he gets behind early, Andre will probably run away with it. The quality of the rallies should be high. Both players pride themselves on their ability to hit close to the lines and force their opponents to work really hard. I think Agassi will win. He's been the standout performer over the fortnight and he's in fantastic shape. He's eager and positive and, as much as Kafelnikov will be desperate to win, I think Andre is going to come out on top. I'll monitor the Open from Bermuda. I left Melbourne on Firday and I'll be hitting balls as soon as I get over there so I'll be ready for Delray Beach at the end of February. I'm really confident my serve will be there when we start cranking up the workload and that all of the pain in the shoulder will be gone. "Muddy" Waters (fitness trainer) will be coming over to Bermuda after the first-round Davis Cup tie in Zurich to continue work on the shoulder. There's still a bit of pain with the slice backhand and the volley and that's obviously a worry. It's just a matter now of ensuring the muscles in that area are stronger and more flexible. There's no reason why everything can't be stronger by the time we finish. The bottom line is that we're not going to rush anything. I was able to have a good break last week in Fiji, although much of the time was spent sleeping after a cyclone hit the islands, and I'm feeling strong and fresh before I get stuck into the next block of work. Mark Philippoussis's decision to play in this week's Davis Cup clash is a bonus. I wasn't sure he would play and there was a lot of a conjecture about his future. The positive thing is he has made himself available for what could be a dangerous tie. Every Davis Cup nation is capable of causing a lot of problems against even the strongest opposition when they are at home. The Swiss will be no exception. Australia has a new doubles team to support Philippoussis and Lleyton Hewitt in singles. The Swiss will be hard to beat but if we win we will look forward to playing in Adelaide for the quarter-final on grass against Germany or The Netherlands.