Agassi Fires Abusive Volley at Umpire

Andre Agassi bowed out of the Paris Indoor Open yesterday with a barrage of F-words that caused his wife, Steffi Graf, to lower her eyes and hide her face, and would surely not have been allowed in front of Jaden Gill, their one-year-old son, who at the time was under the protective care of nanny. The object of Agassi's wrath was Cédric Mourier, the French umpire, after he had over-ruled a service ace at 2-2 in the second set.

It was not the umpire's first intervention but on this occasion Agassi saw red and spoke blue. If Monsieur Mourier had previously not been fully au fait with Anglo-Saxon vernacular issued in an American accent, he was given ample opportunity to attune his ear. Agassi was duly warned for an audible obscenity, although it was by no means a singular instance.

At the end of the quarter-final, which Spain's Carlos Moya won 6-4, 6-4 to confirm his place in the end-of-season Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai later this month, Agassi shook hands with Mourier, and clearly further expressed his views concerning his competence. "I thought he did a pathetic job," said Agassi later. "I hope I always speak my mind."

Ultimately, Agassi had no quarrel about the result. "Carlos played better than I did today. End of story." But it wasn't. Agassi had a piece to say, and duly said it. "You get umpires that go out there and have a great day in the chair. Other times, like me, they have bad days. You don't know what you are going to get, and that's the frustrating part."

Agassi also insisted, with reason, that, at 30-40 in the American's favour in the final game, a Moya forehand was long. The line calling throughout the week has not been the most consistent or accurate. Many of those sitting in judgment have been enjoying themselves in the hotel opposite until the small hours, and there was a possibility that Mourier believed that some of them were seeing the ball through claret-coloured glasses.

But Agassi was less than impressed by Mourier's five over-rules, not all against him. "I think it's bad judgment to over-rule and it's horrible for the match. It just interferes with it. I can live with wrong calls, but not with somebody deciding to change the course of a match," said Agassi.

However, he did not lose his sense of humour. "I was trying to tell the umpire 'Just stop. Every time you think about over-ruling, just punch yourself in the stomach, and don't do it.' Didn't get the message through."

Agassi, attempting to finish the season as the world No, lost further ground to Lleyton Hewitt, the current leader, when the Australian reached the last four with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Roger Federer.

Moya, who had saved six match points in his previous match against Sébastien Grosjean, thereby ending Tim Henman's hopes of reaching Shanghai, sank to his knees at the close of a match that had always been on a knife edge with the crowd polishing the blade.

"Every time he was complaining he got all the support from the crowd," said Moya. "But I was very focused and I think that was the key." It was the Spaniard's first victory against Agassi.

Moya today plays Marat Safin in the semi-finals, the Russian having defeated Henman's conqueror, Nicolas Escudé, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.