TENNIS ROUNDUP : Agassi Is Elbowed Out in Comeback on Grass

Andre Agassi suffered a double setback Tuesday in preparing to defend his Wimbledon championship.

Playing his first tournament in more than two months because of a wrist injury, Agassi lost to Carl-Uwe Steeb in the first round of a grass-court event at Halle, Germany. He said his right wrist felt OK, but his right elbow hurts.

“The elbow is a bit of a concern now,” Agassi, wearing a brace on the elbow, said after losing to Steeb, 5-7, 6-2, 6-1.

Agassi, seeded eighth at Wimbledon, said he first felt pain in his elbow during a brief practice session.

“I don’t know if it is just from using it after such a long time or if it is a strain,” said Agassi, 23, playing his first match since April 9.

His chances of showing up next week to defend his Wimbledon title? He’s not sure.

“I’d have probably gone to Wimbledon in a cast,” Agassi said. “My heart tells me to play Wimbledon, my head tells me one year of Wimbledon is not worth making the injury worse and maybe affecting my later career.

“If I had pain in my wrist, I would have had to make a very painful decision. But even if my wrist hurt, it’d be difficult to miss Wimbledon. It could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to defend the title.”

Agassi, ranked 13th in the world, will leave for Wimbledon on Friday. His opening-round match at Wimbledon will be against Germany’s Bernd Karbacher, who upset Michael Chang in Halle on Monday.

Steeb said Agassi was clearly off his game, but added: “He needs to win a couple of matches, then he’s there.”

In other matches Tuesday, top-seeded Andre Medvedev of Ukraine defeated Jan Siemerink of the Netherlands, 7-6 (9-7), 6-3, and second-seeded Petr Korda of the Czech Republic defeated Jeff Tarango, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

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Another American had trouble when top-seeded MaliVai Washington was upset in the first round of a grass-court tournament at Manchester, England.

Washington, runner-up at Manchester last year and seeded 14th at Wimbledon, was ousted by Britain’s Chris Bailey, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.

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Top-seeded Martina Navratilova won two matches at the rain-disrupted grass-court tournament at Eastbourne, England, but No. 3 Mary Joe Fernandez was eliminated in her second match of the day.

Fernandez, playing for the first time since losing to Steffi Graf in the French Open final 10 days ago, defeated Briton Shirli-Ann Siddall, 6-4, 7-5, in her opening match.

But three hours later, Fernandez was knocked out of the $375,000 event by 55th-ranked Ginger Helgeson, 6-2, 6-2.

“The French Open final was in the past; I have to look to the future,” Fernandez said. “It takes me awhile to adapt to the grass, and today Ginger played a very, very good match.”

Navratilova defeated Romanian qualifier Ruxandra Dragomir, 6-1, 6-2, in 52 minutes, then beat Robin White, 6-2, 6-2, in one hour.

As a security measure in the wake of Monica Seles’ on-court stabbing in Hamburg, Germany, on April 30, officials positioned the players’ chairs sideways so they could watch the crowd during changeovers.

As promised the day before, however, Navratilova turned her chair back to its normal position facing the court.

Meanwhile, Pam Shriver apologized for the verbal “misunderstanding” last week that led Zina Garrison-Jackson to accuse her of being racist.

“We had a talk today and I said I was sorry for the misunderstanding,” said Shriver, who had to retire from her match against Miriam Oremans of the Netherlands because of a leg injury. “We have had 10 years of friendship and hopefully it will go on. From my point of view, it will.”