The title will come down to aggression: Agassi

The Australian Open final will be contested by arguably the two best defensive players in the game but will come down purely to offence and aggression, according to tennis great Andre Agassi.

The four-time Australian Open champion, Agassi tipped Murray to beat Djokovic in the US Open final last year but is this time round picking a reversal of fortunes.

To him Djokovic is ready to deliver his best tennis and Murray will have to be at his best to cope with it.

Agassi sat down with Yahoo7 to discuss the Australian Open and instead of trying to mould his astute commentary into a yarn we are just going to let his words tell the story.

Agassi on Murray’s semi final against Federer and his past six months:

“After watching the end of his semi-final he looks unbelievably confident in his physical stamina, he now believes and his legs looked great at the end of a match that wasn’t a cakewalk.

“And that's what I saw last year, I saw a guy who believes in himself physically and believes in himself mentally now and that is a tough combination.

“He would have lost that semi a year ago, he would have been discouraged, he would have let it get the best of him but he believes he should win and he believes as the match goes on it is more and more his advantage and that is a good sign.

“Something happens to guys when they have the ability but haven’t found it. Then they win something like the US Open and it changes. I think Murray is one of those guys.

“He has always had it, I have predicted him to have it for last three years but he has found it and I do think it is a turning point for him.”

Agassi on Djokovic’s thrashing of David Ferrer in his semi final:

“Don’t be too deceived by his win in the semi.

“Ferrer is one of the great players, I love watching him, he is the last guy to lose to someone ranked below him.

“Djokovic will lose to someone below him, well he is No. 1 now so it is tough, but you know what I mean.

“Ferrer is a fighter but he also doesn’t have that gear that he can go to against the Federers, against the Djokvoics and Murrays where he can just step up.

“As a result it was always going to be on Djokovic's terms.

“All it says is Djokovic is playing well, it doesn’t say he is playing untouchable tennis.”

Agassi on what Murray has to do to win the Australian Open:

“Andy needs to find a way to hold the tension between calculated risk and aggression, when to step up to make those decisions.

“But he has to err on the side of offense. He has always erred on the side of passive until last year.

“He has really started to bring it and say, ‘I am going to step up and take this’.

“That idea needs to be times two here because if he finds himself giving Djokovic any type of opportunity to be explosive or to hit his shots, Novak is playing too well right now and I don’t think Andy will be able to recover from that.

“So I would have more urgency if I was him and I would establish very early the second I get my first look in this point I am going to take control of it.

“I think his instinct has always been to wait because he knows how good he is defensively and I think he now knows he can’t just do that to win these tournaments

“He has flat out any gear he needs offensively and I think he has only touched on 50 percent of it. So I would tell him 'you need to be looking to be offensive'.”

Agassi on what Djokovic has to do to win the Australian Open:

“He is going to win it by just dictating.

“They both need to do the same thing, the only thing I know is Djokovic is going to do it.

“There is not a chance in the world that Djokovic won’t be out there and understand when he needs to raise his game.

“He is going to take his first chance and he is going to let Andy know right away.

“Andy needs to do the same thing and that is going to be the key.”

Agassi on who is going to win the Australian Open:

“But I lean towards Djokovic because he plays well down here, he is rested, he is in a good state of mind and he has had two days to gather himself and hit a nice little rhythm and he will be at his best.

“I predicted Murray to beat Djokovic in final of the US Open so what separates it this time is so small and so minute, so much depends on the day.

“But all that being said I think Djokovic is primed to play his best tennis right now because he survived that Stanislas Wawrinka match and got a second life. Physically he got pushed to the end.

“Then he muscled his way comprehensively through what was probably his most vulnerable match against Tomas Berdych and then he goes into the semi almost with the house's money and blows away Ferrer.

“So for me, he is just looking exceptional at the moment”

Andre Agassi will be at Rod Laver Arena tonight to present the trophy to the winner and is in Australia promoting the Open Film series and his partnership with Jacob's Creek.