THE race to be world No. 1 has come down to a shootout between Andre Agassi and myself.  But whoever becomes world No. 1 will not have much time to  reflect on it, because they will have to prepare for the Wimbledon final - the biggest match at the most important tournament in the world.

Reaching No. 1 after being close over the past three years would be a tremendous achievement, but winning Wimbledon would overshadow it in my book.  Winning majors is the ultimate in the sport and, if you do that, the ranking takes care of itself.

Rankings reflect a player's performance and that is what we are preoccupied with.  I have been No. 2 for a while and this is a great opportunity for me.  But Andre also has the opportunity to win and I am sure he will be thinking more about winning than the ranking.

It would be a great way to finish a tough week that has been dogged by rain interruptions.

BORIS Becker has been one of the greatest champions Wimbledon has known and it was a pleasure to be part of his last match on centre court.  The best part was that I won.  It was tough at the beginning because he does have a presence, but his game was not firing and I was hitting the ball well.

So it was not a good combination for him to leave on.  It would have been better for him to finish in a bit more style, but that's the way it goes.

There was a little bit of confusion as we went to walk off.  I was looking to walk straight off and I said to Boris:  "Do you want this
occasion because I'll just walk straight off?", and he said "no, no just wait for me".

Then I was walking off and he said:  "Hang on, you've got to bow."  Then I decided to come off court as quickly as possible and leave it to Boris.

MY decision to stop playing doubles at Grand Slams was made to give myself the best chance of winning more singles titles.

I had made up my mind at the French Open, but I had given Jonas (Bjorkman) a commitment to play Wimbledon.  Obviously I could have done without that five-setter against Lleyton Hewitt and Roger Federer after beating Boris Becker in the singles.

I felt tired after beating Todd Martin and that is why I have decided to opt out of the Wimbledon event.  I think the doubles cost me at the French Open.  It took away too much energy and affected my singles.

The pity is that Jonas and I make a good team.  We won the Australian Open and that was one of the highlights of my career.  Jonas understands the situation and perhaps we can play together at the Slams again in the future.