NEW YORK -- The small hotel cafe is so swank that Andre Agassi's presence hardly causes a stir.

	Andre Agassi strives to fulfill his obligations as a player, brother and soon-to-be father.

He sits at a corner table, facing the room and another hectic day ahead. Breakfast includes a large omelet, followed by his sister's unfinished plate of potatoes.

Between bites he discusses the upcoming U.S. Open, fiancee Steffi Graf's pregnancy, family battles with cancer, his new charter school in Las Vegas and a celebrity exhibition for charity this fall.

"It feels like a lot of balls in the air sometimes," he says.

How long will there be room for tennis balls? Agassi becomes a father in December and a husband next year. He continually reassesses his priorities, trying to strike a balance between work and the rest of his life.

At 31, the challenge is greater than ever.

"I don't know how it's going to all play out," he admits. "If somehow I'm detoured from tennis, I have a hunch it's going to be for something that's important to me."

At the moment his focus is the Open, beginning Monday. He is bidding for his second Grand Slam title this year and the eighth of his career.

The men's field is deep and balanced, with four-time champion Pete Sampras, two-time champ Pat Rafter, defending champ Marat Safin and top-seeded Gustavo Kuerten among the potential obstacles.

U.S. Davis Cup captain Pat McEnroe, for one, considers Agassi the favorite.

"There's always the X-factor with Andre," McEnroe says. "Things going on off the court seem to affect him a lot. But he's motivated, and he was the best player by far on hard courts the first few months of the year."

The list of contenders on the women's side is shorter but stellar, with Jennifer Capriati and defending champion Venus Williams the co-favorites. Former champions Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport and Serena Williams also pose a threat.

Agassi's prospects are much better than a year ago, when he came into the tournament shaken by illness in his family.

Sister Tami, 32, was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2000, underwent surgery and endured nine months of chemotherapy. Their mother, Elizabeth, was diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago, just before the Open, and required a radical mastectomy.

"We were all very scared," Tami says.

Agassi lost in the second round to Arnaud Clement, his earliest U.S. Open exit since 1993, then pulled out of the Sydney Olympics to spend time with his family.

"Work and hobbies pale in comparison to love and family and friendships," he says. "That's probably pretty true with everybody. Unfortunately it sometimes requires certain events to bring that to light."

His sister and mother are now free of cancer, but the family's fight continues. Tami, with her brother's help, is spearheading an Oct. 7 tennis exhibition in Seattle that is expected to raise more than $500,000 for breast cancer care and research at the University of Washington, where she was treated. Sampras, Jim Courier, Martina Navratilova and Microsoft's Bill Gates will participate.

"This is one of those times you feel good about the momentum you can create," Agassi says.

He has long been an active, effective charity fund-raiser, and a $4.1 million charter school that opens Aug. 30 in Las Vegas bears his name. Almost half the money for the project came through Agassi's 7-year-old foundation for at-risk children.

"That's Vegas for you: You add water, and it grows," he says with a chuckle.

Once a shaggy-haired teen idol who claimed image was everything, Agassi is proud of his personal growth but acknowledges it as a work in progress. In other words: He's not perfect.

At Wimbledon last month, Agassi reinforced his reputation as a notoriously poor loser by slamming a ball toward a lineswoman after Rafter beat him in the semifinals.

"I give what I give, and I am who I am. I never run from that," Agassi says. "Would I do things differently next time? Yes."

Such occasional lapses have hardly tarnished his latest in a series of career comebacks. He won the Australian Open in January and three other tournaments since then, playing some of his best tennis at an age when many top pros have retired.

"It's one of the amazing stories in sports -- how he has been able to come back and rededicate himself," McEnroe says.

But how much longer can Agassi summon the motivation?

Graf, who accompanied him to New York for the Open, is due to deliver a son before the end of the year. They plan to take the baby along to the Australian Open in January, but Agassi will probably find the tug of family stronger than ever.

"I'm going to give everything I have to make the rest of my career be the best it can be," he says. "That being said, I don't see myself ever compromising who it is I want to be as a father."

When breakfast is over, Andre and Tami pose for photos, and he heads to the practice court. She spends the day shopping in Manhattan before returning home to Seattle before the Open begins.

Tami can't remember the last time she attended one of her brother's matches, but she'll be there for the charity exhibition in October.

From her perspective, that will be the most important tennis he plays this year. He might agree.