Andre Agassi is interested in helping to run tennis after he retires providing the role gives him real power.

"I would have a tremendous amount of interest in helping the sport that has been so good to me," the eight-times Grand Slam champion said in a telephone conference to promote next week's San Jose Open.

"What I would have no interest in would be some sort of token job title ... It would have to not just be a job title.

"It would have to actually have the parameters and the structure that would allow significant change to take place and to happen."

The 33-year-old American said that the various bodies running tennis needed to come together to talk before progress could be made in the sport.

"I believe that there's a lot of help that the sport needs right now, and I believe it can go a long ways in a very short period of time," he said.

"It would require sacrifice and compromises from many different bodies of people, including the players. For that to be the groundwork that we're starting with, I would enjoy very much directing the potentials of where that could lead."

Tennis is run by several bodies. The ATP run the men's professional tour, the WTA the women's circuit, while the International Tennis Federation (ITF) acts as an umbrella group for the four grand slam tournaments and the Davis and Fed Cup competitions.

"You're dealing with a lot of groups. You're dealing with personalities," Agassi said. "And I think one of the things that you would find in common with everybody involved is that there would be a similar need for the game of tennis to grow."

Agassi, who is ranked fifth in the world and lost in the semi-finals of the Australian Open to Marat Safin last week, said he has not yet decided whether to retire at the end of this year.

"As far as I'm concerned, if the best players in the world have to play a great match to beat they me, that's all you can really hope for," he said.

"I feel great about where things are. I certainly have a lot going on in my life, but nothing that has distracted me or detoured me from my goals on the tennis court.

"What I've sort of concluded to myself is that when I step on the court and I play my best tennis, can I still win? That's the question I want to answer."

Next week in San Jose, Agassi will be defending the title he won for a record-equalling fifth time last year.