Andre Agassi
Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassiis an American retired professional tennis player and former World No. 1, who was one of the game's most dominant players from the early 1990s to the mid-2000s. Generally considered by critics and fellow players to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Agassi had been called the greatest service returner in the history of the game. Described by the BBC upon his retirement as "perhaps the biggest worldwide star in the sport's history", Agassi...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTennis Player
Date of Birth29 April 1970
CityLas Vegas, NV
CountryUnited States of America
I've been thinking that for four years. You never know when it's your last go,
I got a hundred bucks says my baby beats Pete's baby. I just think genetics are in my favour.
He thinks it's his day, and when you think it's your day, it usually is.
It's shocking how little there is to do with tennis when you're just thinking about nothing except winning every point.
There's no such thing as an open draw. At least for me - I mean, obviously for Roger Federer, I think every draw feels open for him - but for me there's no such thing as an open draw
Freed from the thoughts of winning, I instantly play better. I stop thinking, start feeling. My shots become a half-second quicker, my decisions become the product of instinct rather than logic.
Tennis is at an amazing time when you've got two of the best players ever to play the game. You can argue the two very best playing in the same generation. It's a rivalry I think that we've never seen in our sport.
You have to have the mentality of executing your game when you don't feel like there's a lot of hope. I think the best feeling is when somebody pushes you to the limit and you dig down a little bit extra. By the same token, you also need a little luck. Sometimes they come together.
It's no accident, I think, that tennis uses the language of life. Advantage, service, fault, break, love, the basic elements of tennis are those of everyday existence, because every match is a life in miniature. Even the structure of tennis, the way the pieces fit inside one another like Russian nesting dolls, mimics the structure of our days. Points become games become sets become tournaments, and it's all so tightly connected that any point can become the turning point. It reminds me of the way seconds become minutes become hours, and any hour can be our finest. Or darkest. It's our choice.
If you're ranked number one in the world it's because you've earned it, and I think the only way to really get there is to have that ability and to have it nurtured in a very competitive environment at an early age.
I think one of the greatest joys I have now in my career and in my profession is to be playing at an age where I can appreciate it more than I used to... It's a whole different lens you look through the older you get.
I've said before, I don't know how I'm going to go out, ... I know one thing, if I'm out there playing well and giving something back to the sport, it's going to be hard not to give it more.
I've played No. 1 in the world tennis before and there wasn't a time when I ever felt like a favorite,
I settled down on my service games and my ground strokes, put enough pressure on him to get that break.