Tennis, Becker on Agassi: “Andre, I couldn’t take you seriously”

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AOn the trip to Wimbledon, Andre Agassi came up with an idea with which he won over Steffi Graf. He had already asked about a training session, but had initially been declined. He had sent roses, she had not responded. Years before, he had waited in vain for a dance at the Champions’ dinner.

Now Agassi made a birthday greeting from the plane menu. A step from which an emblematic relationship develops after two failed marriages in 1999. The love for Graf is a chapter that belongs to the fascinating, multifaceted and turbulent story of Agassi. He will turn 50 on Wednesday.

“I wish him all the best and I hope he has 50 more years to go,” says Alexander Zverev. The 23-year-old is one of those who are delighted with the flamboyant pop tennis star. “I was always a big fan of Agassi, I also used to wear this pirate fabric from him,” said the Hamburg native. For Agassi’s latest opponent, Benjamin Becker, jeans were “absolute worship,” often playing with Americans on the wall of the house.

But the tennis camp was divided. Others had little to do with Agassi, like his rival Boris Becker. “I couldn’t take your ripped jeans, your long dyed hair and your earrings seriously,” wrote the 52-year-old man in “Bild am Sonntag.”

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Agassi’s life is a life full of contrasts. He was a bird of paradise and advertising character, now he lives in Las Vegas as father of two children and benefactor. He hated tennis and ate fast food, but he became one of the most successful professionals. Her wild hair became bald.

Andre Agassi won 60 tournaments

“To understand me, you have to be able to imagine the pressure I was under as a child,” Agassi said years ago in the “Süddeutsche Zeitung.” “At home, the mood depended on whether he trained well or poorly, whether he won or lost.” His father had emigrated from Tehran to the United States, and Andre Agassi had to fulfill the American dream.

He became known for his two-handed backhand, his returns, and his passing balls. He won eight Grand Slam titles, celebrated a total of 60 tournament victories, won the Davis Cup three times and was in another 30 finals. He lost the 1990 French Open final to Andrés Gómez of Ecuador after thinking of losing his hair clip with 20 bobby pins.

“You have cultivated your image and acted as if it is more important to you how you get along with others and not how you really are. I suspected, ”said Becker. Later, when they visited the Oktoberfest, they laughed at their bitter rivalry.

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With all the successes, Agassi’s career also had low points and crises. In 1997 he took the stimulant Crystal Meth. Only a shameless letter to the ATP men’s tour and a lie subsequently prevented a doping ban, Agassi confessed in his autobiography “Open.” Agassi crashed at position 141 and fell to the ground, but then made a conscious decision to play tennis, struggled to return to second-class tournaments, and was more successful than before. In total, he led the world ranking for 101 weeks.

The final opponent for his last Grand Slam title at the 2003 Australian Open was Rainer Schüttler. When his back hurt so much that he often slept on the hard floor, not feeling like a 36-year-old man when he got up, but a 96-year-old man, as he described himself, Agassi quit the US Open 2006. His Last opponent on the tour in the third round from New York was the clear outsider and US Open rookie Benjamin Becker.

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“It was a dream of mine to play Agassi again. It was gigantic, of course, it happened, ”Becker recalled. He hurried quickly after the victory and watched the farewell of his idol hidden in the hallway. “I was a little embarrassed that he lost me. I really couldn’t accept that it was against me and not against Andy Roddick or a taller person.”