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Andre Agassi Hated Tennis. Can He Have More Fun Playing Pickleball? - After years of relative quiet, the public is meeting “Andre 2.0” — a pickleball booster, an open book and a guy eager to build a less tortured relationship with competition.
This article was excellent, I'll always have a soft spot for Agassi after reading his autobiography. Plus it's wonderful how much of a wife guy he is, he's always Steffi Graf's biggest fan (as it should be!) Like the reporter says, one of his chief charms is that he's so candid, he acts like he hasn't been media trained at all. If anything the article doesn't talk as much about pickleball as it does about getting to know Agassi by shadowing him for months.
I thought it was fascinating to know he can recall matches he played 40 years ago as a teenager, he is so details obsessed he can't help but try and calculate how much gas his daughter has left in her car when they talk on the phone, and that he is impressed that you can't tell if Carlos Alcaraz is winning or losing a tennis match based on "enjoyment"... There were so many cool tidbits in this article. (Sorry, pickleball! 😂) Thank you so much for sharing it.
Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf seem to be genuinly decent and down to earth people. Both have unbelievable accomplishments, zero scandals and they seem to love each other and their kids.
But he’s a former meth addict who came up with a silly excuse after a positive drug test. I genuinely feel bad for him based on his upbringing but he’s not exactly squeaky clean.
Tennis pressure was associated with his axiety. At 3-5yo he was too young to articulate it well.
6yo he was practicing 4-5hrs daily.
At 7 a ball machine was introduced into his routine having him htittinf thousands of balls a day.
8yo he was playing serious competition vs older/bigger oppotnents. Losing, pressure and being treated as dad's tenjnois project.
At 9 he was forced to keep playing against adults
10-11yo school & tennis competed for this dad's attention
12yo and he travels internationally for tennis. Lack of normal childhood
13 he was sent to Sent to Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida. He was far far from LV home.
I could go on and and on but looking at that life I personally wouldv'e wanted to do something similar to him.
In my timeline
3yo: play recreational tennis
7yo: trained tennis to get into GS/HS varsity team to help with entry into Harvard/MIT & fitness routine and not get injured. Zero plans on going pro. Just want to get into a good Uni then work at Google pre-IPO for 2 years and graduate from Stanford GSB by 26.
There was an amusing New Yorker article about some Australian tennis player who was ranked fairly highly worldwide but made it pretty obvious that he didn’t really care that much about tennis and would just bring up basketball any chance he got.
It resonated with me as someone who doesn’t really play or follow any sports because basketball always seemed the most fun to both watch and play, which I know is entirely subjective.
watersnakebro | a day ago
This article was excellent, I'll always have a soft spot for Agassi after reading his autobiography. Plus it's wonderful how much of a wife guy he is, he's always Steffi Graf's biggest fan (as it should be!) Like the reporter says, one of his chief charms is that he's so candid, he acts like he hasn't been media trained at all. If anything the article doesn't talk as much about pickleball as it does about getting to know Agassi by shadowing him for months.
I thought it was fascinating to know he can recall matches he played 40 years ago as a teenager, he is so details obsessed he can't help but try and calculate how much gas his daughter has left in her car when they talk on the phone, and that he is impressed that you can't tell if Carlos Alcaraz is winning or losing a tennis match based on "enjoyment"... There were so many cool tidbits in this article. (Sorry, pickleball! 😂) Thank you so much for sharing it.
[OP] Aschebescher | a day ago
Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf seem to be genuinly decent and down to earth people. Both have unbelievable accomplishments, zero scandals and they seem to love each other and their kids.
Available-Guava5515 | a day ago
Zero scandals? I seem to remember he terrorized his wife Brooke Shields while high on crystal meth.
big-dal-tex | 23 hours ago
He did what now
wakkywizard69 | a day ago
But he’s a former meth addict who came up with a silly excuse after a positive drug test. I genuinely feel bad for him based on his upbringing but he’s not exactly squeaky clean.
Individual_Land_2200 | a day ago
I am not typically interested in autobiographies, but I loved “Open”
Joe_Kangg | a day ago
Can't wait for the exposé on how much he hated pickleball
New_Forester4630 | a day ago
Tennis was imposed on him.
Tennis pressure was associated with his axiety. At 3-5yo he was too young to articulate it well.
6yo he was practicing 4-5hrs daily.
At 7 a ball machine was introduced into his routine having him htittinf thousands of balls a day.
8yo he was playing serious competition vs older/bigger oppotnents. Losing, pressure and being treated as dad's tenjnois project.
At 9 he was forced to keep playing against adults
10-11yo school & tennis competed for this dad's attention
12yo and he travels internationally for tennis. Lack of normal childhood
13 he was sent to Sent to Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida. He was far far from LV home.
I could go on and and on but looking at that life I personally wouldv'e wanted to do something similar to him.
In my timeline
Joe_Kangg | a day ago
Oh no! Anyway...
Edit: agassi played pro for 21 years and made 32M in prize money alone. Tell me again how much he hated it.
New_Forester4630 | 7 hours ago
> Edit: agassi played pro for 21 years and made 32M in prize money alone. Tell me again how much he hated it.
He hates it in his personal life but <3 in is his professional life.
Many millionaires & billionaires "hate" their day job of being business owners or C-Suites.
Given a choice they'd prefer to be a non-working artists like a musician, painter, sculptor, traveler, etc. with little to no work-related stress.
Thing is those skills are in abundant supply so getting paid $32m prize money is a tall order.
Joe_Kangg | 5 hours ago
Bro I dont care. This is so far from an actual problem it makes me sick.
[OP] Aschebescher | a day ago
Archived and unpaywalled: https://archive.is/idhOL
CactusBoyScout | a day ago
There was an amusing New Yorker article about some Australian tennis player who was ranked fairly highly worldwide but made it pretty obvious that he didn’t really care that much about tennis and would just bring up basketball any chance he got.
It resonated with me as someone who doesn’t really play or follow any sports because basketball always seemed the most fun to both watch and play, which I know is entirely subjective.
Demiglitch | a day ago
That's basically Jokic on the Nuggets, he will show no emotion all year but then when he's racing horses he will openly weep with joy.
twiganthony_L_cigar | a day ago
Nick Kyrgios?
SquishySC | a day ago
The Dink
PollyBeans | a day ago
YES!