Looking back: Agassi on his kaleidoscopic career

Few careers have been as transformative as Andre Agassi’s, who entered the world tennis spotlight as a brash “rock star” champion and left it decades later as the game’s most respected elder statesman. Parallel to that personal revolution, the popular champion became an influential force for positive change. Here are some of Agassi’s thoughts on his turning points in tennis.

I’ve been overwhelmed with winning from the first (time) I experienced it. I play the game with urgency when I’m out there. I feel like I can always see what somebody can do. I’m always trying to impose myself. When I get through it, I’m sort of always somewhat surprised.

Nothing can touch the dynamics of everything that was going on when I won Wimbledon (in 1992). The fact that I never won a Grand Slam; the fact that nobody believed I could play on grass; nobody believed I had the heart to get through a tough match in the championship rounds.

I think it’s important in life to control the things you can control, and not worry about the rest. I can control how hard I work. I can control how focused I am. I can control how prepared I am, a lot of things. But there are other things you can’t control, like how many first serves your opponent is going to make. You just try to put yourself in position for things that work out well for you by controlling those things.

I think it’s always come pretty natural for me not to make tennis my entire life, and I’ve taken time to kind of get away from it, so it’s kept my mind and my body probably a lot fresher than where I would be at 30 if it had been week in, week out, year a er year.

Somebody showed me a picture recently of when I was like 16 years old. In the picture, it was asked to me, “Who is this person?” I looked at it. I said, “Wow, she’s cute. She has a nice figure, very narrow hips, nice legs, long, good hair.” All of a sudden I went, “Wow, that was me.” I’ve changed a lot. I don’t quite have the hair anymore.

I can live without the competition, to be quite honest. I can live without the hard work. can’t live without knowing what it feels like to try to accomplish something that I don’t believe, that I question if I can. I think that’s what drives me. Every time I’m on the court, it feels to me like I have to overcome a lot. I enjoy pushing myself.

When I first came on to the scene, I was the first person to hit the ball big off both wings, take the ball early and give it a good ride if I was in position off both sides. And as I look back, I would love to feel like I was part of that evolution of the game, where I helped the game and those around me get better.

My goal has always been to leave the sport better off for having me. I never always went about that in ways that made me proud. But tennis has enabled me for my life’s work now, given me the gift to change the life experiences of others. That’s just flat out a real fun thing to do, really rewarding … more rewarding than anything that can happen on a tennis court. But it’s because of the tennis court that I have my life’s work.