Andre Agassi is one of the greatest tennis players of all time and was once the No. 1 player in the world. But he says it wasn’t until retirement that he came to love racquet sports.
Throughout a two-decade-long career where he notched an Olympic gold medal and became the second man to achieve a career Grand Slam in the Open Era, he hated tennis, as he admitted in his 2009 memoir, “Open.” Now that he’s been able to play more casually, he finds it fun. He also picked up pickleball, which he often plays with his wife, fellow tennis legend Stefanie Graf.
Agassi—who reportedly has a net worth of $145 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth— was born and raised in Las Vegas and lives there today with Graf. The couple has two children, Jaden, 22, and Jaz, 20. Here, he discusses his three-hour workday schedule, the tennis players he feels excited about today, and his secret to a happy marriage.
Here are a few things Andre Agassi revealed to WSJ. Magazine…
On taking his and his wife’s pickleball playing to the next level
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“I’m really excited that I have something that takes my mind off exercise altogether but is still exercise,” he said. On Feb. 4, he and Graf are taking their game to the next level, competing against John McEnroe and Maria Sharapova in the Pickleball Slam 2 airing on ESPN for a $1 million purse prize.
On what time he wakes up on Mondays, and the first thing he does after waking up
“I’m usually up between 5:30 and 6:30. I just relax into the day. Then I come down and make some hot lemon water and have a cup of coffee, and then I’m ready for anything.”
On his typical Monday work schedule
“I do very efficient work for three to four hours a day, and then I get my life in around it.”
On his 90’s tennis style, especially the jorts
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“I loved it because it was different. I had a need to explore myself. Not knowing who I was, I always had the courage to say, “Well, this is what I feel today.” It was always authentic, even if I was pretending. I went through the colors and the spandex, all the evolutions that came with it.”
On the rise of tennis style for nonathletes
“People go to a tennis tournament, and they dress like tennis players. It would be kind of weird if I went to watch golf and put on a khaki and polo. But it’s kind of cool, too. It speaks to how we’ve evolved. That’s one of the things that hopefully I was able to contribute to—fans who watch the game and how they morph that into their daily lives. And to see the mullet come back in fashion is a kind of fascinating experience.”
On tennis fanatics who resent pickleball for taking over court space
“Listen, I think pickleball and tennis can play very happily in the same sandbox. I’ve seen pickleball take tennis clubs that were on the verge of going under and bring them alive again. Tennis is, I think, the most demanding racquet sport that exists. What can you do at 50-plus years old and still get better at? I love to say this about pickleball.”
On his secret to a happy marriage
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“The first is to know yourself. You can’t come to a relationship needing the other to feel complete, or else you’re fighting multiple battles.”
On which tennis players he’s excited about these days
“Just like everyone, I’m loving [Carlos] Alcaraz right now. He brings such an energy. [Jannik] Sinner, I love the way he hits the ball. Watching Ben Shelton come around with his game and intensities. [Daniil] Medvedev, the guy’s tennis IQ is crazy in the way he negotiates the game, and 6’6” and plays the way he does is so remarkable.”
On his most prized possession
“I have a necklace my son made for me. It’s a beaded necklace with these letters. When he was four, he asked me to help him. [He said,] “I want to make this; I want to write, ‘Daddy Rocks.’” We put these little beads of the letters on it and spelled out “Daddy Rocks.” I’ve never taken it off, but it broke and it’s getting [fixed].”
On what he splurges on
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“I splurge on experiences and health. It’s not even a discussion.”
On where he likes to pinch pennies
I’ll say it kind of crudely: I don’t like getting screwed. Not spending on certain things that make no sense. It just drives me crazy.
On the one piece of advice that’s guided him
“It was told to me by William P. Young who wrote “The Shack.” He talks about future-tripping. We all have a tendency to go to a place in our minds where we’re solving problems that actually don’t even exist. It’s our imagination that’s built out of fear. The advice is counting the times and catching yourself when you future-trip. It happens way more than people think. Regret is the same—living in the past. That’s a guiding principle, trying to stay a lot more in the present.”
Photo: Brenton Ho/Horizon Sports & Experiences via WSJ. Magazine.
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