Perfectspeak - Volume 6

[Habitual Perfectionist]

Andre Agassi - The ageless wonder





This guy never ceases to amaze. I remember him breaking into the scene in the late 80s - trademark long hair, brash attitude, steamrolling groundstrokes and garish costumes. Amazing he was - a rebel in the puritanical world of tennis as it was then.



Cut forward to today. The same Agassi plays one of the biggest servers in the game - Taylor Dent. And comes out unscathed. A convincing straight sets victory after being close to losing both the first and second sets. The third set was an absolute annihilation of Dent.



In the post match interview, Agassi came out with one of the best quotes I've heard in recent times. The question asked by Jim Courier was based on a commercial for a financial services company that shows Taylor Dent winning a hard fought match against a young kid with an ace; and the kid hopping into a car which is occupied by the kid's parents, Agassi and Steffi Graf. Courier's question was - when do we see Jaden (Andre's son - the kid in the commercial) play Christian Sampras (Pete Sampras' son). Tongue in cheek, Agassi replied, "Would you be shocked if I say I'll end up playing Christian before Jaden can get to play him?". Now that's what I call spirit.



Other sportspersons have kept playing for long durations too - the names of Ken Rosewall, Jimmy Connors & Martina Navratilova come to mind immediately. But what makes Agassi so special within that pack is that he's playing till date just for one reason - he loves the game. Not because he wants to add another crown to his kitty (Rosewall played that long just to keep trying at Wimbledon, the only slam he never won); not because he wants to divert himself from the myriad issues playing up with his personal life (Martina came back to tennis because she wanted to get away from the courtroom wrangles, media controversies about her lesbian relationships etc. plaguing her life) and not because he wants to prove a point (Connors, for all his greatness as a player, continued till the age of 39 only because he wanted to prove to the USTA authorities that he was no less than Sampras, Agassi & Chang, in whose favour, he was dropped from the US Davis cup team).



Agassi too, has been through his own share of downs but the fighter that he is, he's come back everytime, without complaints and more determined to succeed. And it is exactly this quality which has brought him to this high a pedestal.



In his personal life too, Agassi has come a long way from the rebel that he was when he first broke into the scene. He is a loving husband to another tennis great, Steffi Graf and a doting father to Jaden Gil and Jaz. Added to this, he has an extremely active social service organisation called the Andre Agassi Foundation. The Andre Agassi Foundation works with underpriveleged children across the world in the fields of education and nutrition. 50% of Agassi's earnings from endorsements go into the foundation.



Not very long ago, we were discussing role models on the discussion boards. I feel that a person like Andre Agassi makes up for an excellent role model. He's good at his profession...good would be an understatement...he's excellent. He has an indomitable spirit. He is humble and above all, compassionate. What more could one ask for in a role model?

[Alexis]

Nice.... I didnt know all this about Andre. He didnt let all the success and wealth get to his head.

He truly is a perfect example of a good role model.



Thanks Sameer.

[akhilis2cool]

I saw that Interview.

Must say it was one of the best I've seen in a long time.

"Would you be shocked if I say I'll end up playing Christian before Jaden can get to play him?". Now that's what I call spirit.

He further added..



"I dont know if Jaden will end up playing Tennis, But i hope Christian will."



We need more ppl. like him in todays world.