Andre Agassi says his children realise his fame is “not all that”.
Andre Agassi says his children realise his fame is ‘not all that’
The tennis icon, 53, has son Jaden Gil Agassi, 22, and daughter Jaz Elle Agassi, 20, with his fellow athlete wife Steffi Graf, 54, and he says they were left bemused growing up when autograph hunters would approach them in shops.
He told People: “I can imagine how somebody looks at that from the outside. “Somehow there's going to be this moment where they go, ‘These are my parents.’
“So when people are coming up to us in grocery stores, (Jaden and Jaz) were like, ‘What's up with these people?’
“So you go through a whole phase of them going, ‘Well, this makes no sense that the people are coming up as if there’s a big deal. And then they start to put together why it's a big deal.
“They start to realise they’re looking behind the Wizard of Oz curtain and they realize it’s not all that.
“So there's a healthy balance that kind of is inevitable through the whole process.”
Even though Andre was a tennis great, he added he is in awe of today’s players including Rafael Nadal, 37, and 20-year-old Carlos Alcaraz.
He said: “When you really talk about these guys now from a speed standpoint, from a spin standpoint, from technology standpoint, athletic, I mean the science behind their training, I mean they're changing the geometry of the game and one of the things I always counted on was my geometry.
“There are a lot of guys out there that I would say I would have inroads against and I would like this challenge, but there's so many that I say no thank you. I have no chance against them.”
He also reflected about his time in tennis: “So you also think back and think to yourself, ‘I can’t believe what I put myself through.’
“And so that’s an inevitable part. But actually, if there’s anything I miss about the game, it’s about knowing your body so well that you actually were driving it like a Ferrari at 3,900 RPMs.”
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