Andre Agassi’s Absurd ‘Puppy Dog’ Story on How He Got Introduced to Tennis – ’My Father Would Run…’

Andre Agassi is one of those players who dominated the ATP tour in the 90s with his aggressive style of play. The man who picked the racket as a teenage boy and went on to become one of the greatest of all time had an interesting story to share about his father’s introduction to the sport. Agassi has his grievances about the things the sport made him go through. However, no one can deny the fact that his journey is inspirational, and the perfect depiction of how fate works.

The eight-time Grand Slam champion’s family had no connection with the sport prior to his rise on the ATP Tour. Though life had other plans. Here’s the story of his father’s introduction to tennis.

Andre Agassi about how his father’s job as a ball boy brought him close to tennis

Agassi, in his autobiography, shared the story of how his father first witnessed a tennis match. Agassi said, “A park in the woods with two clay tennis courts. There were no fences around the courts, so the ball would go bouncing away every few seconds. My father would run after the ball and bring it back to the soldiers, like a puppy dog.” He wrote after disclosing how they were surrounded by British and American soldiers in Iran from whom his father learned English. 

Thereafter, he mentioned the reward his father received for fetching balls all day, which changed his life. “How much did they pay you?” young Agassi asked his father. To which the former Olympic boxer replied, “Pay? Nothing! They gave me a tennis racket.”

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Playing around and hitting the ball on the wall with that “old wooden thing strung with steel wire” his father marked the beginning of the Agassi family’s venture into tennis. The former World no.1, later, after winning to the States, won a doubles championship in Chicago, and earned a ticket to Nick Bollettieri’s tennis academy.

How Agassi’s tennis career panned out

The American star debuted in the year 1986 and became the biggest rival of the 14-time Grand Slam champion, Pete Sampras. He and Sampras ruled the courts and challenged each other throughout the 90s and the early noughties. Agassi claimed his first major trophy at the 1992 Wimbledon. Thereafter, in 1995, after winning the Australian Open victory and the previous year’s US Open trophy, he touched the career-highest ranking of World no.1.

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Agassi piled up a total of 60 singles titles and helped his nation win three Davis Cups. Further, he also won a gold medal at the 1996 summer Olympics.