‘So Damned Lonely’- Rebellious Icon Andre Agassi’s Brutally Honest Take on the ‘Lunatic’ Sport That Is Tennis in His Autobiography

Tennis is a demanding sport. It requires a player to be in his best physical and mental state. However, it’s only human to lose calm when things stop aligning with one’s plan. In the case of team sports, there is always someone to provide support and required push. But in an individual sport like tennis, the professional is on his own. They have to deal with it all by themselves. Andre Agassi threw light on this matter in his autobiography.

He detailed how tennis makes a player feel lonely and is far worse than any other individual sport. Agassi took boxing and compared how, even though it has its own hardships, it is still better than his sport.

Agassi about one major flaw of tennis

In his book, the eight-time Grand Slam champion wrote, “Tennis is the sport in which you talk to yourself. No athletes talk to themselves like tennis players. In the heat of a match, tennis players look like lunatics in a public square, ranting and swearing.”

Thereafter he added, “Why? Because tennis is so damned lonely. Only boxers can understand the loneliness of tennis players—and yet boxers have their Corner men and managers.”

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“Even a boxer’s opponent provides a kind of companionship, someone he can grapple with and grunt at. In tennis, you stand face-to-face with the enemy, trade blows with him, but never touch him or talk to him, or anyone else,” he added. Agassi has always been outspoken about the flaws of tennis. How media and fans treat players and how parents push their kids into the pit regardless of their interest thinking of the wealth and fame its future holds.

The story of Andre Agassi

The American, whose father dreamed of making him a pro, entered Nick Bollettieri’s tennis academy after winning a doubles championship in Chicago. Agassi’s retired boxer father, Mike Agassi, used all his saving to provide him with three years of coaching. However, blown by the talent that he harbored, Bollettieri took him in for free.

Thereafter, in the year 1986, he turned pro and became the 14 times Grand Slam champion Pete Sampras’ biggest rival. He claimed his first-ever majors’ title in 1992 on the greens of London and held the crown of World No 1 for the first time in 1995 after ending Sampras’ reign in the Australian Open.

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Following that, he went ahead to win three more Australian Open, two US Open, and one French Open title. Agassi retired in the year 2006 with 60 singles trophies and one Olympic gold medal marked under his name.