Despite Amassing $31M Prize Money, Andre Agassi Once Confessed His Father’s Biggest Regret About His Tennis Legacy: ‘Make You Play Baseball or Golf’

Andre Agassi is counted in the elite list of tennis greats. A former World No. 1, he is a recipient of 8 grand slam titles, an Olympic gold, and numerous other tour titles. While many know that Agassi’s gracious career is a gift of his father’s dream, not many know that his father had changed his mind by the end of his son’s career.

Three years after his retirement from professional tennis, in 2009, Agassi released his book autobiography, ‘Open’. Following the launch, Agassi indulged in a conversation with a media house. During the conversation, he revealed that looking at his two-decade-long tennis career, his father wished to have put him in golf or baseball.

Agassi’s father pulls back from reading his book

Andre Agassi was born to former Olympic boxer, Emmanuel Aghassian and his wife, Elizabeth Dudley. A tennis enthusiast, Emmanuel wished to see his son become a tennis player. Owing to this, he put Agassi into tennis at a very early age. Retiring in 2006, Agassi not only fulfilled his father’s dream but further went on to become a tennis legend.

While Agassi was climbing the hill of success, his father stood beside him as his biggest support… something that pulled back his father from reading his autobiography.

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“My father is a very interesting person, to say the least,” Agassi said during his interaction with the media house. “He was very clear to me to say, ‘don’t expect me to read your book, I’m not reading your book. What the hell do I need to read your book for? I was there. I know what I did to make you a champion.'”

Emmanuel not reading the autobiography of his son did not seem to hamper the emotional cords of Agassi. Going ahead in the conversation, the former World No. 1 revealed how he managed to get feedback from his father about his gracious career.

“I called him recently to see how was he doing,” Agassi asserted. “I said, ‘dad, you’re not gonna read the book. I get it. That’s fine. Don’t read it. But at least come talk about it or something because you’re hearing all this stuff that is being sensationalized. You should have some context to put in.'”

Andre Agassi gets the most unexpected feedback from his father

Seeing Agassi become a tennis player was a dream of his father. However, looking at his son’s two-decade-long career, and $31 million prize money, he seemed to have second thoughts about his dream.

Opening up about the feedback from his father, Agassi said, “He said, ‘Okay, listen. Whatever they say about me is fine. Because if I had to do it all over again, I would do the exact same thing. Except, I would not let you play tennis. baseball, or golf.'”

As mentioned earlier, Agassi won the biggest of the accolades and touched the highest of the peaks of tennis. However, despite all the achievements in place, his father’s feedback left Agassi in a state of shock. Elucidating the reason behind his father’s feedback, Agassi asserted, “He said, ‘Because you can play a lot longer, and you can make more money.'”

While it remains a question as to why Emmanuel came up with this thought, the probable reason could be the difference between tennis and other sports. Comparing tennis to golf and baseball, it is evident that tennis is a sport demanding greater physical fitness. An aspect that refrains its players from having elongated careers like golfers and baseballers. In addition to that, over the past years, it has also been evident that A-listed golfers have an upper hand in comparison to A-listed tennis players in terms of earnings.

A decade later after his thought, Emmanuel passed away in September 2021. However, his son continues to walk on the path of success. Close to 1.5 decades since his retirement, Agassi continues to be a prominent name in the sports world. In the hope of being in touch with the game, he has been the coach of Grigor Dimitrov, and former World No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

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In addition to that, he regularly takes up the role of commentator/presenter in tour events and majors. Getting all his earnings in place, he today holds a net worth of $145 million.

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