TENNIS PLAYERS (Off-Court Shenanigans)

[ponchi101]

Exactly. Nobody in his/her sane mind will consider 23 yo Andre Agassi to have been the pinnacle of adulthood. Which was the point. He was a complete punk and a jerk when he was young. And then, he changed. And he became indeed a proper ambassador for the sport and for himself. He grew up.
I believe that that would be a much better legacy than anything else. I can take myself as an example: I believe that I started the process of stopping being an asshole around the age of 35. And if I live long enough...

[ti-amie]

[Deuce]

Anyone watch the Brooke Shields docuseries? Andre Agassi does not come off as a particularly great guy. he's portrayed as controlling, jealous, and quite emotionally immature.

I didn't need to hear it from Brooke Shields (or from anyone else) to reach that conclusion about Agassi.

And I don't believe he ever overcame those character flaws - he simply learned how to 'cleverly' disguise them.

[Owendonovan]

Anyone watch the Brooke Shields docuseries? Andre Agassi does not come off as a particularly great guy. he's portrayed as controlling, jealous, and quite emotionally immature.

I didn't need to hear it from Brooke Shields (or from anyone else) to reach that conclusion about Agassi.

And I don't believe he ever overcame those character flaws - he simply learned how to 'cleverly' disguise them.

Makes me wonder what the dynamic of his marriage to Steffi is. Likely not very different.

[Deuce]

Anyone watch the Brooke Shields docuseries? Andre Agassi does not come off as a particularly great guy. he's portrayed as controlling, jealous, and quite emotionally immature.

I didn't need to hear it from Brooke Shields (or from anyone else) to reach that conclusion about Agassi.

And I don't believe he ever overcame those character flaws - he simply learned how to 'cleverly' disguise them.

Makes me wonder what the dynamic of his marriage to Steffi is. Likely not very different.

That's a mystery to me...
Steffi doesn't strike one as being a 'weak' or submissive type of person - and not the kind of person who would tolerate immature behaviour for very long... So I don't know what she sees in Agassi.

From my perspective, the 'Agassi 2.0' with the shaved head and bowing to the crowd, etc. that we saw in the second part of his career was extremely phoney.
The way I see him is that Agassi 1.0 was obviously an outgoing insecure punk who was desperate for attention ("Image is everything", etc.).
Agassi 2.0 was the same person, but was just disguised as an 'introverted gentleman'. He wanted to keep the same fan base, which was growing older, and so he simply found a different path to get the attention he craved.

[JazzNU]

Makes me wonder what the dynamic of his marriage to Steffi is. Likely not very different.

He has never been a favorite, but I'm guessing he's a considerably better partner to Steffi than he was to Brooke. Not saying he's some ideal husband, but not being addicted to meth anymore seems like it would improve his attitude considerably.

[ptmcmahon]

Agassi was my first favorite player ever (even in his punk days) so take it with a grain of salt, but it does seem like he is sincerely changed. I didn't find the bowing to the crowd, etc phony. And I think Steffi would see through it as well. Reading his book it was even pretty cute how he basically had a crush on her before they got together.

For comparison, I was also a Roddick fan (what is with me and jerky American "Andy" players) and I never once thought that he wasn't a jerk.

[ponchi101]

Agassi was open, in some interviews, about how much Steffi helped him, on and off the court. Remember, they started dating shortly after the 1999 RG, and Agassi was clear that Steffi helped him a lot with his approach to his tennis. A few Aussie Opens after that seem to prove that.
And judging a 50+ yo person by the persona s/he was when s/he was 25 is extremely unfair. The wonderful thing about growing up is that, well, you grow up. I never liked Agassi, and rooted against him in every single match he ever played. But to deny that in his last years of playing he was a gentleman, and that after that he has been a good ambassador to the sport, and a person of whom no scandals are known is simply being petty. He and Steffi seem to be a very decent couple, focused on their educational foundation. You can't ask for more.
If I were to meet him today, I would shake his hand with no issues whatsoever (I would bow to Steffi, but that is another story)

[Deuce]

I'm not 'judging him on the 25 year old he was' - I simply think that only the surface has changed. I still see the scared, insecure person who is desperate for attention (that's what the book was all about, with its sensationalisms... and, as I recall, a few of his peers weren't very happy with the book). I've seen plenty of very questionable behaviour from him since he put on the 'mature gentleman' disguise (the way he treated Sampras at various exhibitions, for one).
I still say he's a complete phoney.

[Owendonovan]

I hope he's different from when he was with Brooke, Steffi doesn't seem to be the type to go for that kind of nonsense. Brooke said he threw and broke all his trophies (including gs's) in a jealous rage over a comedy bit she did on Friends with Matt Leblanc.

[ti-amie]

I hope he's different from when he was with Brooke, Steffi doesn't seem to be the type to go for that kind of nonsense. Brooke said he threw and broke all his trophies (including gs's) in a jealous rage over a comedy bit she did on Friends with Matt Leblanc.

Unless he's had tons of therapy and has continued to work on his sobriety that type of thing doesn't change.

[Deuce]

I hope he's different from when he was with Brooke, Steffi doesn't seem to be the type to go for that kind of nonsense. Brooke said he threw and broke all his trophies (including gs's) in a jealous rage over a comedy bit she did on Friends with Matt Leblanc.

Unless he's had tons of therapy and has continued to work on his sobriety that type of thing doesn't change.

Yeah... it's the kind of thing that can lie dormant to a degree for a while (and that's why people are fooled), and then some situation will trigger it.
Even when it's mostly dormant, there are almost always signs that it's still there, just under the surface...

[ponchi101]

Andre Agassi disclosed he did meth in his book.
He did not mention that he broke his trophies during a silly bout of jealousy after his very famous wife did a scene in a sitcom.
Which gets disclosed by said wife in HER docuseries.
Moral: don't trust an autobiography. Or a docuseries

[mmmm8]

Andre Agassi disclosed he did meth in his book.
He did not mention that he broke his trophies during a silly bout of jealousy after his very famous wife did a scene in a sitcom.
Which gets disclosed by said wife in HER docuseries.
Moral: don't trust an autobiography. Or a docuseries

IIRC, he did say in his book he was not good to Brooke. I don't remember if he gave specific examples, if I remember right it focused more on how they got together and then very quickly moved to how it was dysfunctional and then the meth use. But you're right, it's HIS book so he's not required to disclose everything, so it's not fully reliable. But it's not like he presented that they were great together and he was a great husband.

[ti-amie]

Apparently he's a 26 year old crypto something or another and goes by 'the shark' on the crypto subreddit

Get a prenup Marta! Don't think with your hormones.