“In full form, Steffi Graf was a horse that wasn’t going to be caught”
Andre Agassi once opened up about how the competitive skills of his wife and fellow tennis legend Steffi Graf differed from his own. Agassi said he couldn’t match the German’s unparalleled athleticism, which he believes gave her a significant edge over her opponents.
Both Agassi and Graf are considered among the greatest players in tennis history. While the American clinched eight Major titles, accomplished the career Grand Slam and won an Olympic singles gold medal, Graf claimed 22 Grand Slam titles and secured the rare Golden Calendar Slam, making her the only player to achieve the historic feat.
Although both players were enormously successful in their own right, Andre Agassi feels there were certain aspects of the German’s game that he couldn’t replicate. Speaking to the Harvard Business Review in 2015, the American said Graf had the “luxury” of possessing unmatched athleticism, which made her practically unbeatable at her peak.
Agassi also conceded that he couldn’t “steamroll” past his opponents in the same way because he lacked the same level of talent.
“She had an athleticism over her peers that was quite a luxury. When she was in full form, she was just a horse that wasn’t going to be caught. For me, it wasn’t like that. I couldn’t just steamroll past people because I was such an athlete or talented in all these different ways,” Agassi said.
Andre Agassi acknowledged his own strengths but emphasized that he had to employ the more “exhausting” method of approaching his matches like a puzzle and “out-thinking” his opponents.
“I had a couple of strengths, but I had to out-think everybody and implement my strategies one piece at a time, like a puzzle. That’s more exhausting, and you don’t get the results as consistently,” he added.
