Some of the most entertaining passages in Andre Agassi’s new autobiography describe his intense dislike for Boris Becker. Andre calls his loss to Becker in the 1995 Wimbledon semifinals “the most devastating of my life” and is further enraged by the snarky comments Boris made to the press after the match (Becker described Agassi as an “elitist” who was unpopular in the locker room.) Agassi sought sweet revenge at the US Open, where the players met again in the semis. The tension was so high in the tunnel before the match that Agassi told the security guard to keep them apart: “I don’t want this fucking German in my sight,” is how he put it.
But there was no escaping Boris’s antics on the court. Down two sets to none, Boris brought out the big guns. And Andre didn’t mean his serve:
“He’s seen me lose my cool before, so he does what he thinks will make me lose my cool again, the most emasculating thing one tennis player can do to another: He blows kisses at my box. At Brooke (Shields). It works.”
Agassi won the match in four sets, but the mental and physical effort left him too drained to stand up to Pete Sampras in the final. When the Australian Open came around, Agassi claims he tanked his semifinal against Michael Chang to avoid another “holy war” against Becker in the final. “Given a choice between Becker and Chang, I’d rather lose to Chang.” Becker won the Australian Open that year.
Something tells me Boris read Andre’s book. He’s quoted this month in Der Spiegel:
“Every tennis player in our generation liked Steffi Graf: great woman, great body, sexy, always winning. Everyone in the locker room found Steffi hot”
He adds that he, personally, felt nothing but brotherly affection for Fräulein Forehand.
Jim Courier better sign Becker onto the Outback seniors circuit! Andre must be itching for a fight!
Andre and Steffi were featured in Vogue this month (click here). The title of the story? “Perfect Match”
Becker mentioned that he feels sorry for athletes who cultivate perfect images like Steffi and Andre:
“How difficult it is to live! How exhausting! They can never misbehave in a restaurant!” (HA!) “They can never divorce.”
But in October, Becker criticized the not-so-perfect Agassi for his crystal-meth use and drug test cover up (via Telegraph):
“I’m the last person to throw stones, as there have been some difficult times in my own life, but to hear that he took crystal meth, that certainly puts a whole new light on Andre. And it’s not a beautiful light.”
Boris, who like Andre, is on his second marriage, claims that his own days of misbehaving are over.
“I have tried everything and decided for myself that I’m happier with a partner, I’m better.”
He certainly has tried everything:
Here’s some footage from the 1995 Wimbledon semifinal:
Forget Brooke and Steffi, I’m thinking it all comes down to hair envy:
Tags: agassi, ATP, Becker, Graf, tennis, US Open, Wimbledon
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this is great stuff. i have to say, i wasn’t a big becker fan. sure he had the booming, rocking serve and diving gets, but i loved stefan edberg, the quieter, friendlier, handsome player (sound familiar?) with the excellent touch. i always found boris to be too much. and he was no saint, so i think it’s funny that he’s so critical. not as annoying as mats of course, he just pisses me off sometimes.
loved steffi and her killer forehand and slice backhand. husband had and maybe still has a thing for her. he admired her game and super fit physique.
i remember being at the great quarter or semi night match at the uso between fed and roddick, maybe 2 years ago and andre did some guest commentating. he was pretty awesome at it, great tennis mind. he shared how he could read becker’s serve, based on where his tongue was in his mouth. hilarious!
Hi Judy!
Oh my goodness, I completely agree with you – Agassi is a spectacular commentator. It would be great if he steps in and does some while he can still talk about players he’s played himself. But I guess he has bigger fish to fry.
He should at least get a guest stint whenever Roger plays!
Yeah, my hubby liked Steffi, too. I’m surprised (and happy), honestly, to hear she’s such a sex symbol because she definitely doesn’t have that Ana Kournikova cute thing going for her.
steffi looked great here…
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/swimsuit/collection/issues/1997/97_sgraff_04.html
she didn’t have the model-y cute vibe like anna k or ana 2.0 does, but i know husband appreciates women who kick ass and have great long legs.
he definitely admires female athletes, especially tennis players, which is why i limit his exposure to the ‘tennis babes’ section on your site. he’s developing a thing for vika and caroline w. ana i is a fav, so is maria k. at the uso, we watched maria k play dubs live and he kept blocking my view, pointing our camera in her direction. it was pretty funny actually.
After this little taste, I can hardly wait to read Agassi’s book! I never cared for Becker; he could be a bully on the court. I remember once at Wimbledon, I saw him shoulder an opponent out of the way –hard — on a crossover — almost knocked the man over! Like Judy, I liked Stefan Edberg the best, for all the same reasons. I was ambivalent about Andre. I liked his game — especially that quick backhand return. But, in personal terms, he could sometimes be such a good guy and other times be a total jerk. Now that I know how uphappy he was, I’m a bit more sympathetic.
If living a virtuous life is exhausting, Boris must be one relaxed guy.
I love the story about him blowing kisses to Brooke. What did she do? OK, I might have to buy the book after all.
I have a soft spot for Becker, because my uncle used to torment my poor Czech grandmother, who only liked Czech tennis players, by telling people she liked Boris Becker. Boy, did she get mad!
I really need to go out and get that book!
I had no idea there was that level of animosity between the two. I remember way back when Andre started turning the tables in their head-to-heads and I thought that ‘95 match was just ‘Dre having a bad day. As far as the ‘96 Aussie, I just thought Andre was still beat up over losing to Sampras at the ‘95 U.S. Open.
Becker had a great career, but you know what? It really doesn’t hold a candle to Agassi’s.
Hi Van!
You definitely should buy the book (or ask for it for X-mas!) There is so much that will entertain a hardcore fan like you. Just the parts on Brad Gilbert, alone, were hilarious and fascinating – he’s definitely the unheralded hero of the book (his ironic nickname for Becker? B.B. Socrates!)
I’m with Frites — get the book! There’s so much great stuff in it that I read it almost straight through in one sitting. Andre definitely gets a few nasty licks in there, which is enormous fun, and like ff, I’ll never think about Brad Gilbert again without a smile. Interesting stuff too about how Gil Reyes became a surrogate father to Agassi.
I’m with those who didn’t like Becker and was a huge fan of Edberg. Was this the equivalent of Federer versus Nadal then? Except, though I’m a Fed fan and a huge admirer of his game and behaviour I like Nadal far more than I ever liked Becker.
I’m a few pages from finishing Andre Agassi’s autobiography, and I have to say that it’s one of the best I have read in a long time. The moment I opened the book, I couldn’t put it down.
The bits about his toupee were hilarious, his fall in the rankings and apparent incompatibility with Brooke Shields were heartbreaking, but everything fell into place for him when he decided to revive his career and most especially when he finally got his chance with Steffi Graf, whose affections seemed like the proverbial French Open. It took him forever to get the title and the girl, but he got them.
what did you think of Brad Gilbert’s role? For being such a talkative guy, I felt like he had a really quiet and strong influence on Andre’s career and in some ways asked for the least from AA in return (although i’m sure the money was good!) But he didn’t need the father-figure role like Gil, or force his way into the spotlight like Nick. . .
Also, some people have said that Darren Cahill was in some ways just along for the ride at the end of AA’s career. The book didn’t really contradict that way of thinking. Changing the strings was a big deal, though. ..
Good article.Boris means that Steffi is most overrated player like jordan,pele…,in their fields.
and Steffi always appreciated by public as a great player and a good characted persona.
and agreed that she shows only power of athletism in SI-swimsuit issue.very diffrent pctures,not like kournikova or sharapova ,indeed.
Andre is really lucky guy,even his life ends in april,1999.he founds happy life after June&august with Steffi.!
It just shows how cheap Andre, boris and brad gilbert were each in their own way. If the other guy played better than you accept it(You should read andre’s discussion of their davis cup match in 1989, just glosses over it without acknowledging how great a match it was and how well both played), brad’s comments about becker being an “…overgrown farmboy”. Well brad too bad but you were just not in andre or boris’s league. I’m shocked about Becker’s behaviour with brooke shields and frankly after all this Nadal, edberg and after that Federer and sampras are really the players to emulate.