American legend Andre Agassi believes Djokovic will miss Federer & Nadal, the guys he came to the dance with
BENGALURU: Andre Agassi wondered if the 24-time major winner Novak Djokovic would miss his greatest rivals — the now-retired Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer — in the last leg of a glittering career where the 37-year-old goes for more history.
The eight-time Grand Slam champion, in the city for the TiE Global Summit, assessed Djokovic’s run and the Serb’s recent partnership with friend and rival Andy Murray in a candid chat with media.
Excerpts:
Djokovic’s longevity:
It’s hard to say, Father Time always wins. He has already done so much for so long, it’s hard to imagine longer. We said that about (Roger) Federer too. I think Novak will run out of energy more than capability. Cannot be easy, especially when the people you came to the dance with have left, that’s a big thing.
When Pete (Sampras) retired it was a blow to me, it set me back a little bit. It made me rediscover my inspirations on some level. Djokovic has lost the guys he made history with. It’ll probably get tougher and tougher emotionally, but I would never bet against them. Bet against them at your peril.
Andy Murray coaching Djokovic:
In any coach-student relationship you need trust and trust can take time, but it’s nice when it starts with believing in somebody because you know that they know your experience. There’s an asset to their history as competitors.
Any success of a relationship is based on complete buy-in and that’s always the part you have to wait and see. It’s not what I know that changes your career, information doesn’t lead to transformation, somebody has to counter that. That’s the connector. I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of trust immediately, we’ll see how the results go.
Carlos Alcaraz and longevity…
Alcaraz defends like Novak, has more power and spin like Nadal, hands and finesse like Federer but just because he has the best of all the three doesn’t mean he can do what they did. There are so many parts to the game such as decision-making, injuries, luck. So how long can (Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner) do it (for)? They could do it for 20 years or not.
American men haven’t had results like the women:
The women’s game hasn’t had to deal with Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, but they have their version of it. Serena Williams is the Novak of the women’s game and you got Coco as a potential, like Alcaraz has potential and Sinner has potential.
How the game evolves is interesting. The women’s game has gotten very powerful, just straight power. For lack of a better example, Lindsay Davenport was powerful, tall, precise through the court and now you have a lot of that. There’s still room for somebody who can offset that kind of power, like an Ash Barty.
The men’s game has changed in the sense that guys have gotten bigger with longer levers, which means they’re better athletes, they can move and they need more time, they start playing further back. Soon you’re going to start seeing the net game start coming back, everything morphs in its own way. But the biggest issue for American (men) not winning is an unfortunate set of decades where the guys were very stingy and very greedy — 66 Grand Slams in the same generation. There’s not a lot left there (for others)!
Graf was the hardest victory I ever had: Agassi
Andre Agassi – the second of five men to achieve a career Grand Slam in the Open Era and the first man to complete a career golden slam – has won it all, including a stirring love match.
“She was the hardest victory I ever had,” said Agassi of his wife German tennis legend Steffi Graf, a 22-time major winner.
Agassi, who has won eight major titles and the Olympic gold, speaking during a session at the TiE Global Summit, said, “We all live a hero’s journey – first part of life is about performing and achieving. Then life hits us with broken relationships and dreams. I went through it all. Finally, in the last phase of the journey, it’s about serving others.”
The 54-year-old said, “At 28 my (tennis) career started over. Without the struggles, I would’ve never gotten Steffi to say yes. I tried to get her for years.”
On a lighter note, Agassi said he likes to keep his trophies out of the house. “I don’t bring my trophies home, because if I bring my trophies home, then she brings her trophies home – and that’s bad math!”
