“Steffi Graf did not have to give up her family… I had no friends and no mom”: When Andre Agassi clarified misconceptions about his wife’s childhood
Andre Agassi once shed light on the differences between his and wife Steffi Graf’s early experiences with tennis. Agassi also addressed the misconceptions about Graf’s upbringing, dispelling the concerns about her father Peter robbing her of her childhood.
Agassi and Graf shared a special connection through their similar introductions to tennis, as they were both pushed into the sport by their fathers. The German’s father Peter, an aspiring tennis coach, handed her a tennis racket at the age of three and remained her coach for much of her illustrious career, during which she won 22 Grand Slam titles.
Similarly, Andre Agassi was coached by his father Emmanuel “Mike” Agassi during his childhood in Las Vegas. However, by the time he turned 13, Mike admitted that he had “nothing left to teach him” and sent the American away to Nick Bollettieri’s academy in Florida to train and hone his skills.
Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf bonded over their shared experience of being under their respective fathers’ “hands.” In a 2009 interview with German publication Spiegel, the American revealed that Graf was the only person who validated his feelings of “hating” tennis.
“What is right is that both of us were in our fathers’ hands. I told a lot of people that I hated tennis — seriously and strongly hated it — and they all tried to talk me out of it: “Ah, that is not right, Andre; in fact you love tennis, don’t you?” Do you want to know what Stefanie said: “Don’t we all?,”” Andre Agassi said.
However, when asked about Peter Graf’s reputation as a ‘diabolical father who stole his daughter’s childhood,’ Andre Agassi pushed back against the misconception, insisting that this image was “wrong.”
The American also emphasized that it was Graf’s decision to pursue tennis, asserting that she didn’t have to sacrifice her family or childhood in the process. In contast, Agassi admitted that being sent to Nick Bollettieri’s academy by his father at the age of just 13 left him isolated, with no friends and separated from his mother.
“But it wasn’t like that. It was her choice. Stefanie did not have to give up her family or her childhood, whereas I was sent to a training academy in Florida. And, from that moment on, I had no friends and no mom anymore. No, this story and this image are wrong. Of course, sometimes she was sick of it; but, in general, she loved the sport she happened to be great at,” he said.
