In the summer of 1992, the headlines of the sports press recounted the exploits of a tennis player as long-haired and charismatic as he was talented. The American Andre AgassiThe 22-year-old was making his way like a hurricane in the men’s draw at the Wimbledon tournament. After a couple of failed attempts, he was looking for his first Grand Slam with a motivation not seen before. A motivation, as he would later confess, completely extra-sports: blonde, German and that responded to the specific name of Steffi Graf. That of Mannheim, only a year older than him, was already the undisputed reference in the women’s circuit and Agassi, fascinated by her character, longed for the opportunity to meet her for the first time. Even his girlfriend at the time, Wendi Stewart, knew about these deep feelings.
Knowing that in the London tournament tradition forced the winners to dance together at the celebration gala, Agassi, on the eve of its end, went to the Harrods department store to buy a tuxedo for the occasion. He declared himself the winner, whoever he did, in an agonizing five-set final that would become the first of eight he won during his career. However, once he arrived at the event ready to “spin Graf on the dance floor, even if he can’t dance”, the organizers broke his heart when they told him that this year it would not take place. “I am left without dancing with Steffi, although I receive a consolation prize: she is formally presented to me”, revealed the tennis player in his essential biography Open, about a love story that would not bear fruit until seven years later to become one of the most stable romances among the -very few- made up of sports stars.
Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi, in their Harrods tux, after declaring themselves the winners of the Wimbledon tournament in 1992. Photo: GETTY
Just nineteen years ago On October 22, 2001, Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi said ‘yes, I do’ in an intimate ceremony in a Las Vegas chapel, city in which the couple resides. As intimate as that, in addition to the aforementioned, there were only three other people in the room: the priest and their respective mothers. After the failed attempt at Wimbledon 92, it was with another shared trophy, that of Roland Garros seven seasons later, that the romance between them officially began. Their love made a great impact on the world of sports because of the opposite of their personalities. While the German had shown a very discreet profile throughout her career, Agassi was a Hollywood star both on and off the slopes, with famous affaires with actresses as well known as Barbra Streisand or Brooke Shields.
With Shields, the tennis player shared a history of child abuse by parents who just wanted to see them reach the top of their respective careers regardless of the emotional cost. Couple since 1993, they married four years later and their marriage lasted two more years. In one of the episodes of Open, Agassi shares the anecdote that Shields’s physical referent was none other than his next wife. “Run, lift weights, stretch, count down to the last calorie. To get motivated, stick a photo on the fridge door and surround it with a magnetic heart. It’s a picture of the perfect woman, he says. The perfect woman with the perfect legs, the legs that Brooke wants to have. Amazed, I look at the photo. I walk over to the frame and brush it with my fingers. Isn’t this…? Yes, says Brooke. Steffi Graf”.
Tennis players have lived far from the media spotlight since they retired from the circuit. Photo: Getty
Agassi’s divorce coincided in time with the breakdown of the relationship between the winner of 22 Grand Slam tournaments and pilot Michael Bartels. It was spring 1999 and the American finally had a chance to woo his crush. Agassi decided to ask him out on a date for Graf’s birthday: “I don’t want any misunderstandings… I’m sure you’ve heard that Brooke and I have broken. I think you are beautiful and fascinating and I have tremendous respect for what seem to be your pillars in life. Can we have lunch, dinner, coffee, go for a walk? I do not care. I just want to get to know you better.
Graff not only allowed Agassi to get to know her better, but, to the great surprise of the circuit, announced his retirement a few months later. She was only 30 years old and number 3 in the world, but claimed that she had “stopped having fun” on the slopes. The German had been competing professionally since she was 13 years old, being one of the youngest in history to do so. A few days after their wedding in 2001, their first child, Jaden, was born, to be joined by a girl, Jaz, two years later. Today Jaden is also trying to make a name for himself in the sports world, but he has traded the racket for the bat and tennis for baseball. “I feel extremely fortunate to have met Andre and the life we have built together,” revealed the legendary tennis player in an interview with ESPN, calling it “incredible” to have the opportunity to live a perfectly ordinary and ordinary life, after decades of transoceanic travels and lonely hotel rooms.
With a joint fortune valued at close to 200 million euros, Graf and Agassi decided to stay out of the spotlight since the American retired from the circuit in 2006. The one from Las Vegas has coached tennis players like Novak Djokovic and Gregor Dimitrov and, together with his wife, has participated in various exhibition tournaments for charity purposes. Beyond the family, his altruistic labors occupy most of his time. Children for Tomorrow, directed by Graf, provides psychological treatment to children traumatized by the rigors of war or other crises. The Andre Agassi Foundation, founded in 1994, seeks to improve the public education system in the United States and help students from less affluent families. Although already off the circuit, the legacy of these legends continues to grow.
