Love on and off the court: The story of Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf

Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, a couple of tennis legends

“Life is not where you live, but who you decide to live with,” commented Andre Agassi and it could well be used as a prologue to his own love story with Steffi Graf, two tennis legends who will bring this relationship seasoned with contempt to the screen, persecution, infidelity? and a previous marriage. Every love relationship with a happy ending captivates and excites, and if it involves two charismatic superstars it is even more attractive. And so is that of The Kid from Las Vegas and Stefanie Maria Graf, who not only marked an era, but also became sports myths and one of the iconic couples in the world of celebrities.

In sports you can find many coincidences: Grand Slam champions, world No. 1, Olympic medalists and a lot of charisma. But their profiles are totally different, although in both cases they are crossed by the disturbing and permanent presence of their parents, who led them to go through traumatic moments, even when they were already united in marriage.

Steffi, born in Mannheim before the fall of the Wall, in 1969, in what was then the Federal Republic of Germany, was always quite reserved and gave the definitive profile to the family. Projected as a future champion, she was led to partner with Gabriela Sabatini, who also appeared shining in the firmament of women’s tennis, both at just 16 or 17 years old. However, her great friend would be another Argentine, Inés Gorrochátegui, the woman from Córdoba who would receive her at her house in the capital of her province on many occasions, including with Agassi. Inés said that they usually arrived incognito and camouflaged, to avoid being recognized.

Graf did not have many love relationships, the most significant and lasting (seven years) was with the German pilot Michael Bartels, the complete opposite of what happened with the Californian, born in Las Vegas in 1970.

Barbra Streisand applauds Agassi in Flushing Meadow, when the two were in a relationship, long before Graf arrived

Blonde, long hair, extroverted and with a transgressive look, he didn’t need much more to be the center of attraction wherever he went. Andre always played as a winner and in a bench position, so in 1991, after the French Open, he tried to approach Graf, but she never responded to his message. A year and a month later, Agassi had the chance he was waiting for and when they were formally introduced, he reminded him of that fact and he played the winner again: “I hope you haven’t misunderstood my intentions, but I would love to talk to you sometime.” This happened during the Wimbledon ’92 champions’ dinner, when each won in their draw. At that time, it was customary for both champions to dance together at one point during the gala. The Kid’s anxiety got the better of him and he ran to the famous London store Harrods to buy a tuxedo. When he arrived at the party they told him that the dance would not take place, so Andre shot an approach (in tennis, approach shot) on the first play he had.

After that meeting, their professional and sentimental lives took them on different paths. Subdued and calm, on the German side, and totally media-driven, on Andre’s side, whose relationship with Barbra Streisand occupied a lot of space in the media. Starting in 1992, the Hollywood star did not miss any of Agassi’s matches. She was seen in different tournaments, in which she was singled out by the tennis player, when he identified her in the audience. Without confirmation, but under many rumors, Andre only managed to say that he was fascinated by her voice and that she was just “a very good friend of hers.” More than that I can’t say.”

Brooke, a love by fax

The following year, Agassi underwent a delicate wrist operation and began his relationship with actress Brooke Shields, who was trying to reposition her career as a child prodigy to become a dramatic actress. Kenny G’s wife, trying to get Andre to get over the scandals of his friendship with Streisand, suggested that she meet Brooke, who was five years older than him, but was filming “Born to Freedom” in South Africa.

The doubts and needs between them were the first things that brought them together and, later, the suffering of their parents’ rigid upbringing. At that time, text messages or emails did not exist, much less WhatsApp, the most common thing was to send a fax. “In just a few faxes, we went from innocent flirtation to sharing our most intimate secrets,” Brooke would say years later.

And so, without knowing each other personally, they began a love that was well received by the environment of fame and fans, but that ended in silence, wigs and a void, which it seems that Steffi always filled.

Several years before getting married in 1997, The Kid confessed his biggest secret to the actress: he was afraid of losing contracts if the world found out that the hair he was wearing was a blonde wig that he used to stick together, although sometimes with little adhesion. Something that Andre considered a farce. Along with a group of friends, Brooke supported him and ended up shaving his head.

Andre Agassi with actress Brooke Shields, whom he married in 1997. After their separation, he began his romance with Graf.

Love was born in Florida

Already without hair and without a wig, the marriage with Brooke Shields was falling apart and, in 1999, the divorce was already underway. That’s when Agassi turned his attention to Graf. He asked Gil Reyes (physical trainer and mentor) to convince Heinz Günthardt (Steffi’s coach) to train together in Key Biscayne, Miami. And they do it like that. The German would admit, some time later, that she did not understand what the Californian was looking for, since he was still married and she was in the middle of her relationship with Bartels. However, she agreed and received, in return, a huge bouquet of roses and a note that remembered what she told him at Wimbledon ’92: “I would love for us to talk sometime.” After almost a decade of insistence, perseverance paid off for the Las Vegas Kid. From there and with the divorce consummated, the relationship began to take shape.

The fact is that the German woman had never completely left Andre’s mind. “I was in love with Steffi before I met her personally, since I saw her in an interview on French television,” she wrote in her autobiography Open de ella, alluding to her insistence on making that meeting happen. “She was the hardest thing to win,” he told her.

For her part, Graf would confess that it took her a few months, but that, afterward, she felt attracted and “everything happened very quickly.” As it is logical to assume, the one in charge of taking the lead in the couple is Agassi, his profile presses, in that aspect. This is how it came to be known that on the first date, after that training session and the flowers at the hotel, they met for dinner. “I didn’t know what kind of drink Steffi drank or what his favorite dish was, so I made the worst decision,” recalled the Olympic champion. I ordered the best bottle of wine they could find, but she didn’t drink a drop, because she doesn’t drink wine,” Andre smiled. However, it ended up becoming a tradition, both at the wedding and on each wedding anniversary. At those moments, there was and is a case of the same 1989 vintage wine that accompanied the date that night without being drunk.

The marriage was an act of great simplicity. Away from their respective parents, the ceremony was held in the garden of their house and only the two mothers and part of the staff who maintained the house that day were present. Barefoot and in jeans, with a pair of raffia strips as rings (made by Steffi), the couple formalized their union, a few days before their first son Jaden Gil (as the physical trainer) was born, in October 2001.

The kiss between Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, after years of flirting on Andre’s part

During the 2003 Masters, which was held in Houston, Gil Reyes told this Infobae editor that Steffi and Andre had come to his house one afternoon to ask him if he authorized them to name the couple’s first-born child after him. A gesture that the person who accompanied the ’92 Wimbledon champion throughout his career thanked with pride. In October of that year, Steffi had given birth to Jaz Elle Agassi.

On June 28, “Perfect Match” will be released, the love story of Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, a film starring the British Toby Sebastian and the German actress Lena Klenke, in the leading roles, which can be seen through Amazon Prime.

2024-05-27 05:39:00
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