🎾 Carson Baker vs Hikaru Takahashi
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Andy Roddick y Andre Agassi They have been the last two number ones of the ATP of the United States. They are also the last two American men to have won a Grand Slam (US Open 2003 and Australian Open 2003respectively) and coincided on the circuit during the last years of the Las Vegas circuit and the beginnings of the Nebraska circuit.
And on the podcast Andy Roddick‘Serve by Andy Roddick’, the former tennis player and now tennis commentator and analyst, commented on an anecdote that he experienced with Andre Agassi and that left him stunned. It shows the competitive nature and culture of effort that the winner of eight Grand Slams had and which is well reflected in his acclaimed book ‘Open’.
The scene took place in Australia, before a Open the Australiadates when Melbourne is usually an oven where the humidity makes it difficult to breathe. Although it is something that tennis players already have before traveling to the antipodes.
The Australian heat sparked the conversation
“I remember I was on tour with Andre. And the greats have this ability to take something that seems very stressful or difficult and explain it in a very simple way. One time we were in Australia, it was one of those days where it was like a hair dryer outside. It was like 40 degrees on the track and the wind was blowing; it was disgusting.”
“And then I was in the training room. Just being silly and having fun. The guys would come in and Andre would be in the corner, barely saying anything, talking to someone.”
Andy Roddick confesses the moment Andre Agassi called him an “asshole”
“I talk and the person walks away, and Andre says, ‘Dude, this is the third person you’ve talked to about how hot it is. You’re an idiot.’ And I say, ‘What do you mean? You’re right, but why?’ And he says, ‘You’re here complaining. How many people in the world have to be better than one person a day at their job?'”
That conversation changed his perspective.
“It blew my mind because it’s like you put him in a situation where, when you’re not motivated, you don’t have to be more motivated than everyone else. You have to be better, physically and mentally, than the person you’re playing with. So he told me, ‘You don’t have to be perfect every day until you get to the semifinals, then you have to give a little more.'”
“It’s a bit of a crazy comment, because honestly, you just have to be a little bit better than that guy, especially in the first few rounds. It’s like saying: I don’t have to be exceptional. I have to be a little bit better than that guy that day, regardless of the conditions, the weather, whatever. Sometimes we make it very complicated,” says one Andy Roddick who began to understand the mentality that a champion has to have thanks to the insult of Andre Agassi.
