25th book complete and I believe it’s as good as any of my others. Andre Agassi, one of the most colorful, dynamic and inspiring champions in sports history, has had a big impact on the sports world and he continues to now as a legend.
For all the players and tennis world figures who were lucky to have close encounters with Agassi, it’s clear how much they respect him and all the experiences were uniquely special. It was a blast to do this book and I believe and hope all readers will love every page.
Here’s a short excerpt. You can order your copy now from amazon for $10.99…
Johan Kriek: Somewhere around 1986 or so my agent called me and said he has an easy gig for me in Tallahassee, Florida. I would be playing a good junior in an exhibition match. Well, at first I was like, “A junior?! Come on man! I am top 10 in the world and you want me to play against a junior in an exhibition match?” My agent was Lee Fentress at that time from Advantage International. He said, “It’s a 16-year-old from Nick Bollettieri’s Academy and his name is Andre Agassi.”
I had a few weeks off so I said, “Sure, I’ll do it.” I drove from Naples, Florida to Tallahassee to play this “junior.”
It was scheduled for a late afternoon start, so I showed up about an hour before the start of it. As I walked into the locker room, I saw this entourage of people huddled in one corner and I saw this very hairy guy with a huge mullet. A guy with a suit stood up and introduced himself as Mr. So and So from IMG, “I am Andre’s agent – please come and meet him” …So I extended my hand and that was the first time I was introduced to Andre Agassi.
Niceties and pleasantries later I was getting dressed in tennis gear and this guy who said he was “Phillip and I am his brother” starts sliding down the wooden bench my way and says, “Hey Johan, we have a plane to catch for the trip back to Sarasota so why don’t we make it whoever wins the first set will make sure the winner wins in straight sets as we really need to get back to Sarasota.”
I thought to myself “Wow, I am top ten in the world and this junior’s brother is asking me to roll over as if he is going to beat me!?”…. NO * way!
So we play in this huge indoor basketball auditorium in front of about 5,000 college kids and the place was decked out in black curtains. It was like playing in some gothic chamber….. suiting Andre’s scene to a tee!
I quickly went up 5-1 in the first set and I thought to myself, “Well, he is about to get smoked easily in this set so I will make it like 6-1 6-3 and he will make his plane.” I have by then played exhibition matches for almost ten years and I knew how important it is to play well but also a bit of show to go with it!
Suddenly Andre rips a few big forehands and starts fist pumping and these college kids are getting behind this long-haired, fist-pumping kid! He suddenly pulls up to 5-4 and is just being the showman he is!
Suddenly I am forced to be “super serious” because he is really playing well. It ended up being a long match. I think I ended up winning in tough two-setter, as far as I can remember. During the match I thought to myself, “Well buddy, it doesn’t seem like the plane ride is that pressing, so let’s play for a while.”
And yes, Andre missed his plane.
But I didn’t miss the fact that this “kid” was already a great player. It was about a year later when he came to Stratton Mountain, Vermont and had that amazing run and lost to Lendl.
I played Andre a few times when he was great in his “first career” of the “two careers” he played. One year he beat me in four sets at the US Open on center court (Louis Armstrong Stadium) when he was about no. 3 in the world. But I got revenge on him at the US National Indoor Championships in Memphis in 1989 when I beat him and Michael Chang back to back.
What a career and what a character he was on the court back in the days.
Head to head series tied 1-1
1989 Memphis R16 Indoor Hard Kriek 67 75 63
1988 US Open R32 Outdoor Hard Agassi 63 61 26 60
Novak Djokovic: Andre Agassi is a huge inspiration to many people including myself. It was a great opportunity to have him alongside me and learn. He was very supportive of me in media. When he would speak in public about me it was always positive and nice. Even when I received a lot of criticism, he was one of the few people that kept believing in me and talking nice about me so I just gave him a phone call wanting to thank him for that. And to say I appreciate his kind words. It turned out to be a 30-40 minute discussion and then it evolved to where we were together as friends but as player and coach as well (2017-2018). I was honored to have him on my team. He asked a lot of questions, which is great because he was trying to get to know me as a person, a player, my family, my team. He really wanted to give his best to help me to become even a better player and a better human being. I definitely see him as a great inspiration.
Andre Agassi · Australian Open · French Open · Nike · Novak Djokovic · US Open · USA · Wimbledon