"He's banishing me, he's sending me away, partly to protect me from himself" - When Andre Agassi's father told him to join Nick Bollettieri's academy
Andre Agassi once said that his father advised him to join Nick Bollettieri's academy.
The American wrote about his conversation with his father Mike in his book "Open: An Autobiography" which was published in 2009. He wrote that his father told him about Bollettieri's Academy and instructed him to join it since he had nothing else to teach him.
"My father accosts me in the kitchen. He says we need to talk. He tells me to sit at the table. He sits across from me. An unfinished Norman Rockwell separates us. He describes a story he caught recently on 60 Minutes. It was all about a tennis boarding school on the west coast of Florida, near Tampa Bay," Agassi wrote.
"The first school of its kind, my father says. A boot camp for young tennis players, it’s run by a former paratrooper named Nick Bollettieri. So? So—you’re going there. What! You’re not getting any better here in Las Vegas. You’ve beaten all the local boys. You’ve beaten all the boys in the West. Andre, you’ve beaten all the players at the local college! I have nothing left to teach you," he added.
Agassi added that his father did not want to make the mistakes he did with his siblings. The American also said that his father was "banishing" him from their house to protect the eight-time Major champion from himself.
"My father doesn’t say the words, but it’s obvious: he’s determined to do things differently with me. He doesn’t want to repeat the mistakes he made with my siblings. He ruined their games by holding on too long, too tight, and in the process he ruined his relationship with them. Things got so bad with Rita that she’s recently run off with Pancho Gonzalez, the tennis legend, who’s at least thirty years her senior," Andre Agassi wrote.
"My father doesn’t want to limit me, or break me, or ruin me. So he’s banishing me. He’s sending me away, partly to protect me from himself. Andre, he says, you’ve got to eat, sleep, and drink tennis. It’s the only way you’re going to be number one," he added.
Andre Agassi won his first Grand Slam under Nick Bollettieri's guidance
Andre Agassi's maiden Grand Slam singles title came under Nick Bollettieri's guidance at the 1992 Wimbledon Championships where he edged out Goran Ivanisevic in five sets.
Agassi's triumph came after he suffered three Major finals heartbreaks at the 1990 and 1991 French Open and the 1990 US Open. The American also won the Canadian Open in 1992 with a win over Ivan Lendl in the final.
The following year, Agassi won two titles under Bollettieri at San Francisco and Scottsdale. The 1993 Wimbledon Championships was his last tournament under his childhood coach as he reached the quarterfinals before losing to Pete Sampras.