"I'm still allergic to actress" - When Andre Agassi responded to finding out Pete Sampras would marry Bridgette Wilson
Andre Agassi once revealed how, right after the final of the Indian Wells Open in 2001, Pete Sampras told him he was going to marry Bridgette Wilson.
Agassi beat his rival 7-6(5), 7-5, 6-1 that year to win his only title in Indian Wells. The American wrote in his autobiography, "Open", that it was in the locker room after the match that Sampras gave him the news of his engagement to actress Bridgette Wilson.
Agassi responded by claiming that he was "allergic to actress", having previously been married to Brooke Shields.
"At Indian Wells I reach the final and face Pete. I beat him, and in the locker room after the match he tells me he’s going to marry Bridgette Wilson, the actress he’s been dating. 'I’m still allergic to actress', I say. He laughs, but I’m not kidding. He tells me he met her on the set of a movie, Love Stinks. I laugh, but he’s not kidding," Agassi wrote.
The American added that while he wanted to say a lot of things to Sampras about marriage and actresses, they did not have that kind of relationship.
"There is much I want to say to Pete, about marriage, about actresses, but I can’t. Ours isn’t that kind of relationship. There is much I’d like to ask him, about how he stays so focused, about whether or not he regrets devoting so much of his life to tennis," Andre Agassi said.
He said that the two were strangers despite their "quasi-friendship".
"Our different personalities, our ongoing rivalry, precludes such intimacy. I realize that despite the effect we’ve had on each other, despite our quasi-friendship, we’re strangers, and may always be," he added.
Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras locked horns in four Grand Slam finals
Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi faced one another on 34 occasions, including four Grand Slam finals.
The first Major title clash between the two came at the 1990 US Open, which Sampras won 6-4, 6-3, 6-2. This was Agassi's second defeat of the year in a Grand Slam final, having previously lost to Andres Gomez at the French Open.
The two did not face one another at a Major title clash again until 1995, when Agassi beat his rival 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(6), 6-4 to win the Australian Open. That year, they also locked horns in the US Open final, with Sampras triumphing 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.
The only time the two tennis greats faced each another in a Wimbledon final was in 1999, with Sampras winning 6-3, 6-4, 7-5.
Their last ever meeting came at the 2002 US Open, and once again, it was the seven-time Wimbledon champion who came out on top, winning 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.