"I would have probably gotten in a fight with Novak Djokovic in the locker room" - When Andre Agassi joked about how he would try to beat the Serb
Andre Agassi once said that he would have gotten into a fight with Novak Djokovic in the locker room had the two ever played.
Agassi attended the 2013 Australian Open and was present during the tournament's final to hand the trophies to champion Novak Djokovic and runner-up Andy Murray. Speaking at a press conference there, Agassi was asked about Djokovic's dominance and how he would go about in an attempt to beat him.
The American said that he would have gotten into a fight with him in the locker room before the fixture.
"I would have probably gotten in a fight with him in the locker room before the match. I might have had a chance. Maybe there. I don't know," Andre Agassi said.
The eight-time Grand Slam champion also hailed the quality of tennis that was on show at the time.
"It's been amazing watching the standard continually sort of get better. You wonder how it's possible, you know, to continue at that sort of rate. I mean, what Federer did when he came and when I said goodbye, a lot had to do with what I knew was untouchable," Agassi said.
"It's just a different standard of tennis. It's different rules of engagement when guys can do what these guys can do. I don't recognize it from a standpoint of strategy, because I counted on getting somebody behind in a point and then slowly smothering them," he added.
Andre Agassi once coached Novak Djokovic
Andre Agassi joined Novak Djokovic's team as his coach in 2017. The Serb's only title under Agassi's tutelage came at that year's Eastbourne International, which he won without dropping a single set.
Djokovic's last tournament in 2017 came at Wimbledon, where he reached the quarterfinals before retiring against Tomas Berdych due to an injury.
Persistent elbow problems saw the Serb endure a poor start to the 2018 season as he suffered a fourth-round exit at the Australian Open to South Korea's Chung Hyeon. That was followed by second-round exits at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and the Miami Open. Agassi and Djokovic parted ways on March 31, 2018.
The Serb eventually went on to win two Grand Slams, at Wimbledon and the US Open, that season. He started the 2018 season outside the top 10 but finished the year as the World No. 1.