"I was borderline stalking her" - When Andre Agassi talked about his early attempts at dating Steffi Graf
Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf are among the most high-profile couples in the tennis world. The two greats of the game started dating in 1999, and got married in 2001. They also have two children together.
Agassi: Beyond the Lines was a documentary made in 2007 about the former World No. 1's life and tennis career. In one part of the documentary, Agassi described Steffi Graf as his "antithesis."
The American claimed that while he himself was outgoing, Graf was the "complete opposite."
"I always looked at her as somebody that reflected in a sense, antithesis of who I was, I was this sort of outgoing person, she was the complete opposite. She had these pillars in her life (parents), you know, that never moved. You were aware of them but she always protected them and kept them close to the vest. There's just a big part of me that respects that and strives for that," Andre Agassi said in the documentary.
Graf and Agassi both won Wimbledon in 1992, and were supposed to share a dance at the Champions' Ball. However, the event was later canceled.
The eight-time Grand Slam champion revealed that, back then, he had a limited perspective on life and only appreciated "certain things" about Graf.
"At that time I did not have the full perspective of life that I have now. So, I could only appreciate certain things about her and they had to do much more with the testosterone side of a person as she was beautiful and I would love to get to know her," Andre Agassi said.
Agassi and Graf also had a brief interaction during the Lipton International Players' Championships (now known as the Miami Open) in 1992. Back then, Graf was dating racing driver Michael Bartels.
Agassi confessed to "borderline stalking" Graf at the time.
"I was borderline stalking her, that's for sure," he said.
"She was everything I hoped to experience and aspired to be" - Andre Agassi on Steffi Graf
In the documentary Andre Agassi spoke further on the influence Steffi Graf has had on his life, saying that the German was everything he aspired to be.
"You know it's an amazing thing when you come out of a divorce in your life. You go through this monster transition, you go through this experience, through this sort of journey, and the greatest compliment you can give a person is to come out of that and say 'No, that's what I want, that's what I care about, that's who I want to be, that's what I aspire to,'" Agassi said.
"It's the greatest thing you can say about somebody and that's something that I discovered the more I get to know her. She was everything I hoped to experience and aspire to be," he added.