"I can always say I beat Andre Agassi on Center Court after watching and wanting him to win it so badly in 1992" - Tommy Haas on career highlight
From rooting for Andre Agassi at the 1992 Wimbledon Championships to beating him at SW19 in 1998, Tommy Haas recently reflected on one of his career's highlights.
Agassi won his only Wimbledon title in 1992 when he defeated Goran Ivanisevic in a five-set thriller in the final. Former World No. 2 Haas was just 14 years old at the time and was cheering for the American legend.
Both Andre Agassi and Haas trained at the Nick Bollettieri Academy in Florida when they were teenagers. The two players went on to face each other 10 times on the tour, with the eight-time Grand Slam champion winning six of those clashes.
In a recent conversation with Rennae Stubbs, Haas, the current tournament director of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, stated that he was ecstatic to learn about facing his childhood hero at the 1998 Wimbledon Championships. The German won the match in four sets.
"Agassi quickly became sort of a role model, somebody I admired and then I got to play him in Wimbledon second round back in 1998 when I was 20 years old," Haas said on the Rennae Stubbs Tennis podcast. "So that was like, all of a sudden, 'Wow, I watched him win in 1992 and six years later, I'm playing against him on Center Court'."
Haas registered one of his career's biggest wins against a top player and labeled it "a highlight."
"That was definitely one of those moments where I was like, 'I can always say that I beat Andre on Center Court after watching and wanting him to win it so badly in 1992', because of the connection with the academy and Nick. So that was certainly a highlight in my career," he added.
Andre Agassi to feature in Pickleball Slam alongside John McEnroe, Andy Roddick, and Michael Chang
Grand Slam champions Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, Andy Roddick, and Michael Chang are all set to embrace pickleball at the first-ever Pickleball Slam at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida, on April 2.
While Agassi will square off against McEnroe, the other singles match will see Roddick taking on the youngest-ever man to win a tennis Major — Chang. After the singles clashes, Agassi will team up with Roddick to challenge McEnroe and Chang in a doubles contest.
The cash prize of $1 million will be divided among the winners of all the matches.