"Steffi Graf taught me not to stand in my way; I became famous so fast, but I grew up slow" - When Andre Agassi shared what he learned from his wife
Andre Agassi once opened up about the valuable lessons he had learned from his wife and fellow tennis legend Steffi Graf. Agassi disclosed the German taught him to be patient and rely on his feelings rather than focusing solely on his thoughts.
Agassi and Graf started dating in 1999 and tied the knot in 2001, the same year their son Jaden was born. They welcomed their daughter Jaz in 2003. While the German retired from professional tennis in 1999, Agassi continued competing on tour until 2006, picking up many important insights from the German along the way.
In a 2009 interview with German publication Spiegel, Andre Agassi shed light on what he had learned from his wife, expressing admiration for her ability to confront her fears.
"The way she faces and confronts her fears, how she lives the way she wants to live -- I did not know this was possible. She was the one to show me, with her life, how to care about something every day. This, too, was new to me. Or, in sports, she told me: "Stop thinking; it's about feeling,"" Andre Agassi said.
Agassi also pointed out that tennis players are usually conditioned to react instinctively, which went against his natural inclination of being a "thinker." The American explained that his father tried to "forbid" thinking, which caused him to suppress his thoughts.
Andre Agassi claimed Graf was the first to encourage him to get in tune with his feelings and taught him to be more patient. He also admitted that while he achieved fame very quickly, his personal growth was much slower.
"You have to be so conditioned, so practiced, that your thinking is removed, and you're just reacting intuitively, without constantly questioning everything. I'm a thinker by nature, much too complicated. My father tried to forbid thinking, and I tried to analyze my thinking away," he said.
"Nobody ever said anything about feeling. Stefanie taught me that you have to be patient with yourself, you have to just let go. She taught me not to stand in my own way. I became famous so fast; but, in some ways, I grew up so slow," he added.
Andre Agassi: "I looked at Steffi Graf and saw someone who dealt with the same pressures I did, and she did it with an unspeakable grace"
In a 2009 interview with Oprah.com, Andre Agassi explained that he gravitated towards Steffi Graf because she dealt with the challenges of being a professional tennis player with "unspeakable grace," something he struggled with himself.
"It was something from the outside—I think it's one of the things people do. They gravitate toward people that have something they don't have. I've always gravitated toward people like that in my life," Andre Agassi said.
"I looked at Stefanie and saw someone who dealt with the same pressures that I did in many respects from the outside, and she did it with an unspeakable grace," he added.
Praising the German for being "a lot better at life," Agassi also disclosed he was "inspired" by Graf's ability to find joy in playing professional tennis despite sharing his sentiments about hating the sport.