"Stop crying, for crying out loud, he's trying to do a job" - When 18-year-old Andre Agassi slammed Mark Woodforde when Aussie argued with umpire
A teenage Andre Agassi had a go at Mark Woodforde when the Aussie was arguing with the chair umpire. Agassi and Woodforde locked horns for the very first time in the quarterfinals of the Volvo Tennis Los Angeles in 1988.
The American, who was only 18 at the time, was the top seed at the tournament and beat the Aussie 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 to book his place in the semifinals.
During the second set of the match, Woodforde argued with the chair umpire, and Agassi called him out, telling him to "stop crying" as the umpire was just trying to do his job.
“Stop crying, for crying out loud. He’s trying to do a job, just like you," Agassi said.
Woodforde said after the match that the American did not have a reason to yell at him and that the latter's actions upset his rhythm when he was controlling the match.
“I was controling the match until he started acting like a 17-year-old, which he is,” Woodforde said. “He had no reason to yell at me like that. He was losing at the time, so he had to do something to upset my tempo. It worked."
“He’d better watch himself because he can’t get away with that all the time. OK, he’s 17 and he’s having a lot of fun, but I don’t put up with it. He’s going to fall, I think," he added.
Agassi claimed that he had to say something because Woodforde was acting unprofessionally.
“I think the way he acted was very unprofessional,” Agassi said. “I could see if he were getting beat and there’s a bad call, then you can sit there and tell the umpire he’s not doing his job. But when you’re up a set and a break and there’s one little incident and you tell the umpire he’s a jerk or he’s not doing his job, I just think that’s totally uncalled for."
"I didn’t appreciate that out there. I couldn’t imagine anyone getting uptight like that. I think it’s outright bad for tennis," the American added.
Agassi went on to reach the final of the Volvo Tennis Los Angeles in 1988 before losing 6-2, 7-5 to Mikael Pernfors.
Andre Agassi and Mark Woodforde locked horns on six occasions
Andre Agassi faced Mark Woodforde six times throughout his career, winning four times while the Aussie triumphed twice. The quarterfinal of the Volvo Tennis Los Angeles was the very first encounter between the two.
They did not square off again until 1993 in the semifinals of the Purex Tennis Championships, and Andre Agassi won 6-2, 6-3. The third encounter between the two came in the second round of the 1994 CA-Tennis Trophy in Vienna, with the American thrashing Woodforde 6-0, 6-0.
The Aussie won the next two meetings between the two, triumphing 6-3, 6-4 in the Round of 16 of the 1996 Grand Slam Cup before winning 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the 1997 RCA Championships in Indianapolis.
The last meeting between the two came in the third round of the 1997 US Open, with Andre Agassi winning 6-2, 6-2, 6-4. He went on to lose to eventual champion Patrick Rafter in the very next round.