Andre Agassi is one of those players who started a new era in tennis. He, alongside players such as Pete Sampras and John McEnroe, made new records and standards. Players like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal proved their caliber by challenging their achievements. However, even though he became one of the best professionals, Agassi always had the lingering thought of not having a choice as a child.

The eight-time Grand Slam champion had blinders like a racehorse. He didn’t have the privilege of choosing his profession. Here’s an incident that details the same.

Andre Agassi shared a story portraying his father’s rigidness

Young Agassi wanted to test his skills in soccer. In fact, he even got into a team. However, as his father Mike Agassi was adamant about seeing him become a tennis professional, he had to drop out. Agassi’s mother once took him to a football game keeping the same a secret from his father. Though as soon as he started setting on the field, Mike showed up. “He’s at the edge of the parking lot, stalking toward the field,” Agassi wrote.

“Now he’s talking to the coach. Now he’s yelling at the coach. The coach is waving to me. Agassi! Out of the game!” the former World No 1 wrote in his autobiography.

Thereafter, he added, “I sprint off the field. Get in the car, my father says. And get out of that uniform. I hand him my soccer uniform. He walks on to the field and throws the uniform at the coach’s chest.”

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“As we drive home, my father says without looking at me: You’re never playing soccer again.” Mike, after witnessing his teenage boy claim a trophy at a Chicago-based tournament, decided to make him a tennis pro. He invested all his saving to get him enrolled in Nick Bollettieri’s tennis academy.

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However, after Bollettieri saw Agassi play, he wavered the fees and took him as his disciple. Mike mapped his child’s career without letting him explore his interests, and that’s what bothers him to this date.

How Agassi’s career panned out

The American veteran turned pro in 1986 and became the 14-time Grand Slam champion Pete Sampras’s biggest rival. He touched the career-highest ranking of World No 1 in 1995 after ending Sampras’ reign in the Australian Open.

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Agassi claimed a total of 60 singles trophies in his career and helped his nation’s team win three Davis Cups. Further, he also represented America in the Olympic games and brought a gold medal from the 1996 summer Olympics held in Atlanta.