Despite being one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Andre Agassi struggled with the racket sport in his early childhood days. ‘I hate tennis’ is the first message from his biography ‘Open’. But, he is the person who won the Olympic gold medal in 1996. So, as a tennis fan, it’s justified to wonder about how this Olympic champion is built! On that note, recently, Dick Franklin, the father of 5-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer Missy Franklin from the USA has shed some light on Agassi’s struggles as a kid.

In his biography, Agassi has described tennis as ‘torture’ and the court as ‘prison’. He had first picked up the racket at the age of 2 and his ‘punishment’ continued till the day of his retirement. Then what made him make such extreme comments on the sport which gave him an identity to the world? Let’s see what Dick Franklin has to say.

The struggle of Andre Agassi as a kid

Recently Dick Franklin came to The Families of Character Show, and here’s what he said about Agassi’s struggle as a kid. He even sent a warning to parents pushing their kids. “I used to be CEO of Head Sports, Head Tennis. And, you know, I’ve seen some horrible cases of tennis, young tennis players getting burnt out at 12 or 13. Andre Agassi was one of our pros. He played with a Head tennis racquet. And if you ever read his book, about how his father brought him up. You know, it’s a wonder he got as far in tennis as he did, because he just hated every minute of it. And that’s the wrong way to do it. You just have to, you have to move it along at the appropriate pace. And it has to be what your child wants to do,” he said.

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The 53-year-old legend of tennis from the ‘Entertainment Capital of the World’ didn’t have much entertainment in his childhood days. In his book, Agassi revealed that he initially started playing tennis when he was 6 months old. His father used to hang a balloon on his crib and then tape a ping-pong racket to his hand.

Whenever Agassi tried to get rid of the racket, his father would tell his mom that he was naturally inclined towards the sport. Then when he became a little older his father used to yell at him whenever he hit the ball into the net. Mike Agassi wanted his son to hit the balls harder and beat the ball machine. These excessive pressures had never let him enjoy the sport the way he’d have wanted it.

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Despite all these struggles throughout his childhood, he managed to put his name on pages of the history of the racket sport. Let’s look back at those moments and see how the legend is doing recently.

What seemed an unachievable dream for others, was a toxic ball of fire for Agassi

The 8 Grand Slam title holder had a stellar career of a span of almost 20 years. Andre Agassi has been number one in the men’s singles ranking for 101 weeks. He is the only player to have won a career super slam (4 majors, year-end-championship, and an Olympic Gold medal).

Agassi won the Wimbledon Championship at the age of 22. A tournament in which he initially had refused to take part due to its all-white dress code and grassy court. His achievements are quite astonishing in tennis and now he finally gets the chance to look forward to another sport.

Andre Agassi had earlier revealed his amazing feeling of taking part in the inaugural Pickleball Slam. Now he looks forward to taking part in Pickleball Slam 2 with his wife Steffi Graf. The tournament is scheduled for February 4, 2024, at Seminole Hardrock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, FL. How excited are you to see the legendary duo in this new role?

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