Andre Agassi never bought the idea that winning means being happy. In Open, his 2009 memoir, he said as much, and later told Stanford students he had spent much of his life “being really good at something I hated.” Speaking to The Guardian in 2017, he pinpointed where it all went wrong: “The real tragedy in my decline was happening during my success – it was the disconnect I felt from the game.” Eight Grand Slams and a world No. 1 ranking couldn’t quiet it. His identity had been built on performance and expectation, and the trophies only deepened the gap.

Now he carries that first-hand experience into television as executive producer of an elite junior-tennis drama about the price of chasing the pros, and the people players lose along the way. It’s a story about what winning costs, and Agassi knows that bill better than most.

On October 16, Prime Video handed a series order to Rally, marking Agassi’s first producing gig. The show comes from Julie Plec, the showrunner behind The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, and We Were Liars. She writes it, runs it, and executive produces it. (Via Emily Longeretta, Variety)

It’s made by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, in association with Entertainment 360 and Amazon MGM Studios. It started life at Universal Television a year ago, under Plec’s overall deal there.

The story is set at a hyper-competitive elite tennis academy. According to the official synopsis, that’s where ambitious young players discover that the “loneliest sport in the world demands sacrificing the very connections that might be the only thing that makes winning worth it.”

The idea came from Guymon Casady of Entertainment 360, and from his own life.

“The inspiration for ‘Rally’ came from a deeply personal place – watching my kids train and navigate the intense pressure, dedication, and heartbreak of elite junior tennis at the IMG Academy,” Casady said. “To build this world alongside a master storyteller like Julie Plec, and to ground it in the unmatched, authentic perspective of a true legend like Andre Agassi, is a remarkable privilege.”

Agassi won’t be doing this alone. Justin Gimelstob, a fellow former tennis pro and Agassi’s business partner, is also an executive producer. Emily Cummins, who produces with Plec through Plec’s My So Called Company, rounds out the producing team alongside Casady.

“I am eager for Justin and I to lend our experiences to help the incredible ‘Rally’ team,” Agassi said. “At this stage of our lives having an endeavor that allows us to work with the best in class in what they do and hopefully contribute to the process, is an exciting challenge. We are all aligned in creating an entertaining and most importantly, authentic look at a beautifully complicated sport.”

Deanna Brigidi and Andrea Bunker, who also cast Off Campus and We Were Liars, will be the casting directors. Nobody has been cast yet, and there’s no premiere date. When it does arrive, it will stream exclusively on Prime Video.

That said, this is not the first time Agassi is dipping his toes in the entertainment industry.

In 2001, Homer Simpson met Andre Agassi and wasn’t sure who he was. When Agassi introduced himself at the tennis match, Homer asked, “The wrestler?”, mixing him up with André the Giant.

This happened on “Tennis the Menace,” season 12, episode 12 of The Simpsons, which aired on Fox on February 11, 2001. Agassi, Pete Sampras, and Venus and Serena Williams all voiced themselves. And in July 2007, Simon Crerar of The Times put Agassi’s turn on a list of the 33 funniest cameos in the show’s history.

Before that, Agassi made a guest appearance as himself in NBC’s sitcom Mad About You in the Season 2 episode “Virtual Reality,” which aired on February 3, 1994. The episode followed Paul Buchman’s investment in a virtual-reality company, with Jamie Buchman eventually trying the technology herself and encountering a virtual version of Agassi.

In fact, in 2009, Creative Artists Agency (CAA) signed him and Steffi Graf for representation, with Sports Business Journal noting, “The Hollywood talent firm and not the sports division, CAA Sports, will represent Agassi and Graf.”

Besides that, on January 13, 2026, sixteen years after his memoir, Apple TV announced a multi-part documentary series on his life. The release called Open “one of the greatest sports books in American literature.” Emmy-winning filmmaker Chris Smith directs, his company Library Films produces, and Stacy Smith and Gimelstob are the executive producers.

But he’s not that comfortable behind the camera. In a September 1994 interview with the Los Angeles Times, shortly after winning his first US Open title, Andre Agassi spoke candidly about the possibility of pursuing Hollywood, though he stopped short of calling it an ambition.

“Oh, well, that’s something else. I wouldn’t use the word ambition, exactly, but eventually that’s something I wouldn’t mind looking into. I did a ‘Mad About You’ for TV, but so far that’s about it.”

The prospect of playing an action hero held little appeal, and when asked about starring alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, Agassi replied, “No, I don’t think so. This is not how I see me.”

He also dismissed suggestions that he might take on a musical role, joking that he could neither sing nor dance.