Throughout his career, Andre Agassi pushed against boundaries, proving himself to be peerless

“I play tennis for a living even though I hate tennis, hate it with a dark and secret passion and always have.” – Andre Agassi, in his autobiography Open.

Roger Federer’s win at Indian Wells last week made him the subject of comparison with Andre Agassi who, until this past week, was the oldest men’s singles player to have won an ATP Masters title. This hadn’t been the first time that the Swiss’ career had been juxtaposed with that of the American, who finished off his 20-year-long career with eight Grand Slam and 60 ATP titles.

The vein of similarity that Federer shares with Agassi, however, is finite at this particular point of comparison. For, while both have been the epitome of productive longevity in tennisdom, the way both went about – in Federer’s case, rather the way he’s still going about – sustaining their peak couldn’t have been any more different.

Understanding the Agassi phenomenon

It’s here the paradox that Agassi’s tennis career has been comes into sharpened focus. Unlike Federer, whose constancy has been a by-product of his driven determination to be a part of the highest echelons of the tennis circuit for as long he can, the length of Agassi’s career, contrarily, spans a bridge – of his own making.

On one hand, there’s passivity and disinterest that coated his underlying prodigiousness, forcing him to vacillate between immediate success as an upstart to just-as-rapidly devolved professional entity who had no certitude whatsoever.

And, on the other, there’s the purposefulness of his quest to override these negatively binding traits behind, and carve a newer identity that has since been seen as the redefining point of his career.

“The real tragedy in my decline was happening during my success [in the] the disconnect I felt from the game,” Agassi recently shared in an interview with the Guardian. “Despite being good at it I had a deep resentment and even hatred of tennis. That disconnect after getting to No 1 was even worse because you believe being the best will fill the void. I felt nothing. I declined in different ways. In some cases, it was lack of work. In others, it was the self-inflicted damage of drugs. I found many ways to hurt myself.”

Continuing along, he went on to add, “I got to a point where I realised that just because I didn’t choose my life doesn’t mean I can’t take ownership of it. That was the epiphany. But epiphanies don’t change your life. It’s what you do with them that changes your life.”

Transforming into an unconventional mentor

In the last few years, most specifically since the publication of his autobiography, Agassi seems to have become freer in opining his thoughts. His statements too never fail to connect with his audiences, for the sole reason that the 46-year-old’s words resonate from the experiences he has had to live through, and the time-consuming process that has taken for him to finally unburden himself.

When viewed from this perspective, the interpretation of Agassi’s career can be viewed as him choosing to start his career all over again than just terming it as a second wind, which would be more on the lines of superficiality. Then, be it in his completing the Grand Slam after winning the 1999 French Open – a milestone that eluded his more prominent compatriot Pete Sampras – or winning his last Major in 2003. Or, for that matter, even in his contesting his final Grand Slam final against Federer at the 2005 US Open, which in its own way was a vanguard moment for men’s tennis.

It’s then in this aspect that no player can match up to – or the gist of career graph be compared with – the Las Vegas native’s accomplishments. But, these achievements are – in their own way – rivetingly inspiring. To those those youngsters reckoned as talented misfits, including the ranks of the (now) seemingly focused Nick Kyrgios, and Bernard Tomic. As much as to the old guard now predominantly comprising of Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, aside of Rafael Nadal and Federer.

Herein then lies one last pivotal smidgen of difference between Federer and Agassi. The former hasn’t shifted his self-motivational goals away from tennis, but has fleshed out his subtleties as a player. Whereas the latter, has widened out the scope of his world to far outside the rectangular ambit of the sport he once orbited.

Not that he has any qualms about it. To summarise it in his own words, “There’s a deep appreciation for the sport. That’s the best way to put it. I just thank God I played the game long enough to enjoy lots of good moments. It gave a lot and it took a lot. I think me and tennis are about even now.”