Boris Becker admits: "I was very upset by the arrival of Andre Agassi"

Jules Hypolite

le 25/09/2025 à 19h52

2 min to read

Agassi Becker Sampras

"I didn't like it." In a candid confession, Boris Becker recounts how Agassi stole the spotlight from him in the 1990s and why he ultimately decided to step away.

Boris Becker and Andre Agassi faced each other 14 times between the late 1980s and the 1990s, with the American holding a 10-4 advantage in their head-to-head record.

Agassi had lost their first three tour encounters before spotting Becker's serving tell—where the German would use his tongue to indicate the direction of his serve. This weakness allowed Agassi to return Becker's serves much more calmly.

As a guest on Virgin Radio, Becker admitted that he did not appreciate Agassi's rise to prominence and the popularity the latter enjoyed:

"When I burst onto the scene in 1985, I was the new superstar, and I loved it. We all have a bit of vanity in us, and we enjoy it when people like us.

When he arrived in the early '90s with his long, dyed hair, earrings, and his reputation as the kid from Las Vegas, I thought he was a clown. He stole all the publicity, all the attention from me.

On top of that, he was an excellent tennis player. He started beating me and made me lose the status I had. I was very upset by the arrival of Andre Agassi. I didn't like it. […] Toward the end of my career, you had these two Americans (Sampras and Agassi) who were better than me.

I always played tennis to win, to be No. 1 and to win Wimbledon. I didn't want to play just to make an appearance or settle for a semifinal.

When Agassi and Sampras came along, they were clearly better than me. That's why I decided to retire even though I was still young. I couldn't beat them on a good day, even when I was at my best."