I hope Roger Federer stays around for a long time, says Andre Agassi
In an interview to Blick, the eight-time Grand Slam winner Andre Agassi commented on Roger Federer's great charitable activity. The Foundation named after the Swiss player has reached the one million children unit, and also the Andre Agassi Foundation helps a lot of kids. 'I think that it's great that Roger thinks globally and not only about himself', but Agassi also said. 'He does it great - like many others who committed to help poor people helped. I think that people do not only appreciate tennis players for the game. It's very nice how many persons take their responsability. I hope Roger stays around for a long time. What I can say is: when the end comes, it comes quickly. It could require time with Roger, but the recovery time gets bigger at an advanced age and he needs to be careful in taking decisions. That's why he did not play the clay-court season. Even he will wake up in the morning with a hard and strict back. I played until 36, but then physically nothing was possible - my body said: "Stop!" I was too tired. Andy Murray, for example, is still pretty young and he can recover from a hip injury and play well again.'
Is tennis so brutal for the body? 'Of course not so brutal like the sports who have a lot of physical contacts like football, rugby, boxing or hockey. But tennis uses the body like no other sport. The surface changes are difficult, and the weather changes in several countries and continents increase the risk of injuries. It's not easy.'
Commenting on his split with Novak Djokovic, Agassi added: 'Novak was grateful for the inputs I could give him. But he did not believe in what I said, so I cannot do anything. It was still a good experience to meet him and try to understand him. But when you feel that you do more bad than help, it has no sense and you have to stop. There was not really a co-operation. We agreed to each other that we disagreed. His bad physical condition did not help any of us. Not having two healthy days in a row was not a good beginning. He had said he needed to recover longer, but it only got worse. So I asked myself: what do I do here?"
About Wimbledon, Agassi added: Thinking about the good times, I had a good feeling when I was seeing the park here. I like it because I do not play tennis anymore. But thinking about everything I had to go through, I am happy I do not have anything to do with this. My wife Steffi loved it here more than elsewhere. It was an important place for me. People say this was the biggest place to win in, but also the one with the most pressure.'
What did Agassi hate the most? 'The daily stressing situations. When you feel bad and your body is not ready for the challenge on grass. Many things need to get combined. Because of Roger Federer, probably you think that you only have to take a racket and run. No, it's not like this. It's extremely hard work - for me it has always been the worse here.'
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from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2EJhUTN
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