Andre Agassi: 'Getting to number one left me empty'
In a recent interview to Life, the eight-time Grand Slam winner Andre Agassi commented on his hate for tennis. The American got the greatest success on the biggest stages but he never really loved it. "At first it was a lack of alternatives", said Agassi. "As a child, I knew nothing but success would be accepted. Or, if I didn’t succeed, it would take a toll on our family. So I put my head down and did the best I could. Then, being sent away to an academy at 13, the only way out was to succeed. You don’t know what else you’re going to do, and fear is one hell of a motivator. After that, it becomes your life, and you have some success, and the world tells you that you should be thrilled. So you keep living the Groundhog Day, the hamster wheel. I thought that getting to number one was going to be the moment I made sense of my life. But it left me a little empty, and I spiralled down until something had to change."
Agassi fell down to No. 139 but he did not want to retire. "It wouldn’t have been retiring happily. It would have been quitting miserably. I was at a critical point where if I made one more misstep, I wouldn’t get a chance to be on the court again, and the climb back would have been truly impossible. So I made a commitment to take ownership of my life. I started to get more connected, and then I just kept going with tangible daily goals. It wasn’t about a destination. Getting back to number one was something I was pretty convinced I’d never achieved. But that journey from rock bottom to the summit a second time was a great accomplishment for me. Without it, I don’t know if I would believe in myself as much as I do when I face other challenges now."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2XZH1Is
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