Their tennis careers are long behind them, their children have grown up – now the world-famous couple is devoting themselves to a new sport.
Two tennis stars as ambassadors for a trend sport: Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi have been passionate about pickleball for several years. Agassi and Graf have now traveled to Asia to make a big splash with the racquet sport played with small rackets, which is often described as a mixture of tennis, badminton and table tennis. In Vietnam and China, the 54-year-old showed off his skills, with Graf sitting in the front row and watching closely.
“We really want the game to grow,” Agassi told the US magazine People, adding with a glance at his wife: ‘When we’re not traveling, we train a lot of pickleball. We both play, it’s fun to do something together.’ According to the magazine’s report, Graf and Agassi are on the court at least three times a week.
“Andre still plays tennis, but I don’t play as much anymore,” Graf revealed. ‘We really enjoyed learning a new sport and meeting new friends through pickleball.’ The two former pros, who have enjoyed great success in their careers, would never compete against each other. ‘We prefer to be on the same side of the court,’ the 55-year-old said at a charity event in Palm Beach.
In their native Las Vegas, Graf and Agassi, both once ranked number one in tennis and highly decorated with Grand Slam titles, won the “Pickleball Slam” in February – a show tournament in the rapidly growing racquet sport played on a small court. In the process, they beat former tennis pros Andy Roddick and Eugenie Bouchard. The year before, Graf and Agassi had triumphed over John McEnroe and Maria Sharapova.
Graf is the most successful German tennis player in history. From 1987 to 1999, she won a total of 22 titles at the four Grand Slams in Melbourne, Paris, London and New York. Agassi’s haul of eight major titles seems almost modest by comparison. Graf and Agassi married in 2001 and have two children together.
