“It has no relevance in Steffi Graf’s world… she felt obligated to put importance on it” – When Andre Agassi disclosed his wife’s reaction to Serena Williams surpassing her Slam record
Andre Agassi once revealed his wife Steffi Graf’s reaction to Serena Williams surpassing her Grand Slam record. Despite the feat’s significance in the tennis world, Agassi disclosed that the German felt indifferent to her record being broken.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in history, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles during her illustrious career, an Open Era record at the time of her retirement at just 30 years of age. The German’s record stood for many years until Serena Williams eventually surpassed it memorably.
The American achieved the milestone at the 2017 Australian Open, beating her sister Venus Williams 6-4, 6-4 in the final to clinch her record-breaking 23rd Grand Slam title.
In an interview with The Guardian that same year
Andre Agassi shed light on how Steffi Graf felt about Serena Williams breaking her record, disclosing that it had “no relevance” in her life.
Although Graf still cared about tennis, Agassi explained that she was “disconnected” from the sport and had felt the “obligation” to value the record only out of respect for Williams instead of any personal significance.
“It has no relevance in her world. The hardest part of Serena chasing down those numbers was respecting the game. Steffi doesn’t want people to feel she doesn’t care about tennis,” Agassi said.
“She cares but she’s so disconnected. Every time she was asked she felt obligated to put importance on it for the sake of tennis and an incredible champion in Serena,” he added.
Andre Agassi also confessed that retirement felt akin to “death” for athletes, but admitted that Steffi Graf was “stronger” than him in this regard since she didn’t need to reminisce about her glory days as much as he did.
“But the biggest issue for most athletes is you spend a third of your life not preparing for the next two-thirds. One day your entire way of life comes to an end. It’s a kind of death,” he said.
“You just have to go through it and figure it out. In her own quiet way Steffi feels stronger than me. She’s pretty linear in how she lives. I probably do a little more reminiscing than she does – which says a lot,” he added.
“It’s such a great feeling” – Serena Williams on surpassing Steffi Graf’s Grand Slam record
Serena Williams described it as a “great feeling” to surpass Steffi Graf’s record by clinching her 23rd Grand Slam title. Speaking in a press conference after her triumph at the 2017 Australian Open, the American expressed her satisfaction at achieving the feat after “chasing” it for a long time.
“It’s such a great feeling to have 23. It really feels great. Yeah, I’ve been chasing it for a really long time. It feels like, really long time. When it got on my radar, I knew I had an opportunity to get there, and I’m here. I’m here,” Williams said.
Williams also weighed in on the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) debate, acknowledging that she, Martina Navratilova, and Graf dominated the discourse in women’s tennis.
“I definitely think so. I mean, between Martina, myself, Steffi Graf, hands down we are leading that conversation,” she said.
With Steffi Graf’s record behind her, Serena Williams set her sights on eclipsing Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 Grand Slam titles. Although the American reached four Major finals after her 2017 Australian Open win, she failed to add to her tally.
