Tennis players, including Roger Federer and Serena Williams, often say they don’t want to impose their career choices on their children, but want them to find their own paths. Andre Agassi joined this group, as his two children are not looking to become tennis professionals.
‘We (my wife and I) wanted the kids to make their own choices and would never have said ‘no’ to what they were, but we didn’t go out of our way to expose them to tennis,‘ Agassi explained in an interview to Irish News.
‘Our prayer was not tennis. At some point, they knew we did it and they tried it, they saw behind the curtain and they know the demons that are involved. I don’t know whether that influenced their decision not to be a part of tennis, but we were pretty thankful they weren’t interested.’ Commenting on his wellbeing and fitness, Agassi added: ‘I recently started taking a few tennis lessons, so I can build back to a place where I can take on somebody and not pay the price physically.
I’ve found if I play somebody good or better than me, I push myself too much and then regret it the next day. I’m just really curious to see if I can build up some old muscles, so I can sling a racket and take half the court against anybody.
It’s for health – I feel like I’m a little older than my body because of the wear and tear during my tennis career. I am limited on what I can do and my back is probably the worst of it all. Basically [in sport] you give up a third of your life not preparing for the two thirds of the rest of your life.
That’s what you’re choosing in sport.’ ALSO READ: Rafael Nadal: Worse players than David Ferrer won a Grand Slam title
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