Legend loves the game

Break out your Canon Rebels tonight because Andre Agassi is in Newport Beach.

No longer does Agassi sport the rock star hairdo.

The hair is all gone, but his passion for tennis is not.

The 39-year-old is back on the World Team Tennis circuit.

Agassi plays his final WWT event of the year as the Philadelphia Freedoms (4-6) compete against the Newport Beach Breakers (6-4) at Breakers Stadium at Newport Beach Country Club at 7:05.

The only male to claim all four Grand Slam singles titles and an Olympic singles gold medal caught up with the media recently.

 Question: Can you talk about the World Team Tennis matches, what it means in your lifestyle today?

Agassi: First of all, it’s been a few years since I’ve sort of been connected with the game in any direct kind of way, and that’s been a little unsettling for me. I took time away when I retired to try to figure out how I can best engage with the game and do it in a way that made the most sense, or where I could possibly have some more impact. And that has not been so easy, with all of my responsibilities, to sort of figure out.

So before I got too far away, I wanted to sort of re-engage in certain respects and show an appreciation for the life and the platform that tennis has given me, and I thought no better way to sort of inject myself back into World Team Tennis. I love what Billie (Jean King, WTT co-founder) and Ilana (Kloss, WTT CEO/commissioner) have built. I think it’s a great asset to the game and I think an even greater asset to the tennis fans. Taking this sport to the people is a great feeling. The environment is unlike any other, and it’s just a lot of fun.

So I thought it would be, maybe, an easy way to sort of introduce my body again to it. It’s not like I have to be out there for so many hours. A couple goes and have some fun doing it.

 Q: Could you reflect on your return to Paris, a pretty special moment given what you achieved on that court, and also being there next to Roger Federer after he got that magic number 14.

Agassi: Yeah, well, he got the magic number French Open. The quantity has less relevance with where he found himself that day than getting over the line in Paris and winning in a tournament that’s eluded him for his career, and a career that he could have won, I think, five or six times. I mean, pretty amazing to watch him get over that line there. And I had even a more interesting perspective, seeing that while I was there one year doing that, watching it sort of over his shoulder really drives home just how rare these moments are and how special they are, and to share in it meant the world.

I just really think the guy deserved it. He’s earned it. He’s been playing clay and for the last five years, if it wasn’t for (Rafael) Nadal, he probably would have won five of those things and arguably won two Grand Slams back-to-back. The stats sort of speak for themselves. For him not to have won there in his career would have been a real crime.

 Q: What do you feel when you see people starting to compare the greatest of all times from the different eras? Do you think that’s possible, or do you think it’s hard to take a Rod Laver and compare them to a Pete Sampras and Federer and yourself and Jimmy Connors, etc.?

Agassi: Obviously, it’s hard to do, but you know, you can look inside generations and sort of the best of their generations, but I guess stats are one thing that people are pointing towards. I sort of caution everybody (not) to get hung up on the number of slams. That seems to be a 90s phenomena, how many slams you win.

I mean, when you look back over the history of our game and you look over the history of our peers, champions from generations past, that was never a benchmark. (Bjorn) Borg won 11 Grand Slams and played one Australian Open when it was played on grass and he dominated grass for so many years.

So I mean, Borg was sort of breaking (Roy) Emerson’s record and doesn’t seem like that would have been that far of a reach to go pull that off. Nobody sort of considered Laver better than Emerson, even though Emerson had more Slams.

So I’m not sure what the criteria should be of how you measure the greatest of all time, but we should at least acknowledge that using a quantity of Slams is not has never been the benchmark.

So with Roger winning in Paris, I think the greatest thing that he accomplished was obviously rising to the top of just how many he’s won, which is pretty amazing, but beyond that, you know, being a dominant player every part of the year is a testament to his overall achievements and so it’s hard to argue against somebody that’s accomplished what he has.

 Q: Are you still in good tennis shape? How do you take these kinds of matches?

Agassi: I take pride generally speaking, so I’ll get ready for them and sort of am in good shape. My shape off the court is a lot better, probably, than on the court. You never quite know what you’re going to put your body through. So the jury will be out, how I respond to it.

Because, yeah, I’ve been working out quite a bit, keeping myself together and active. So hitting the ball was always relatively comfortable for me, so I won’t have a problem with my ball striking. But I might have a problem getting to the ball in order to hit it; that, we’ll have to wait and see.

 Q: Any chance of getting Steffi out there, or what’s the state of her game?

Agassi: Yeah, you know, she’s in better shape than I’m in. I don’t know if you saw her play at the Wimbledon thing, the Wimbledon celebration for the roof that we did. She still moves great and does her thing, but I have to say, it comes with a lot of stress for her getting ready. She takes a lot of pride in being ready, and she’s always on the verge of feeling like her body is not going to hold up.

So I’m glad that I can live without her getting ready to do this because she’s a great mother, and I sort of enjoy the way our family is a well-oiled machine when she’s not thinking about tennis. But she loves hitting the ball and every now and then, she would take advantage out of getting out there if the opportunity presented.