A week at home with tennis champion Andre Agassi | 60 Minutes Australia

[Music] this is the andre agassi we all know [Music] it's still tennis but today his court is the desert outside his Las Vegas home and there's no way he can lose action Agassi is sweltering in 40 degree heat to shoot this commercial but for a multi-million dollar payday what's a little sweet I guess it's good you never know you always feel sort of silly doing this until it's done and then you go wow they made me look better tonight I thought I was looking a gaseous been making big commercial was paying big bucks since he started his professional tennis career 17 years ago you're a commodity can I put it to you that right you're able to sell things yeah well I've been called worse than a commodity so you know for me well I don't necessarily think specifically what I'm gonna do after my tennis I I enjoy the concept of nurturing relationships that will take me past tennis specific in what you agree to do a big time that's to me it's everything what wouldn't you do well I wouldn't do anything that's not authentic I wouldn't do something that isn't part of my life I wouldn't try to sell a razor that I don't use every day as long as it's part of who it is that I am I absolutely enjoy it toilet paper of I haven't quite bonded with any particular toilet paper as long as there's something there it does [Music] it seems all his life Andrei has been the star of the show as a six-year-old he'd already caught the eye of tennis commentators hungry how do you like tennis you want to be a tennis player when you get big yes how long have you been playing tennis oh no do you have any regrets about being introduced to tennis so young in your life no I think I went through times where I did throughout my sort of tennis life but I think when you weigh it all out you know we all have our cross to bear and then finding myself sort of complaining or regretting is it takes away from my energy in my time I saw what you said that when you see a photograph of yourself something like 10 years ago 15 years ago you wouldn't mind burning it is that true that's accurate you didn't like or don't like I guess we should probably start with the hair right yeah I don't know you know there's a lot of here I'll grant you that I think I have a little art of diversion working but I think you change so much in 10 years and for me I just look back and I see I see somebody who is striving to figure a few things out and I'd rather rather live in the present I mean it was a tree you used to start the day with a coca-cola poured it if the day called for it I wouldn't hesitate I like to say that I've achieved a lot in spite of myself at times truth is we don't know half of what this softly spoken 33 year old has achieved so this is it this is it I'll call the utilized space and put all the stuff in there necessary to change these children's lives this is the Andre Agassi Preparatory Academy a Las Vegas school Andre funded to educate underprivileged kids it's a seventy million dollar venture a venture he's extremely proud of this is all the important stuff well there's no question you're getting out of my league if you stood if you start talking about you know these all these children here know more about this and I do which is them speaks about me to where did it come from your desire to do this you got to tell me how you don't care about children right so for me children was a no brainer the question was how do you help a child we clothed over 3,000 children a year were involved heavily with the Boys and Girls Club with assistance league with child Haven a shelter for abused abandoned kids so we've spent years changing lives in different ways and have quickly realized that education is the best way to change a child's life today these grade three students are meeting Andre for the first time how many of you know why this is called the Preparatory Academy right there because we're preparing for college all right well you guys keep dreaming because that's what you're supposed to do here and you just must keep working too so good luck to you [Music] is any of what you do today for those children driven by your own experiences because you didn't always have money for example you had a loving family you know that you didn't always have you know the great pleasures of life that you have now well I certainly didn't have the pleasures of life my father worked really hard to create a life risk where as children had what we needed I'm not sure you need to experience poverty or having no opportunities or no even hope in your life to identify what that's like I think you you just need to stop to think about it I'm trying to be the first african-american to win the French Open Andre is also nurturing young tennis players kids who can't afford a record let alone world-class coaching put you three on the baseline and I'm going to feed balls to move you around the court for the past 18 months Australian Darren Cahill has been coaching Andre Agassi in his spare time he helps these Andre wannabes go go good running they travel they go all around America playing junior tournaments Andre puts up the bill for everything and these kids have a real opportunity to be professional tennis players before joining camp Agassi Cahill was the coach who guarded Lleyton Hewitt to the world number one ranking why did you well it's a long time together three years on the road and there were some bumps along the way and there were most of those we certainly got over and there was some that we just couldn't then you don't walk away from that type of job without some problems both from my sign in from his side there's no question about that but certainly not about to get into them but to say that we ended up friends it was it was a mutual parting and it was certainly something that that needs it needed to be done is there a conflict of interest at all in your heart when you when you went from being the coach of an Australian number one to the coach of an American number one no no I think that everybody in their right mind would look at the possibility of coaching Andre Agassi and think wow what an opportunity even my wife said when I got the phone call she said what are you going to teach him Oh get off me I hate it when you get like this watching them train it's clear Kegel and Agassi are formidable teams and again he says he's he well he can tell you the names of the Wiggles he's got a few Australian sayings down pat when he busts out mate that's what he's not really awesome it's very American and I want to miss a volley which happens quite often no well I have to say that you're a great favorite with Australia so I mean it's sense the reason we wouldn't take you won't well listen Darren came along at a time when my career could have gone a couple different directions and he gave me an option to still be out here because he taught me I can still be better than I've ever been and to win a slam at 32 and be number one at 33 is just a credit to his direction the Cahills have made Vegas their new home Darren his wife Victoria and sunna Benjamin have formed a strong bond with Andre and his family both on and off the court which one's your favorite I want to see your favorite show me this one yeah who's that that's a cool one when we visited Andre last week his wife Steffi Graf was giving birth to their second child a daughter jazz is your life more balanced and and is it at its best right now I mean your your husband your dad you and your top ten supply very much at peace with where things lie in my life and it doesn't make a huge difference to have as a partner somebody who's been there and with you even as in stiffie mm-hmm well listen I think of a marriage or relationship with your spouse is is is not dependent on them understanding those sort of intimacy's but I wonder if they do if you can share that it is an incredible luxury and it's not a luxury because of all the things me and Steph do talk about in so many cases it's a luxury and all the things that don't need to be said and should give you some criticism some helpful advice only when I'm begging for it which is probably more often than I care to admit that she still still obviously enjoys you playing tennis I don't know if I could state it that way I think she I think I think she loves me a lot which means if it's still important to me it's important to her but I don't think she bargained for more traveling in her life and more more tennis did you ever in your wildest dreams think that you would be with this woman who was on the tennis court with you all those years well actually in my wildest dreams I did those were the real wild dreams stop that I know that my next job is going to step this is the this is the pinnacle this is as good as it gets I can't imagine to take on a better job what he's given to the game at a professional level is not going to be replaced very soon there's no other there's no new Andre Agassi that you can see things there's no one that puts backsides on seats like Andre there's no way in the world that you you can contemplate life without tennis I guess I don't even have a memory without tennis in my life so it will be a way it be a culture shot it's gonna be a whole different sort of life that I have no idea what to anticipate but I'm not there yet you're so Ozzie hello I'm Liz haze thanks for watching to keep up with the latest from 60 minutes Australia make sure you subscribe to our channel you can also download the 9 now app for full episodes and other exclusives 60 minutes content

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 179,511

Rating: 4.8411765 out of 5

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Charles Wooley, Tara Brown, Liam Bartlett, Allison Langdon, Tom Steinfort, Ellen Fanning, Peter Overton, Karl Stefanovic, Ray Martin, Peter Stefanovic, Jana Wendt, Jeff McMullen, Jennifer Byrne, Mike Munro, Richard Carleton, Tracey Curro, Paul Barry, Peter Harvey, Michael Usher, Ross Coulthart, George Negus, Ian Leslie, Gerald Stone, Sarah Abo

Id: kORIBwKv2-U

Length: 12min 39sec (759 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 02 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/crutr]

It's always interesting to hear Andre speak about his life and tennis prior to "Open" coming out. Knowing what we know now, it's easy to spot the internal conflict when he answers these questions - not that he's outright lying. Very interesting.