I think what I loved about watching Agassi the most is that you could never be sure which Agassi you were going to get. Sometimes, for whatever reason - mental, physical - he wasn't fully at the races. But when he was on, he was ON. At the time I had never seen anybody strike a ball like him, either on return or in a rally. And this was before the Luxilon revolution made dipping ground-strokes much easier. He could strike a ball on the rise faster than anybody else on the tour. In a way it's a shame he had to play during a period where big serve was so dominant on all surfaces other than clay. Sampras was a great all-round player, but his serve was an insane weapon during that era, and it helped him to a larger slam haul than Agassi, whom I rate as the greater talent. (It speaks volumes that Sampras never even reached the final of the French.)
Agassi just didn't trust himself like Sampras did. He made so many silly mistakes for so many years. Not trusting his volleying skills, counter punching against players with serious weapons, etc. In 2001 he picked things up and had the edge on his old rival. Sadly he was also very unlucky at times. He was injured and overweight when defending his Wimbledon title in 1993 and he came so close to defending his title. He played the US Open final the day after the semifinal in 1995 AND again in 2002. Nobody makes me care more that Andre and Pete may have had a few more lucky breaks and less emotional baggage, but he as also, only just, the better tennis player.
Agassi is the best returner i have ever seen. His anticipation is remarkable. His amazing returns came against tall players on extremely fast courts. This is coming from nole fan
@@alazic9999 Nole's return of weaker serves are top notch. He always returns with amazing depth. Statistically Nole's returns are better than Agassi, but I enjoy Agassi taking the ball early and thus using the servers power against them. Interestingly, Nole has the worse stats of the Big 3 against servebots.
Remember watching Agassi return and thinking that he just anticipates the placement of the ball and executes the return shot better than i've ever seen anyone else do in tennis.
first time i saw this guy play, was when i was 8. i immediately changed to a double handed backhand and he became my favorite player. Ive got that poster in my room with that kind of outfit @10:20 😉
yes, I agree. But he admitted the use of drugs during his professional career, so this was a shock to me, it´s simply not fair. When using drugs you can tolerate fatigue and pain better. He was a great player but this drug stuff was kind of swallowing a bitter pill for me
Ignorant people focus on his past. Learn all the amazing things he does for children and charities. You wish you were one thousandth as successful and talented as Andre and Steffi.
Tbh I don’t know too much about tennis but I remember watching him on tv as a kid all the hype around him. Randomly searched for this and I can say wow, even better than I expected. I’ve never seen returns like this, I didn’t even know it was a possibility. Just wow!
It's particularly bitchen how he put 3 generations of serve and volley players on their heels. He completely disrupted a foundation of tennis from schools and coaches around the world.😎🤙
@@scottrackley4457 ... I asked ROGER - and he said : all of this (anticipation / reaction / pace) would have been useless (a lot of players had - and have - similar assets !) - but ANDRE had such a compact swing / such minimal backswing movement / such a perfect timing ... that he (and only HE - there NEVER was / or is - a returner like him) was ABLE to do the returns like he did ... HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY today, ya "wig-wiggling wussie" - LUV YA !
@@kincaidscourt8768 And yet quite paradoxically, against two big servers in the finals of Wimbledon 1992 (Ivanisevic) and FO 1999 (Medvedev), he took more aces than any other opponents each had met on their way to the final. He conceded 37 aces to Ivanisevic, 23 to Medvedev. In the catastrophic first two sets against Medvedev, Agassi didn't win a single point out of Medvedev 19 first serves. Although these matches were 5-setters, there are many arguable reasons for this : servers knew they were under greater pressure and were hyper-focused on their serve; Agassi's return position -close to the baseline- allowed the opponent to make more aces, while also pushing them -at some point in the match- to suffer a drop in their first serve percentage and be more exposed. It's arguable that Agassi was not an outsanding first-serve returner (never could handle Sampras serve -nobody could anyway) but was just an incredible second serve returner.
Agreed. As a shot in itself, the service return by Agassi is in a different dimension. The guy is standing 20 feet closer to the server than Djokovic and firing lasers back, finding angles that didn’t seem to exist.
Agassi had great eye-hand coordination, and had the ability to pick the ball up easier than anyone. He moved into the return and drove it back hard, sometimes harder than the serve itself. Andre Agassi won 59.78% of second serve return points. He has also won 31.69% of the return games he played. Court speed was quicker back then (although in the latter years the difference was much less) and the servers he faced - Sampras, Becker, Krajicek,Stich,Edberg, Ivanisevic, McEnroe and Federer. IMO, Agassi is the greatest returner of all time. Djoko is nearly as great, has better reach, and hits better when reaching. So, overall, it's very close. But, for any ball that Agassi can get good stick on, he's the best.
yeah. and the way he climbed all over second serves intimidated servers, making them try that little bit harder on first serves, which meant more faults, and more second serves to attack. it was a complete reversal of the usual dynamic of tennis, where the server sets the terms of the point, and it was great to watch.
Novak makes like 2 good returns in a whole match.... Agassi makes them every game.... and everyone's creaming over Novak's returns. People forget who the GOAT returner is.
Reading his autobiography.... what a bastard his father was!!! God in heaven save kids from bully narcissistic creeps who are fathers.... how do mothers even ALLOW fathers to undermine confidence in their children... always liked and admired Andre Agassi... lovely peep & Steffi Graf...
Agassi's sister married, Rita, married Pancho Gonzales, even though there was a big age difference between them It didn't last long and Agassi's dad apparently talked about getting a hitman to kill Gonzales.When Pancho Gonzales died in 1995 Andre Agassi paid for his funeral.
@@martydav9475 I know these people belong in a criminal organization your comment solidify my experience with them. They belong to a criminal enterprise - I encountered them after a FRAUD investigation
so many awful tennis fathers. just reading today about poor Jelena Dokic almost trying to kill herself recently, years after she escaped her terrible father.
Andre's pidgeon-toed walk adds to the effect. He hits an amazing shot, then casually walks to the other side like it's no big deal. It's like when my cat chases a squirrel. He'll dart all over really fast, but when the squirrel runs up the tree and the cat can't he'll walk away slowly like it was no big deal.
I'm guilty, never really appreciated his overall playing skills, but affer seeing many videos of Agassi, I now have a much deeper appreciation of his game, not just his awesome returns. Sure, a certain Pete Sampras has the edge in head to heads, but on hard courts, Agassi is definitely more than equal to Sampras.
It's great when he does it to Federer. It would've been great to see prime Agassi against him, by the time he came around he was struggling with his physical health
RIGHT YOU ARE MAN, right you are - hate this "I AM THE GREATEST" attitude by Nadal, Djokovisch, Monfils and all the other dwarves- compared-to Andre, Pete, John, Ivan, Björn, Ivan and Jimmy - there will NEVER be players like them !
I agree but that was him in his "second act". The earlier iteration of Andre, his "image is everything" persona rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Only when he realized that talent and flair could only take him so far did he acquire the work ethic that helped him become the player you described.
Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Andre Agassi are best returner..they all have the same racket swing on forehand return.. and the ball went so similar as well..
Good point. His take back on the backhand is a little shorter and that gives him a little more margin for error but Serena and Venus may generate a little more of their own pace. Agassi was the master of using his opponent's pace against them where the Williams's had to make their own which to me was always more difficult to control. Mad respect to all three.
This is a stolen quote "Agassi robs you of time". It's a different generation (although their careers overlapped), but I put Connors into any discussion of greatest returners. I made the mistake of trying to copy their return techniques but I never had their "hands" or reflexes. I was better off a couple of meters back:)
That was when Nike made the mistake of not contributing enough to charity. He wanted them to make a fat donation to his foundation and Nike wasn't about the amount he wanted and Adidas was like, "hell yeah! Here's a check!" Then Nike wised up after his Adidas contract expired and he went back to them after he retired.
Juan Manuel Alvarez not really it allowed him to possess incredible ENERGY. i think it's a real shame. i'm a 4.5 USTA rated player and I never played under the influence of crystal methanphetamine---------- jus sayn
@@conqururfear for a very short amount of minutes, you know little od drgus, andnhe damaged his organism, furthermore, when Marcelo Rios lost to petr korda ao 1997 he was asked about korda doping and he said "it has nothing to do with the match"
@Logic M i have cocaine consuming friend who used to played high level soccer, common here in argentina, they never ahowed improvement, only overconfidence that led to errors, hence, they were handicaped
Juan Manuel Alvarez And what is your USTA rating, 2.5 LOL period. I didn’t mean to offend you I know that works for 12 years and it was sad when I became a 4.5 doubles player ITS amazing the number of opponents who avoid you when you get to be good
Best returner by a mile. No one is even close.
Andre Agassi is so effortless, he makes it look like world class returns are something that anyone can do.
I think what I loved about watching Agassi the most is that you could never be sure which Agassi you were going to get. Sometimes, for whatever reason - mental, physical - he wasn't fully at the races. But when he was on, he was ON. At the time I had never seen anybody strike a ball like him, either on return or in a rally. And this was before the Luxilon revolution made dipping ground-strokes much easier. He could strike a ball on the rise faster than anybody else on the tour. In a way it's a shame he had to play during a period where big serve was so dominant on all surfaces other than clay. Sampras was a great all-round player, but his serve was an insane weapon during that era, and it helped him to a larger slam haul than Agassi, whom I rate as the greater talent. (It speaks volumes that Sampras never even reached the final of the French.)
When he was on, he never halfwayed anything, as Mac said.
I think Sampras had an incredibly consistent 2nd serve which won him all those Wimbledons. Otherwise, Agassi was the better all court player.
@@scottrackley4457biggest underachiever in tennis
Agassi just didn't trust himself like Sampras did. He made so many silly mistakes for so many years. Not trusting his volleying skills, counter punching against players with serious weapons, etc. In 2001 he picked things up and had the edge on his old rival. Sadly he was also very unlucky at times. He was injured and overweight when defending his Wimbledon title in 1993 and he came so close to defending his title. He played the US Open final the day after the semifinal in 1995 AND again in 2002. Nobody makes me care more that Andre and Pete may have had a few more lucky breaks and less emotional baggage, but he as also, only just, the better tennis player.
Best returner ever.....he is just out of this world
@MUFC soccer? WHAT IS THAT SHIT? i only know FOOTBALL
@MUFC you must be very sad
@MUFC dont Fuck around
Can't agree more on that, absolute class
Very well said, THE greatest returner in the history of of this beautiful sport !!👍👌
Reading open right now.. that book bought me here
I read it too!
Same!
Hahah, same bro!
Omg same lol
absolutely no one can make better returns than Agassi goddamnit i might be tearing up a little
yes, have you read his book 'Open' - it's amazing, funny, and sad all at the same time
Agassi is the best returner i have ever seen. His anticipation is remarkable. His amazing returns came against tall players on extremely fast courts.
This is coming from nole fan
I'm Serbian and talking to my dad I brought up Agassi's return game and he's like Nole's is better. Settle down pops. Glad someone else agrees
@@alazic9999 Nole's return of weaker serves are top notch. He always returns with amazing depth. Statistically Nole's returns are better than Agassi, but I enjoy Agassi taking the ball early and thus using the servers power against them.
Interestingly, Nole has the worse stats of the Big 3 against servebots.
Yea nice fedaltard
Remember watching Agassi return and thinking that he just anticipates the placement of the ball and executes the return shot better than i've ever seen anyone else do in tennis.
His returns were like a Uno reverse card.
YES! he's the only player who could send a Sampras serve back at the same speed with which it came
first time i saw this guy play, was when i was 8. i immediately changed to a double handed backhand and he became my favorite player. Ive got that poster in my room with that kind of outfit @10:20 😉
I blinked and missed it.
As my trainer used to say "The faster it goes there, the faster it goes back." .. lol :))
If it comes back, you didn´t hit it hard enough :D
Andre is both great tennis player and human being. Does so much for the community. He and Steffi make a great couple.
yes, I agree. But he admitted the use of drugs during his professional career, so this was a shock to me, it´s simply not fair. When using drugs you can tolerate fatigue and pain better. He was a great player but this drug stuff was kind of swallowing a bitter pill for me
misko misko he was on meth, not steroids. STFU and let the adults talk.
@@mantaiscool he used meth so it wasn t something that helped him for the competition
hey belong to a criminal enterprise
Ignorant people focus on his past. Learn all the amazing things he does for children and charities. You wish you were one thousandth as successful and talented as Andre and Steffi.
I live for those fabulous returns. Mesmerizing
Agassi's hand-eye coordination, killer groundstrokes and awesome service returns - just a great player to watch :)
Tbh I don’t know too much about tennis but I remember watching him on tv as a kid all the hype around him. Randomly searched for this and I can say wow, even better than I expected. I’ve never seen returns like this, I didn’t even know it was a possibility. Just wow!
one of the greats! loved watching him play. The longer the match, the worse his opponent was going to feel the next day!
Hand to eye co-ordination is pretty much superhuman!!
It's particularly bitchen how he put 3 generations of serve and volley players on their heels. He completely disrupted a foundation of tennis from schools and coaches around the world.😎🤙
Ayup, Becker, Ivanicivc, Fed, and anyone else who wanted some
Not to mention his nemesis, Sampras. He even got over on him sometimes, prolly the best server ever.
best returner ever...better than nole to me..
But WHY is he this good : speed / anticipation / reaction / alertness / agility / precognition / a higher learning / a deeper love ?!
@Marko Anderson he faced superior servers and beat them all, Sampras, Becker, Ivancovic , Federer, and sent them all back with pace and interest!
@@kincaidscourt8768 I'd say his anticipation and reaction was his best attributes, but his pace was par excellance.
@@scottrackley4457 ... I asked ROGER - and he said : all of this (anticipation / reaction / pace) would have been useless (a lot of players had - and have - similar assets !) - but ANDRE had such a compact swing / such minimal backswing movement / such a perfect timing ... that he (and only HE - there NEVER was / or is - a returner like him) was ABLE to do the returns like he did ... HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY today, ya "wig-wiggling wussie" - LUV YA !
@@kincaidscourt8768 And yet quite paradoxically, against two big servers in the finals of Wimbledon 1992 (Ivanisevic) and FO 1999 (Medvedev), he took more aces than any other opponents each had met on their way to the final. He conceded 37 aces to Ivanisevic, 23 to Medvedev. In the catastrophic first two sets against Medvedev, Agassi didn't win a single point out of Medvedev 19 first serves. Although these matches were 5-setters, there are many arguable reasons for this : servers knew they were under greater pressure and were hyper-focused on their serve; Agassi's return position -close to the baseline- allowed the opponent to make more aces, while also pushing them -at some point in the match- to suffer a drop in their first serve percentage and be more exposed. It's arguable that Agassi was not an outsanding first-serve returner (never could handle Sampras serve -nobody could anyway) but was just an incredible second serve returner.
How has Colin Farrell not played Agassi in a documentary movie?
The Greatest Era of tennis - damn I wish they had 4k then
that pirate look is something else.
Agassi is easily the best returner ever, Djokovic is easily the best defender ever.
@MUFC sir this is a Wendy's
Agreed. As a shot in itself, the service return by Agassi is in a different dimension. The guy is standing 20 feet closer to the server than Djokovic and firing lasers back, finding angles that didn’t seem to exist.
Nope. Nadal is a better defender than Djokovic.
Agassi had great eye-hand coordination, and had the ability to pick the ball up easier than anyone. He moved into the return and drove it back hard, sometimes harder than the serve itself.
Andre Agassi won 59.78% of second serve return points. He has also won 31.69% of the return games he played.
Court speed was quicker back then (although in the latter years the difference was much less) and the servers he faced - Sampras, Becker, Krajicek,Stich,Edberg, Ivanisevic, McEnroe and Federer.
IMO, Agassi is the greatest returner of all time. Djoko is nearly as great, has better reach, and hits better when reaching. So, overall, it's very close. But, for any ball that Agassi can get good stick on, he's the best.
More inportantly, he attacked the ball on the rise. Most big servers were recovering while the ball was sailing past them.
@@scottrackley4457 spot on
yeah. and the way he climbed all over second serves intimidated servers, making them try that little bit harder on first serves, which meant more faults, and more second serves to attack. it was a complete reversal of the usual dynamic of tennis, where the server sets the terms of the point, and it was great to watch.
@@evilotis01 agree
Thank you! I thought Djoker was better but you make a great case. Easily both are the best returners.
I love outfit of Andre' Agassi was incredible for that years
Novak makes like 2 good returns in a whole match.... Agassi makes them every game.... and everyone's creaming over Novak's returns. People forget who the GOAT returner is.
This guy and Connors best returners ever
Connors? Oh no, not even close. He's not even in the conversation.
@@chancock4222 Perhaps he was referring to Connors' skills as a defender.
Reading his autobiography.... what a bastard his father was!!! God in heaven save kids from bully narcissistic creeps who are fathers.... how do mothers even ALLOW fathers to undermine confidence in their children... always liked and admired Andre Agassi... lovely peep & Steffi Graf...
Agassi's sister married, Rita, married Pancho Gonzales, even though there was a big age difference between them It didn't last long and Agassi's dad apparently talked about getting a hitman to kill Gonzales.When Pancho Gonzales died in 1995 Andre Agassi paid for his funeral.
@@martydav9475 I know these people belong in a criminal organization your comment solidify my experience with them. They belong to a criminal enterprise - I encountered them after a FRAUD investigation
so many awful tennis fathers. just reading today about poor Jelena Dokic almost trying to kill herself recently, years after she escaped her terrible father.
The audacity to hit them and just move across the court m, ready for the next point. It is like piece of cake next
Andre's pidgeon-toed walk adds to the effect. He hits an amazing shot, then casually walks to the other side like it's no big deal. It's like when my cat chases a squirrel. He'll dart all over really fast, but when the squirrel runs up the tree and the cat can't he'll walk away slowly like it was no big deal.
Andre loves the high cheese
Agassi was the king of snot rockets.
Insane!!!
Amazing
Agassi the best
I'm guilty, never really appreciated his overall playing skills, but affer seeing many videos of Agassi, I now have a much deeper appreciation of his game, not just his awesome returns. Sure, a certain Pete Sampras has the edge in head to heads, but on hard courts, Agassi is definitely more than equal to Sampras.
one of the best return players ever.
Agassi's returns against Federer at the US Open sound like gunshots. He was just annihilating Fed's second serves
It's great when he does it to Federer. It would've been great to see prime Agassi against him, by the time he came around he was struggling with his physical health
Best return serve OF ALL TIME! Murray doesn't hang with this
class all the way. No fist pumping, screaming or chest thumping. Just routine winner. Walk quickly to next receive.
exactlyyyyyyyyy
RIGHT YOU ARE MAN, right you are - hate this "I AM THE GREATEST" attitude by Nadal, Djokovisch, Monfils and all the other dwarves- compared-to Andre, Pete, John, Ivan, Björn, Ivan and Jimmy - there will NEVER be players like them !
No question about it in my opinion, Agassi had the Greatest EVER return of Serve in the history of Tennis ....yes, better than Novak’s!!
I agree but that was him in his "second act". The earlier iteration of Andre, his "image is everything" persona rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Only when he realized that talent and flair could only take him so far did he acquire the work ethic that helped him become the player you described.
@@carseye1219 yep
Remember when tennis players could look like they were going to paint your house afterward?
Haha this really cracked me up!
GOAT.
Wow! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Waiting for Serbian fanboys to say that someone else is the best returner in history lol...
He's the best
n.1 The best tennis player.
It’s amazing to see how he retiurned Sampras’s serve….
amen, the best serve ever, returned, with interest
The king Agassi
Boy does he take the ball early
I’m not sure how to get ahold of you but I’d love to have an agassi video with Bon Jovi music playing in the background
Agassi is why the serve and volley died out.
@@martydav9475 Fair enough, he certainly made some players second guess it.
@ppm120667 wimbledon? no contest agassi basically became a spectator pete was beating him so bad.
Agassi is the most talented player tennis player the game has ever had
The three most talented players ever: Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and John McEnroe.
Steve Walters I love roger but I think rafa deserves to be in the convo as well.
agassi killed the serve and volley era.
The punisher!
AGASSI had the most SKILL TO RETURN SERVICE IN TENNIS. MOVED EASILY to return to opponents.
RAFI Maine USA
The only one who comes close to Agassi’s return game is Novak.
return shot not game
I said what I said.
Andre returns serve like they are walk-off home runs.
Yeah, Agassi is a better returner than even Djokovic!!!
Only because Andre had to face better servers. Novak is no joke, but Andre will be my fave.
Best retur eveeeer
This guy is astronomical, and I don't even WATCH tennis!
Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Andre Agassi are best returner..they all have the same racket swing on forehand return.. and the ball went so similar as well..
Good point. His take back on the backhand is a little shorter and that gives him a little more margin for error but Serena and Venus may generate a little more of their own pace. Agassi was the master of using his opponent's pace against them where the Williams's had to make their own which to me was always more difficult to control. Mad respect to all three.
Best Return Player of all time andre Agassi
Pete Sampras dude was like a tom hanks machine
The fuck does that mean?
How to be a badass in sport.
Lol quality really declined as the video went on
@ 6:34 Bud Collins: What was that!!!!
He changed the tennis
This is a stolen quote "Agassi robs you of time". It's a different generation (although their careers overlapped), but I put Connors into any discussion of greatest returners. I made the mistake of trying to copy their return techniques but I never had their "hands" or reflexes. I was better off a couple of meters back:)
Borg was the same, he and Conners always took the ball on the rise
3:27 What the f is that?? Was that a glitch in the Matrix?
Tennis was deffo better back in the day
Red box
The best returner ever. Far above Djokovic.
Dojokovic is actually but lucky also , nadal has bad knee and fedder too is not in good since 2018 …. So he is leveraging all this in grand slams ….
Sr400
Why does footage from the 90’s look so much worse than the stuff from the 80’s?
9:12 the Italian commentator drops the F word.
Wait Agassi was sponsored by Adidas?
Andre in Adidas? Nah.
That was when Nike made the mistake of not contributing enough to charity. He wanted them to make a fat donation to his foundation and Nike wasn't about the amount he wanted and Adidas was like, "hell yeah! Here's a check!"
Then Nike wised up after his Adidas contract expired and he went back to them after he retired.
@@chancock4222 Andre's philanthropy is pretty amazing. His school is Vegas is fantastic.
devolve los trofeos que robaste, agasi
Wasn’t he on drugs??
Gael Sandoval for a few months in 1997, in a year when it obviously didn’t help his performance.
no
Some of the worst footage known to man.
some of it looked like 16mm home movies from the 1950s....horrible
AGASSI PLAYED WHILE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF CRYSTAL METH🔥🤮🐓🧀🧀👤👤👍💀💀💀💀💀💀
Hence, with a handicap
Juan Manuel Alvarez not really it allowed him to possess incredible ENERGY. i think it's a real shame. i'm a 4.5 USTA rated player and I never played under the influence of crystal methanphetamine---------- jus sayn
@@conqururfear for a very short amount of minutes, you know little od drgus, andnhe damaged his organism, furthermore, when Marcelo Rios lost to petr korda ao 1997 he was asked about korda doping and he said "it has nothing to do with the match"
@Logic M i have cocaine consuming friend who used to played high level soccer, common here in argentina, they never ahowed improvement, only overconfidence that led to errors, hence, they were handicaped
Juan Manuel Alvarez And what is your USTA rating, 2.5 LOL period. I didn’t mean to offend you I know that works for 12 years and it was sad when I became a 4.5 doubles player ITS amazing the number of opponents who avoid you when you get to be good
I just don't think it's fair that Agassi played on crystal meth