'Be comfortable in your own identity' - Agassi's advice to Raducanu

Emma Raducanu drew inspiration from Andre Agassi's 2009 autobiography as she sought a path back to the top of tennis. Five years had passed since Raducanu's US Open triumph, where, at 18 years old, she became the first qualifier in the Open era to win a Grand Slam. Agassi, a teenage prodigy, claimed the first of his eight major singles titles at Wimbledon in 1992 at the age of 22. He faced challenging times in his career when he went four years without winning a major and dropped to 141st in the world rankings.

Raducanu expressed her interest in a specific section of Agassi’s book, where he detailed how he overcame his slump in the late 1990s by developing his own training regimen to return to the top. "It speaks in depth about his early successes and the lows he reached, perhaps as a result of them. A lot of it was so relatable," she told Uniqlo. Agassi hoped that sharing his experiences would assist other players facing similar challenges. "It’s wonderful to hear that anybody can relate," he said on BBC Breakfast. He expressed satisfaction that 17 years later, his words could still resonate with those in the sport.

Raducanu achieved a career-high ranking of 10 in July 2022 but had subsequently fallen to 98th due to ongoing physical issues. She missed the US Open while recovering from a stress fracture in her lower right leg. A foot injury had disrupted her pre-season training earlier in the year, and she also faced a post-viral illness that kept her off the court for two-and-a-half months. Nevertheless, Raducanu celebrated one of her best weeks at the Queen's Club in June, reaching her biggest final since winning in New York.

Agassi, who won all four Grand Slam titles and an Olympic singles gold at the 1996 Games, advised Raducanu to focus on being the best version of herself daily, without letting results dictate her self-worth. "You have to learn to be 100% of whatever percent you’re at and be comfortable in your own identity inside of that - not what people say," Agassi noted, reflecting on the pressures younger players face today compared to his time.

Agassi revealed that tennis wasn't always a passion of his, as his father's ambitions led him to play out of fear. It wasn’t until he fell from number one to 141st that he learned to reconnect with the sport. Additionally, he advised parents to respect their child’s individuality in their journeys. Agassi is set to captain Team USA at the Laver Cup held at The O2 in London from September 25-27.