Andre Agassi is back in the tennis spotlight, lending his voice and perspective as captain of Team World at the 2025 Laver Cup. Speaking ahead of the competition, Agassi reflected on what it feels like to return to the sport after years focused on raising a family with Steffi Graf.
With their two children grown and out of the house, he admitted that becoming “empty nesters” has given him the chance to reconnect with tennis and see firsthand just how much it has evolved since his playing days.
How Did Andre Agassi’s Playing Career Shape His Perspective on Tennis Today?
Agassi, who defined American tennis in the 1990s and early 2000s, now has the chance to lead a new generation in San Francisco while sharing his perspective on how the sport has changed both on and off the court.
A former World No. 1, he captured eight Grand Slam singles titles, including four at the Australian Open. He remains one of just five men to achieve a career Grand Slam, but his path was unique. When he first competed in Australia in the late 1980s, the tournament was still played on grass before its permanent switch to hard courts in 1988.
That shift in surfaces during his career, along with major changes in technology, training, and tournament infrastructure, gave him a rare perspective on how quickly tennis can evolve. “I played through a few generations myself, and I was always shocked at what was asked of the changes that happened, both from players to environments and the growth of it,” Agassi said.
Since retiring in 2006, Agassi has largely stayed out of the week-to-week tennis grind. Much of his time was devoted to raising his and Graf’s children, Jaden and Jaz, while also building the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education, a philanthropic project focused on improving education opportunities for underprivileged youth.
“I went through a good 15 years of raising my kids and finishing up my foundation in a way that it can live in perpetuity and building a few businesses,” Agassi explained during his Laver Cup press conference. The family settled in Las Vegas, where they quietly supported their children’s ambitions: Jaden pursuing a career in baseball and Jaz carving her own path outside of sports.
That family-first commitment, combined with ventures into business and philanthropy, meant Agassi was only loosely connected to tennis during those years. He did re-emerge briefly in 2017 as part of Novak Djokovic’s coaching team, though the partnership lasted less than a year.
What Changes Has Agassi Noticed in Tennis Since His Retirement?
In recent years, he has appeared in select exhibitions and even dabbled in pickleball, the fast-growing racket sport drawing interest from many retired players. Still, Agassi admits it wasn’t until his children grew up and left home that he felt ready to immerse himself in the tennis world again.
“Now my kids are — we’re kind of empty-nesters, and I had the bandwidth to come back to tennis on a certain level and really appreciate the difference between what it was and what it is now,” he said.
Agassi also spoke about how much professional tennis has transformed since he left the tour. “I go back to these places, and I don’t even recognize them. I can’t get from one place to another, because they’ve changed that much,” he remarked.
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He dismissed concerns that tennis may be losing global traction, pointing instead to signs of growth: “People can talk about eyeballs. They can talk about the growth of the game or the lack of growth. Every time I see it, it’s only expanding, it’s only growing.”
The Laver Cup, co-founded by Roger Federer and named after Australian great Rod Laver, is set to make its West Coast debut at the Chase Center in San Francisco from September 19 to 21. The three-day exhibition features six of Europe’s best talents against six players from the rest of the world, in a format inspired by golf’s Ryder Cup.
