Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi arrive for the David Foster Foundation Gala in 2017.Photo:Andrew Chin/Getty
Andrew Chin/Getty
Andre Agassi andSteffi Grafare a lovematch.
Agassi, who was previously married to actressBrooke Shields, once toldForbes Indiathat the “highest point of his life” was when Graf accepted his marriage proposal.
“She was the hardest to win,” he declared.
Speaking toThe Cutin 2014, Agassi noted that he respected Graf “from a distance and marveled at her" early on. The tennis power couple, who have both since retired from the sport, went on to wed in 2001 and are now parents of two.
“What has transcended everything has been the common ground we share and our basic approach toward life. It’s better to be lucky than good sometimes,” Agassi toldParadeof him and Graf. “I don’t feel like I have any answer to how to have successful relationships, but I do feel overwhelmed with the joy that I feel every day.”
In January 2024, the couple rang in the new year together, posing for a photo that Agassi shared onInstagram. “With Love ❤️,” he wrote in the caption.
From their first introduction to their marriage and family life, here’s everything to know about Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf’s relationship.
Agassi had a crush on Graf prior to meeting her
Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi playing in Roland-Garros Tennis Tournament in 2009.Laurent ZABULON/Gamma-Rapho/Getty
Laurent ZABULON/Gamma-Rapho/Getty
They were formally introduced after winning Wimbledon the same year
teffi Graf and Andre Agassi with their trophies at the post Wimbledon Dinner.David Giles - PA Images/PA Image/Getty
David Giles - PA Images/PA Image/Getty
Agassi had the chance to meet Graf after winning hisfirst Grand Slam titleat Wimbledon in 1992. She won the ladies' singles tennis title at the tournament the same year. Agassi was “dying to go” to the Wimbledon Ball that he’d heard about for years because the men’s winner got to dance with the women’s winner. He even purchased a tuxedo from Harrods for the event, but was informed that the dance had been canceled.
“I don’t get to dance with Steffi, but there will be a kind of consolation match: a formal introduction. I look forward to it all night. Then it happens,” he penned in his book. “Shaking her hand, I tell Steffi that I tried to reach her at last year’s French Open and I hope she didn’t misunderstand my intentions. I say, I’d really love to talk with you some time.”
Years after their first meeting, their coaches set up a practice for them
Andre Agassi With Steffi Graf Outside The Practice Court in 1999.Ron C. Angle/Getty
Ron C. Angle/Getty
Graf was admittedly confused as to why Agassi, whomarried Shieldsin 1997, wanted to practice with her in 1999. “Our coaches kind of set up the whole practice and, you know, I was like, ‘Why does he want to practice with me?” she recalled in an interview with Vijay Amritraj.
“He’s married. I’ve got a boyfriend,” she added. “It was all a little confusing to me.”
After their practice in Key Biscayne, Graf found a bouquet of roses in her hotel room along with a beautiful letter. “We had a brief conversation after that where I kind of said that I’ve got a boyfriend and, you know, all I know is that he’s married,” Graf shared, noting that at the time she had no idea he was going through a divorce. When she heard about his divorce a few weeks later, she understood “things a little clearer.”
Agassi has said the universe screamed that Graf was the one
Steffi Graff and Andre Agassi attend the Keep Memory Alive foundation’s “Power of Love Gala” in 2012.Ethan Miller/Getty
Ethan Miller/Getty
Agassi “figured there was a fifty-fifty shot” that Graf was the one for him. Having already made “one bad call,” he thought that maybe his chances could be higher. “But sometimes the universe whispers, sometimes it screams,” Agassi said in an interview withThe Cut.
They got married in 2001
Andre Agassi & Steffi Graf.Kevin Mazur/WireImage
Kevin Mazur/WireImage
Days before Graf was due to give birth to their first child in October 2001, she and Agassi tied the knot in a low-key ceremony. The tennis star revealed in his memoir that he and Graf invited their mothers and a Nevada judge to their house, where they exchanged vows in their courtyard “barefoot and wearing jeans.” The couple used twists of old raffia that Graf found in a drawer for their wedding bands.
They have two kids
Andre Agassi and Steffi GrafAndre at Agassi’s 12th Annual Grand Slam for Children in 2007.Charley Gallay/Getty
Charley Gallay/Getty
According to Agassi, his kids never had a moment where they realized that their parents were famous — instead, they eventually began to understand why people would come up to them and want to talk to him and Graf in public.
While talking to PEOPLE in March 2024, Agassi said, “You go through a whole phase of them going, ‘Well, this makes no sense that the people are coming up as if there’s a big deal.’ And then they start to put together why it’s a big deal.”
He continued, “They start to realize they’re looking behind theWizard of Ozcurtain andthey realize it’s not all that. So there’s a healthy balance that kind of is inevitable through the whole process.”
Agassi introduced his wife at her Tennis Hall of Fame induction ceremony
Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi during the the Class of 2004 induction ceremony at the International Tennis Hall of Fame.Joe Giblin/WireImage
Joe Giblin/WireImage
Graf was overcome with emotion after Agassi introduced her at her International Tennis Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2004. “As I attempt to find words worthy to introduce the person that has changed my life, I realize the words have yet to be invented that are large enough, colorful enough, or true enough to express the heart and soul of this woman that I love,” Agassisaidin his speech.
source: people.com
