Tennis fans will always remember Andre Agassi for his unique style on and off the court. A true game-changer, an eight-time Grand Slam winner and Olympic gold medalist, the so-called Las Vegas Kid stands among the best players of all time.
In recent years, the public learned rather personal facts about the champion, which he exposed through his best selling autobiography Open, in which the Armenian-American revealed he had played for years wearing a wig and used crystal meth.
"I wrote the book with through the lens of my children ... I haven't read it because I got great advice after two and a half years of finalising it, which was, 'Don't open it, don't read it because the book of your life is never finished'," Agassi tells SBS Italian.
Listen to SBS Italian's full audio interview with Andre Agassi above
Agassi is back in Melbourne - where he won the Australian Open title in 1995, 2000, 2001 and 2003 - as coach of former world number three, Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov, as well as global ambassador for a famous Italian coffee brand.
In an exclusive interview with SBS Radio, the man who held tennis' world number one spot for 101 weeks talks about how the game will look in the future, and explains why last year he parted ways with Novak Djokovic after only a few months of coaching him.
Asked whether the two parted ways because Djokovic might have been operating in a narrow comfort zone, Agassi is unsure.
"I don't know if I would say that," says Agassi. "I think we all as tennis players have a narrow comfort zone. I mean, you're out there in front of the world, you're alone... You're exposed so you have to respect somebody needing to be incredibly comfortable and reluctant to take chances.
"I had to learn too. I was a thinker on a court and he's a feeler on a court... I was clear that I didn't think he needed me. He was clear that he felt like he did. We were both clear at the end that he really didn't - and not in a bad way. In a way that it was obvious he knew what he needed to do, and he needed to go do it.
"I'm not interested in spending my time pretending to help somebody."
Agassi also explains why he decided to work with Dimitrov and why Roger Federer would make a great coach when the Swiss champion's career comes to an end.
Andre Agassi Source: courtesy of Lavazza
"When the games comes too easy for someone they don't have to think," he says. "(but) Federer defies that logic because of his tennis IQ."
Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria talks with his coach Andre Agassi during a practice session ahead of the 2019 Australian Open at Melbourne Park Source: Getty Images
