Serena Williams' Mental Health Update: "Not OK Today"
Though he's considered one of the greatest players of all time, Andre Agassi has a complicated relationship with the game of tennis.
Primed to be a champion by his father from a young age, the eight-time Grand Slam winner spent much of his professional career hounded by external pressures and a mounting personal disdain for the sport in which he had, as planned, found such success. It's why he is now so appreciative of the evolving conversation about the importance of mental health in sports.
"I think anytime that you have an environment that is friendlier to honesty and communication," he told E! News in an exclusive interview March 2, "is just a healthier process and a more efficient one end to endคำพูดจาก สล็อตวอเลท. And a better one."
The 55-year-old, who previously detailed his struggles with tennis in his 2009 memoir Open, continued, "I think we've come a long way. But it helps so many that I've just sort of said, ‘Hey, here's having the courage to say this is a concern. And this is a reality, and this is the truth.' And it allows us not to stick stigma to it, but to understand."
Yet Andre also acknowledges that when it comes to professional sports, pressure is always inevitable.
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"Sports by definition, it will always have an inherent anchor to it emotionally," he reflected. "I mean, think about what you have to do to turn pro at 16 years old, what you have to deal with every day of your life. You're giving your entire early existence to one entire focus. The ability to be able to have any real balance or avoid any form of PTSD would require—it'd be an anomaly."
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In fact, it was one young champion in particular who came to Andre's mind: Spain's Carlos Alcaraz, who participated in Netflix's exhibition match against fellow countryman Rafael Nadal on March 3.
"Look at Alcazar, he's 20 years old," Andre—who shares kids Jaden, 22, and Jaz, 20, with wife Steffi Graf—explained. "He's two years younger than my son, he's my daughter's age. And it's like, wow, he's got a world on his shoulders. So you can only imagine what his early years are like."
But for Andre, his more than two decades of playing professional tennis are long behind him. These days he enjoys spending time with the most important people in his life: his family.
And after tying the knot in 2001, he and fellow tennis champion Steffi revel in the everyday joys.
"We love cooking together," Andre revealed. "We love hiking together. We love even grocery shopping together, dividing and conquering. So it's real life. And we're blessed."
For more celebrities who have been candid about mental health, keep reading.