The claim Andre Agassi once made about tennis which Roger Federer did not believe

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Andre Agassi might be on the verge of taking up a coaching role for the first time since parting ways with Grigor Dimitrov in 2020.

Agassi was spotted training with Holger Rune ahead of the Washington Open, reportedly working with the Dane on a three-day trial period.

The eight-time Grand Slam champion seems to be getting more involved with the world of tennis once again, having recently worked as a commentator and pundit at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

His re-engagement with the sport would have seemed unlikely many years ago, when Agassi made comments about tennis that Swiss legend Roger Federer simply could not believe.

Andre Agassi’s comments that Roger Federer couldn’t believe

In a 2018 interview with Australian news outlet Perth Now, Federer was discussing the attitudes of Aussie tennis stars Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic.

He said of the two: “I do believe, for the most part, deep inside of them, somehow they do enjoy their time.

“And there are moments when they do win a match, or there are moments in practice where they actually do enjoy it.

“Maybe there are moments when things are difficult. When you’re packing up the bags and travelling to the next event, or whatever it is. Then it becomes tricky sometimes. But that’s the case for everybody.

“But it’s also a question of seeing the glass half-full rather than empty. They still have some potential to fulfil. They know that, and it’s a question up to them if they want to do it or not.”

Federer added: “I believe they do enjoy their time on the courts sometimes. Agassi said the same after he retired, and he played for 20-something years. I don’t believe him as well, everything that he said in that book.”

In his 2009 autobiography, ‘Open’, Agassi revealed that he hated tennis with a ‘dark and secret passion’.

Roger Federer’s head-to-head record with Andre Agassi

Agassi and Federer faced each other 11 times throughout their careers, with the maiden clash in the rivalry coming in 1998.

The American won their first three bouts at the Swiss Indoors event in Basel in 1998, the US Open in 2001, and the Miami Open in 2002.

After that, however, Federer won the next eight matches in the head-to-head, the last of which was the US Open final in 2005

They never met on grass or clay, with their Grand Slam meetings coming only in New York and Melbourne.