A Chat With Chang - Part One - continued
Q: You mention the phases of his career and I suppose that’s exactly what you would say also about Andre Agassi. So many differences in the way he progressed. What was he like to face in the early stages of his career compared to the later stages?
Michael: The interesting thing with Andre is that he turned pro a little bit before the rest of us did. He had been on tour almost two and a half years before Pete, Jim and I turned pro in 1988. He just didn’t break through. He had the long hair, he had the charisma and the flamboyancy but he just didn’t break through. Then, when we got on tour in ’88, strangely enough that was his breakthrough year. Everybody knew he had a great deal of talent, no-one ever questioned his talent. But people did question his work ethic. And that was a legitimate thing to question. I got the chance to play Davis Cup with him early on and I’ve known Andre for a very, very long time, since he stayed at our house during the 12-and-under National Hard Court Championships in San Diego.
He’s a very nice person, a very caring person with a nice family. He just hadn’t really found his niche yet I think. We’d play Davis Cup together and I’d say ‘Andre, do you want to practice tomorrow?’ and he’d say ‘sure, what time?’ and I’d suggest we go at maybe 10. He’d say ‘no, that’s a little bit too early, how about like 1 o’clock?’ and I’m like ‘what do you do the rest of the morning?!’ and he’d say he liked to sleep late. Then he’d come out and he’d only hit for 40-45 minutes because he’s so talented he didn’t need to. But I think his talent brought him only so far and after that he got a wake up call. His ranking had dropped to lower than 150 and he finally made a commitment to say ‘hey, lets go and try and make the most of this talent that God’s given to me and lets really work at it’. And boy he really worked hard at it. He had to change a little bit and started lifting weights. Then he realised he had to work on his agility and his speed, and when he put all of those things together he was a brand new person and a lot more confident in who he was and his game showed it. You could not question his dedication to the game and to the sport of tennis and it showed in his results.
I’m looking at it from a peer’s perspective, and it’s nice to be able to see someone realise their talent because sometimes it’s too late and you never get a chance. Andre got a second chance and he made the most of it. It was fun to watch that, not only compete against him but it was fun to see him realise all of his talent and potential.