Quick answer: On Served with Andy Roddick, Andre Agassi describes his lowest point in tennis: he had "fallen from number one in the world," was "doing crystal meth," and, after a first-round wild-card loss in Stuttgart, heard coach Brad Gilbert tell him "you got to quit or or we got to start over." A 60 Minutes story on the KIPP charter schools, he says, gave him his reason. He took out "a $40 million mortgage" and "built my own charter school when I was 141 in the world." He had already disclosed the meth use in his 2009 memoir, Open. His birth name is Andre Kirk Agassi; that name is not in the Short.
Clip: Viral Podcast Shorts YouTube Short from the full source linked below.
The used clip starts in the middle of that low point. "I was at my lowest point," he says. "I've fallen from number one in the world." He does not date the fall there; just before the cut, he places it "in the fall of 1997." This article stays with the Short, then labels a few published facts that sit outside it. It does not add medical claims.
"Let's talk real terms here"
He does not soften the next part. "I was doing crystal meth," he says. "Let's talk real terms here for God's sake." He ties it to a life he says he never chose: "I hated my life. I hated it because I didn't know who I was. I didn't I didn't I didn't choose it." A November 9, 2009, New York Times report on Open called "a very brief account of Mr. Agassi's use of crystal meth in 1997" the memoir's biggest headline. That is cited only to show the admission was already public.
Stuttgart, and a hotel-room conversation
The concrete bottom, as he tells it, is a wild-card appearance he could still get because of his name. "You want to talk about real," he says, "is going to" Stuttgart "getting a wild card because I'm 141 in the world cuz I can still sell tickets but I can't hit a damn tennis ball and I'm overweight." He says he lost in the first round. (Auto-captions render the city as "Stogart.")
Then came the talk with Gilbert. "In the hotel room locks the door," Agassi says, "and says you know dude like I care about you too much and like like you got to quit or or we got to start over." He "never hated tennis more than that moment," he says, "if you can believe it," because "if Brad lost hope in me."
Contemporaneous coverage does not line up with every detail. A November 23, 1997, Los Angeles Times story says he had dropped "from No. 1 in 1996 to No. 141 in the rankings this year" after "a first-round loss to Todd Martin at the Eurocard Open in Stuttgart, Germany." Joel Drucker's 2022 Tennis.com retrospective says the ranking had "slipped to 102" by Stuttgart, and that he was "ranked No. 141" by early November. In the clip, Agassi presents 141 as the ranking that got him the wild card.
"I had my reason"
"Epiphanies don't change your life," he tells Roddick, "but what you do with them can." The thought he held onto was this: "Just because I didn't choose my life doesn't mean I can't take ownership of it. Just because I didn't choose my life doesn't mean I can't choose to choose it."
He says he spent "the next couple months trying to figure out what my reason was going to be," then "saw the show on 60 minute." It was, he says, the "kip program knowledge is power program," a "charter school operator" — KIPP, the Knowledge Is Power Program. He names the two men he watched; standard references identify the co-founders as Dave Levin and Mike Feinberg. "They were educating these children in the most economically challenged areas," he says, "and they were empowering them and changing the trajectory of their lives." Watching those students, he says, "I saw myself." "Maybe that is my reason right there. Like those kids don't have the luxury about bitching about being number one in the world."
That, he says, is "when I committed to like building my own charter school." He "took out a $40 million mortgage" and "built my own charter school when I was 141 in the world," to "use tennis like it's used me." He "didn't have a choice, but I had my reason, right? I had my reason." The Short does not name the school. The Hall of Fame biography notes that he founded a Las Vegas "school for kindergarten through Grade 12." His retelling compresses the low point, the 60 Minutes story, and the building of the school into one stretch at 141.
Related reading
- Andre Agassi's real name, Andre Kirk Agassi
- Andre Agassi real-name page
- Tennis players
- Arnold Schwarzenegger on why he never had a Plan B
FAQ
What is Andre Agassi's real name?
Andre Kirk Agassi. Encyclopedia.com's Gale sports biography lists "AGASSI, Andre Kirk (b. 29 April 1970 in Las Vegas, Nevada)." The International Tennis Hall of Fame also lists that birth date and city. The name is not mentioned in the Short.
What does he say about crystal meth in the clip?
He says he "was doing crystal meth" at his lowest point, after falling from No. 1, and that he hated a life he did not choose. He had already described that period in Open (2009). This article does not add medical claims.
What did Brad Gilbert tell him, in his account?
In a hotel room, with the door locked, Gilbert told him, "I care about you too much" and "you got to quit or or we got to start over."
What does he say gave him his reason?
A 60 Minutes story on KIPP, the Knowledge Is Power Program. He says he saw himself in those students, took out a $40 million mortgage, and built his own charter school while ranked 141.