Legendary tennis coach Gabe Jaramillo says Andre Agassi was a hard worker and a very intelligent individual.
Agassi marked one era of tennis and he went down as an absolute legend but it wasn’t only his tennis that was drawing attention to him as his rebellious side was also quite an interesting thing about him.
Jaramillo, one of the leading coaches at the renowned Nick Bollettieri Academy, has had a chance to work with a number of great talents.
“He had a very clear perception of how he wanted people to see him in the future. He wasn’t thinking about now, but about the commercial image that he was creating for himself in the coming years. At first he was a rebel, but it is because he wanted it that way, in that sense he was a very intelligent boy, that way of managing his career was totally studied,” Jaramillo exclusively told Punto de Break.
Jaramillo: Agassi actually enjoyed training hard
In his book, Agassi detailed the ups and downs he was going through.
Jaramillo, who worked with Agassi, insists the American was actually a hard worker.
“No […] The book is very well written and very entertaining, it’s worth reading, but it has nothing to do with reality. Andre is one of the people who most enjoyed training. He trained for a few hours, that’s true, but when he trained he gave you 100% and we responded with the same. It cost me my first marriage,” Jaramillo explained.
As an example, Jaramillo recalled a story when Agassi called him at 10am on a Sunday morning.
“For example. Sunday, 10:00 in the morning, I went with my wife and children to the beach. Suddenly André called me asking for help, telling me that he felt terrible and that he needed to train. I left my family on the beach and went with him to train for four hours. Andre really enjoyed tennis training, even physical training, he loved the gym. He called me at 10:00 p.m. at night to go do weights, with the music at full volume and looking in the mirror how strong he was. I definitely do not share that point of view with him,” Jaramillo recalled.