“Enjoy life, it flies” – Tommy Haas catches up with idol Andre Agassi at Wimbledon 2024, revisits his upset win over ‘legend’ in epic 1998 encounter
Tommy Haas (L) and Andre Agassi (R)
Former World No. 2 Tommy Haas had a special moment at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships as he got to meet his idol, Andre Agassi, who was visiting SW19 as a guest. Haas shared a picture of their encounter and reminisced about watching Agassi win his maiden Grand Slam title at the 1992 Wimbledon Championships and playing against him on the same Centre Court six years later.
Haas recalled watching and cheering for Agassi in the 1992 Wimbledon final when the American beat eighth seed Goran Ivanisevic 6-7(8), 6-4, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 to win his first Grand Slam title. Agassi defeated Andrei Chesnokov, Eduardo Masso, Derrick Rostagno, Christian Saceanu, Boris Becker, and John McEnroe en route to the final.Haas and Agassi have a lot in common. They both trained at the Nick Bollettieri Academy in Florida when they were teenagers. But their paths crossed only 10 times on the tour, with Agassi holding a 6-4 edge over Haas. Their most memorable match was at the 1998 Wimbledon second round, where the German prevailed 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4), 6-4 in just over two hours.
The German shared a picture on his Instagram story on July 11, where he can be seen smiling and posing with the eight-time Grand Slam champion.
“Great seeing @agassi here @wimbledon. Remember watching and cheering for him in the 92’ Final and getting to play this Legend on Center Court in 98’. Enjoy life, it flies…” Haas wrote.
Tommy Haas on Instagram
Tommy Haas described the 1998 Wimbledon 2R win over Andre Agassi as a career highlight
Tommy Haas (L) and Andre Agassi (R)
Tommy Haas (L) and Andre Agassi (R)
In a March 2023 conversation with former doubles World No. 1 Rennae Stubbs, Tommy Haas reminisced about one of the highlights of his career.
The German expressed his excitement at the opportunity to face his idol at the 1998 Wimbledon Championships second round, where he emerged victorious in four sets.
“Agassi quickly became sort of a role model, somebody I admired and then I got to play him in Wimbledon second round back in 1998 when I was 20 years old,” Haas said on the Rennae Stubbs Tennis podcast. “So that was like, all of a sudden, ‘Wow, I watched him win in 1992 and six years later, I’m playing against him on Centre Court’.”
Haas described this significant victory over Andre Agassi as “a highlight” of his career.
“That was definitely one of those moments where I was like, ‘I can always say that I beat Andre on Centre Court after watching and wanting him to win it so badly in 1992’, because of the connection with the academy and Nick. So that was certainly a highlight in my career,” he added.
Tommy Haas, who retired from professional tennis in 2018, is currently the tournament director of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Andre Agassi, who retired from professional tennis in 2006, is married to another Wimbledon champion, Steffi Graf, who won one of her seven women’s singles titles in 1992, the same year as him.
