Andre Agassi Disappointed with IPTL Performances

  After it was initially announced that the Singapore Slammers would get Andre Agassi as their main legends player, spirits were high as the team anticipated some impressive showings from the American legend. However, this was certainly not the case over the second leg of the International Premier Tennis League, as Agassi effectively embarrassed himself in his first two showings and was forced to take a back seat on the final day of the event. The 44-year-old lost to Mark Philippoussis 6-3 on Tuesday and followed up with a 6-2 loss to Fabrice Santoro on Wednesday. Pat Rafter would eventually replace him for his final legends match against Goran Ivanisevic. Agassi later admit that he was not prepared for such a physical and competitive environment and expected less from the exhibition. The IPTL features a fast-paced format that includes no advantage scoring, a 20-second serve clock, and a seven minute shoot out. “I wasn’t fond of it being so full-on and competitive. Coming back here I’m a bit embarrassed with the way I was not responding to the environment from a playing perspective,” Agassi said, according to Agence France-Presse. “So I would have to make some adjustments and change how much I play so I can flat-out compete and make somebody else look s-tty.” Clearly embarrassed with his poor showings, Agassi smashed several rackets during his second match and left for home feeling dejected and unfulfilled. “If I do come back I’ll spend a few months trying to get myself better form,” he said. Agassi’s performances did not prevent the Singapore Slammers from successfully defeating the Indian Aces on Wednesday and the UAE Royals on Thursday.

To see all our predictions for upcoming matches, based on our machine learning model analysing results since 1960, see our tennis predictions page here.