‘It Was Difficult to Concentrate..’- When Andre Agassi Blatantly Questioned the Move of Using Models as Ball Girls by a Prestigious Masters Event

Andre Agassi is one of the greatest avid gamers the recreation has ever observed. He broke a document by changing into the first-ever participant to triumph in all 4 singles majors, together with arduous, clay, and grass courts. Also, in 1999, he turned into the most up-to-date American male to win the French Open.

But 5 years after his historical victory, the court docket was once witnessing one thing out of the unusual. In 2004, the Madrid Open organizers recruited fashions from a native company to paintings as ball ladies at the Masters tournament for the males. In one of his post-game interviews, Agassi wondered the transfer of the usage of fashions as ball ladies from the organizers of the Madrid Open.

Andre Agassi as soon as adversarial the peculiar determination made by the tournament organizers

The then 34-year-old Andre Agassi was once enjoying his 2d spherical of Madrid Masters in 2004. He controlled to knock out his opponent, Max Mirnyi of Belarus, with a ranking of 7-6 (7/5), 6-3. 

During the post-match presentation, one of the newshounds wondered about the debatable matter of the Spanish executive’s request to the Madrid Masters tennis event’s organizers to prevent the usage of fashions as ball ladies.

He jokingly answered to the reporter, pronouncing, “It was difficult, to say the least, to concentrate on the ball. But I suppose I had an advantage, I’m used to playing with my wife. The (long, slit) skirts look like they’re a little difficult to run in – I think they need to be shorter, maybe. I need some time to let it absorb.” He then endured on a critical word pronouncing, “I think it is important for our sport to understand its product clearly, and I’m not quite convinced this is part of our product.” 

In spite of the outcry, the fashions endured to come again in the following years, and that didn’t prevent. However, in recent times they have got made some adjustments, such as bringing again the conventional ball girls and boys all the way through the event’s early rounds. But come to the semi-finals and the finals, you could nonetheless get to see the fashions on the court docket as ball ladies.

Agassi couldn’t achieve all the method to the finals of Madrid’s Masters 

The highway until the quarterfinal was once relatively clean, as the former No. 1, breezed previous his combatants relatively convincingly. Agassi was once now going through Marat Safin of Russia. 

WATCH THE STORY: When Roger Federer toyed his opponent so dangerous, he requested for recommendation from Andre Agassi in the crowd Wimbledon championships

Marat Safin has some nice recollections towards Andre Agassi when he received his first head-to-head event at the French Open when he was once simply 18 years of age. Unfortunately, the eight-time Grand Slam champion once more went down to the Russian with the ranking of 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).