Andre Agassi has given his verdict on Serena Williams coming out of retirement.
Williams is returning to tennis at the Queen’s Club Championships, nearly four years after her last match at the 2022 US Open.
The American is starting her comeback in doubles, with Williams playing alongside Victoria Mboko at Queen’s.
There have been varying opinions about how well Williams will do when she comes back, and now Agassi has explained what he thinks will be successful for the 23-time Grand Slam champion.
Andre Agassi says he will be ‘pulling’ for Serena Williams in her comeback
Agassi was asked about Williams’ comeback in the latest edition of The Big T Podcast, and what he thought would be a successful return for his compatriot.
Instead of focussing on results, Agassi claimed that success for Williams would be enjoying herself back on tour, as he stated that he would be rooting for her.
“I’ll tell you what would be a successful comeback for Serena, that she’s living her best life,” said Agassi. “And if she wants to be on a tennis court, God bless her.
“I mean, I look forward to seeing her, I look forward to watching her. I had the luxury of watching her up close for so many years in her prime and I mean maybe you could argue her prime went on well past when I was able to watch it.
“But it wouldn’t matter to me the result for her on any level except her own, her own best self. If she’s out there with the true desire to play, that’s a win for the sport.”
Agassi later added, “If she had regret, she’d have to explain to me where that thing is coming from. I mean, she did it all and she did it over a very long period of time.
“But if she wants to challenge herself, I mean she looks fantastic. I’ve seen her on commercials, she looks like she’s been putting in a lot of work. So, let her test herself in a new way, a new era, in a new time frame and a new chapter in her life, if that’s what she wants. I mean, I’ll be pulling for her.”
What do you think Serena Williams needs to do to make her comeback successful?
Agassi retired from tennis at the 2006 US Open, when he was 36 years old, and he was then asked if he ever considered coming out of retirement like Williams has done, as he spoke about how Roger Federer impacted his decision to end his career.
“No. I not only didn’t think I could, I was like, that’s it,” answered Agassi. “I didn’t want, at the end of my career, not throughout a lot of it. I never wanted to quit.
“I wanted to retire, meaning I wanted it, I wanted to leave it all, I wanted to have no regret, I wanted to know I left it all out there, I wanted to know I had nothing left. I wanted to know that the next generation, because I played through a number of them, a number of generations, and every time I found that next generation, you’re kind of asked a lot, you know, how are you going to do it? Is it time?
“All my peers that I came to the dance with were gone. I mean, Michael [Chang] and Jim [Courier] and Pete [Sampras], so you’re constantly asking that question and then you get to a point where you say to yourself, no I am not going to stop until I actually answer the question of not being able to answer my opponent.
“When I lost to Fed in the finals of the 2005 US Open, set apiece 4-2, 30-0, serving with a little breeze on my back, I had 25,000 people there pulling for me and he had like five people pulling for him.
“It was like that was a time that I actually thought I could maybe do this again and stick around, but then he went to a level that I knew I was staring at the next Mount Everest of the next generation and I knew my time was limited.”
How excited are you to watch Serena Williams play on the WTA Tour once again? 🐐
Brad Gilbert agrees with Andre Agassi about Serena Williams’ comeback
One of the most influential figures in Agassi’s career was Brad Gilbert, who coached him to six Grand Slam titles in their eight-year spell together.
In this same podcast, Gilbert agreed with Agassi’s verdict on Williams’ comeback, as well as both former ATP player Prakash Amritraj and former Roland Garros semi-finalist Andrea Petkovic.
Gilbert said, “That she’s satisfied that everything she put into this is what she wants out of it.”
Amritraj responded, “A successful comeback for Serena would entail performing at the level that she wants to perform at, whatever that leads to, that leads to.
“But she’s obviously practiced a certain amount, she’s obviously put in a certain amount of physical work. She looks fantastic. I want to see her expectations met on court. I’m not talking about results, I’m talking about what she wants to do out there, I want her to get out of it.”
Petkovic then added, “For me, a successful comeback for Serena Williams would entail if she remained healthy. That’s all I wish for her and that’s all I wish for all of us.”
Williams will start her comeback in doubles with Mboko at Queen’s, as they play third seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe in the first round.
