Agassi urges Raducanu to embrace her own identity amid comeback
The short version
- Emma Raducanu says Andre Agassi's 2009 autobiography has helped her during her comeback from injury.
- Agassi advised Raducanu to judge herself by daily effort, not results, and to stay true to her identity.
- Raducanu, now ranked 98th, missed the US Open with a lower-right-leg stress fracture after a season of setbacks.
- Agassi will captain Team USA at the Laver Cup in London, September 25-27.
Andre Agassi says Emma Raducanu should measure herself by daily effort rather than results as she works her way back up the rankings.
Andre Agassi has offered Emma Raducanu guidance as the 23-year-old Briton works to climb back toward the top of tennis, a journey she is supporting with insights drawn from Agassi's 2009 memoir. Raducanu told Uniqlo that a section describing how Agassi escaped his late-1990s slump through a self-designed training program resonated strongly with her, adding that much of the book felt familiar to her own situation.
Raducanu shocked the sport five years ago when, at 18, she became the first qualifier of the Open era to capture a Grand Slam at the US Open. She peaked at world number 10 in July 2022 but currently sits 98th, with her season disrupted by a foot problem, a post-viral illness that kept her off court for two-and-a-half months, and a lower-right-leg stress fracture that forced her to skip the recent US Open. Her run to the Queen's Club final in June was her biggest since the New York title.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Agassi, an eight-time major champion who won his first at Wimbledon in 1992, said he wrote his book hoping even one reader would find comfort and practical help in his experience. He also advised parents to remember that a child's career belongs to the child, reflecting on how pressure from his own father caused him to play with fear until his ranking tumbled to 141st.
Asked directly about Raducanu, he suggested she aim to be her best each day without measuring that against results or expecting to feel perfect, and to stay grounded in her own identity rather than outside noise. Agassi, who swept all four majors plus 1996 Olympic singles gold, will captain Team USA at the Laver Cup, held at The O2 in London from September 25-27.