{"id":762555,"date":"2026-06-26T23:20:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T23:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/762555\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T23:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T23:20:14","slug":"andre-agassi-caroline-wozniacki-genie-bouchard-and-james-blake-talk-tennis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/762555\/","title":{"rendered":"Andre Agassi, Caroline Wozniacki, Genie Bouchard and James Blake Talk Tennis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMemorable matches, sacrifices, personal style, and superstitions were volleyed back and forth in a lively conversation Thursday night with tennis<\/a> stars Andre Agassi, Caroline Wozniacki, Genie Bouchard, and James Blake, hosted by Ralph Lauren<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe conversation, which was held at Ralph Lauren<\/a>\u2019s women\u2019s store at 888 Madison Avenue in New York, was moderated by Gigi Salmon, a British sports journalist and tennis<\/a> commentator. <\/p>\n

\n\tRalph Lauren has been the Official Outfitter of The Championships, Wimbledon, which will take place from Monday through July 12, for over 20 years. To celebrate the tournament, a grass court was installed by Wimbledon in Central Park, where the four former tennis professionals competed in a mixed doubles match on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone has played on grass in a while,\u201d said Bouchard. \u201cI did hit a few times on hardcourt in the past couple of weeks, and every time I posted about it, Caroline [Wozniacki] would respond to my story like, \u2018You\u2019re practicing so much! Oh my gosh!’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI myself have been out there twice this week\u2026.but I\u2019m also still planning on James [Blake] taking three quarters of the court,\u201d said Wozniacki. <\/p>\n

\n\tSalmon asked Agassi what emotions would go through his mind when he would play on grass courts.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOh, emotion? There\u2019s no place for emotions on a tennis court. You\u2019ve got to get to business and you didn\u2019t have much time to do that,\u201d said Agassi. In fact, Salmon said that Agassi once described playing on grass \u201clike playing on ice that was plastered with Vaseline.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBambi on ice,\u201d said Agassi. <\/p>\n

\n\tAgassi said the first time he actually played on grass, he lost in a hour and six minutes \u201cso I wasn\u2019t off to a good start.\u201d He said there used to be two weeks between Paris and the grass courts of Wimbledon, \u201cAnd that\u2019s a quick adjustment. Adjustments are really hard. You can play for five hours on clay, but then you go practice for two hours on grass and you\u2019re sore\u2026..every surface asks something different of you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Gigi<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGigi Salmon, Genie Bouchard, Andre Agassi, Caroline Wozniacki and James Blake.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKevin Tachman, courtesy of Ralph Lauren<\/p>\n

\n\tWozniacki described her experience playing at Wimbledon. \u201cWhen you\u2019re on Wimbledon Centre Court, and you bounce the ball, you can hear everything because everyone\u2019s so quiet, and you can hear a pin drop. It\u2019s kind of terrifying because you\u2019re playing on Centre Court. Here, it\u2019s so loud, you can\u2019t even hear yourself. You look up on a night session, and you can\u2019t see the top stance. But Wimbledon, everything just feels so magnified because everything is so quiet and everyone\u2019s paying attention to how you breathe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSalmon asked Bouchard to take the audience back to 2014 Wimbledon when she didn\u2019t drop a set all week and ended up making it to the finals.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYes, it was such a special moment for me. Wimbledon has always been my favorite tournament. I just loved the tradition that Caroline was talking about. It just has so much history. It\u2019s like the one you want to win. I was just in the zone, in a bubble, and it\u2019s kind of like I don\u2019t even know what happened, and it happened. I think that\u2019s kind of a good way to be an athlete because if you realize what you\u2019re doing in the moment, you kind of get out of the moment and realize the consequences of winning and losing. And that kind of happened to me in the finals a little bit, and I got killed. [She lost to Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-0.] But it was a great and amazing couple of weeks for me,\u201d said Bouchard.<\/p>\n

\n\tAgassi described what happened to him the year he won Wimbledon in 1992. \u201cOh, it was very surprising, I think no one was more surprised than I was. I lost three Grand Slam finals leading into that Wimbledon final. And the three Grand Slam finals I lost, I was favored in each one, a pretty heavy favorite. So coming into Wimbledon, I had low expectations, and I kind of thrived on that. It felt pretty liberating to not be expected to win one\u2026So when I got to Wimbledon, I was like, \u2018Who cares?\u2019 I\u2019m getting good at losing\u2026and I was up against somebody where I was truly the underdog\u2026.You never forget the first time you get over a finish line in an environment in tennis that asks something so unique of you, and Wimbledon [asks] something very, very unique of a tennis player.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tAsked about the highlight of being a professional tennis player on tour, Blake said, \u201cThe best thing was getting to live your dream. I mean, I think we all started tennis as a game and something that was fun. I wanted to be like my parents. I joked they were too cheap to pay for a babysitter when they went to play tennis. I picked it up too, and always loved it. And then to get out there and be able to do what you love, and it\u2019s something that brings entertainment and joy to other people. For me, anytime I need perspective, I was feeling sorry for myself after a loss or something, and it gave me that perspective of like, \u2018OK, it\u2019s not the end of the world. I did just lose a tennis match, but I still have a much better day than a lot of people in this world,’\u201d said Blake.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for the downside of the game, whether that\u2019s loneliness on tour or chasing rankings, Wozniacki said, \u201cI think I was one of the lucky ones. I never felt lonely because my dad was my coach, and he was always there with me and traveling with me, so anytime I would feel sorry for myself after a tough loss, I always had family, and that was important to me.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYes of course we go to amazing places, but we often don\u2019t get to really see them,\u201d said Bouchard. \u201cI mean it\u2019s really a business trip and we see the airport, the hotel, the tennis courts, and a couple of restaurants, if you\u2019re lucky.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAnd usually when you lose, you want to leave the city and go to the next city. You don\u2019t often hang around to do the sightseeing and stuff,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\tSalmon asked Agassi what\u2019s the best and worst parts of life as a tennis player.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOh, I\u2019m a very complicated person,\u201d admitted Agassi. \u201cTennis fundamentally just teaches you how to be a tortured perfectionist, right? Because you got to focus on being better than one person, and you never know who that person is, and you have to do everything in your control better than these imaginary opponents out there are doing, whether it means practicing or training or resting. So you start to end up, always in your mind pushing yourself to make sure you\u2019re getting the most out of yourself, for the opportunity to go out there and measure it against somebody else in front of the world, right? So there\u2019s an intensity to it\u2026 At times in my life, it felt very daunting, and you know, at times it made me want to quit and at times, I did quit.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou know, I went to Number One thinking it was going to mean something, and then you realize you still have to figure out a way to get better, and go do it again on Monday. And I felt that at 141 in the world, and you realize that\u2019s just as much of an illusion because I actually kind of gave up on myself and recommitted, and I felt more comfortable getting on the tennis court for my own reasons, having that ownership and getting better and climbing back up to the top again. I think that\u2019s probably the best part for me, you know, figuring out a way to take ownership of a life I didn\u2019t choose,\u201d said Agassi.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou can\u2019t pass the ball, you can\u2019t run out the clock, you can\u2019t call time out. You\u2019re X amount of feet away from your opponent, and yet you\u2019re so intimately connected that you\u2019re on your own little island. You end up talking to yourself. You never see [other] sports where people talk to themselves. Talking isn\u2019t the problem, it\u2019s answering. We end up having Lincoln-Douglas debates with ourselves, and you can feel pretty lonely in real time,\u201d said Agassi.<\/p>\n

\n\tSalmon then asked a happy memory of the players. Blake went with beating Roger Federer at the Olympics. \u201cEvery time you\u2019re playing with your country on your chest, it means a little more,\u201d he said. \u201cThe first time I played Davis Cup, I had complete butterflies in my stomach, and it felt different because they say, \u2018Game USA, Advantage USA,\u2019 and you\u2019re playing for something much more than just yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWozniacki said her happiest moment was probably playing the 2018 Australian Open finals against Simona Halep, whom she defeated to win the tournament, receiving her first and only Grand Slam title. <\/p>\n

\n\tAgassi recalled his best moment in tennis came in 1999 when he won the French Open against Andrei Medvedev in a dramatic five-set final \u201cbecause it was the last of the four that had eluded me,\u201d after having been the favorite twice a decade earlier two years in a row. \u201cI was old enough to realize I\u2019ll never have another chance to win, this is my chance, and so I kind of had to fight my demons. It was like my entire life in a microcosm, and getting over the finish line. There, I knew in real time that I would never have another regret as it related to inside the lines of tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\" Genie<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGenie Bouchard, Andre Agassi, Caroline Wozniacki and James Blake outside the Ralph Lauren store. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBlair Getz Mezibov, courtesy of Ralph Lauren<\/p>\n

\n\tBouchard said her most memorable moment was when she beat Venus Williams. \u201cI played her in a non-Grand Slam, but it was tournament in Charleston, and it just felt so surreal to be on the court and see across the net someone I had seen on TV. It really felt like I wasn\u2019t living in reality, and my feet did not feel like they were on the ground. She said she had to overcome this feeling of like, \u2018Wow, I\u2019m playing a living legend.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe conversation then turned to fashion, and Salmon asked Wozniacki how important was it to feel stylish and fashionable on the tennis court? <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was very important to me. I was an Adidas<\/a> and Stella McCartney ambassador for so long,\u201d she said. It was back in 2019 and she was 19 years old, and McCartney was just getting into tennis. For more than 10 years, Wozniacki helped design the things she wore on the court. \u201cIt was a very special thing for me, and I felt special that I got to wear not only the designs that we designed together, but also do it with such a cool person, and also have a big say in what I was wearing and how I felt comfortable, as a woman. I like to look classy. I like to look cool, and I\u2019m on the court, even when we\u2019re out fighting and sweating, and it\u2019s great that you have an outfit that not only works, but also looks great on court, and so it was a good combo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWrapping up, Salmon asked the players for any superstitions they have before playing a match.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI did so many,\u201d said Blake. \u201cI had to get the balls from the same ball kid to start my service game. My light drink had to be a little bit behind my water bottle. I had to shower in the same shower after I won the first round. I\u2019d eat the same breakfast after I won the first round. I didn\u2019t shave once the tournament started.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tAgassi said he wouldn\u2019t step on lines in between points, and he would get the ball with the ball kids in a certain order. \u201cIf I play an Italian, I\u2019m definitely having pasta the night before. The year I won the French Open, I had everything except my underwear. So my choice was to use my coach\u2019s underwear or none. so I\u2019m not using my coach\u2019s, so I went with none, and I won the match. I should have lost. So then the real big decision-making. So I made the noble right decision and I went total commando and I won the tournament. So I swore I was never going to wear underwear again, but it started to work against me, let\u2019s put it that way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Memorable matches, sacrifices, personal style, and superstitions were volleyed back and forth in a lively conversation Thursday night…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":762556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[58896,64,63,49747,85,747],"class_list":["post-762555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-adidas","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-ralph-lauren","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=762555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/762556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}