![\"Team](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ES1_5177_0ytdjBNY_20250918031045-750x500.jpg\")
Team World captain Andre Agassi spends time with Australian teammate Alex de Minaur.<\/p>\nIn his first few days on the job, newly hired Team World captain Andre Agassi, nearly two decades after he hit the last ball of his professional career at the 2006 US Open, is approaching his new gig with the same dogged determination that earned him a bronze plaque on the walls of the Newport Casino, home to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
Back when he was dictating play along the baseline, swatting full-stretch forehand winners on the run, there was always something to focus on, immediate goals. He had what he likes to call \u201cthe perception of control.\u201d (There\u2019s a reason why singer\/actress Barbra Streisand once dubbed Agassi a \u2018Zen master\u2019.) In his new role, the Las Vegan is learning to let go of some of that control and just react in a dynamic, ever-changing environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoaching is about what somebody hears, not what you say. It\u2019s learning about people, about players, in real time,\u201d he said this week at San Francisco\u2019s Chase Center.<\/p>\n
That ears-open approach is already making an impression on his roster, which includes Americans Taylor Fritz, Reilly Opelka and Alex Michelsen, and Aussie Alex De Minaur, 19-year-old Brazilian sensation Jo\u00e3o Fonseca, and Argentine Francisco Cerundolo.<\/p>\n
\u201cAndre is such a legend of the game. You always hear so much about him,\u201d said the 6-foot-11 Opelka, who\u2019ll open the Day 1 action against Casper Ruud. \u201cThe consensus is that he\u2019s just this incredibly nice human being and incredibly intelligent. This is my first time really getting to interact with him. He gives back to the game and is happy to spread knowledge. He\u2019s just been a great asset for tennis and especially American tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Team World captain Andre Agassi spends time with Australian teammate Alex de Minaur.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has a very unique mind, and he\u2019s helped me a lot with my return this week. He had an average return, I guess,\u201d said Michelsen, a tongue-in-cheek dig on a player who is widely considered amongst the best returners of all time. \u201cHe\u2019s helped me a ton. Clarity, conviction, lots of wisdom. I\u2019m super pumped to get fired up for him tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the most important thing is to understand how they process. We all work so differently,\u201d said Agassi, who\u2019ll be assisted by vice-captain Patrick Rafter, a former world No. 1 who captured back-to-back US Open titles in 1997 and 1998. \u201cThat\u2019s going to be so important to understand in real-time what they\u2019re looking for \u2014\u00a0information, clarity, focus, energy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to parachute into these guys\u2019 lives and act like you know everything. I don\u2019t.\u201d \u2014 Team World captain Andre Agassi<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody responds differently. I\u2019ve had a chance to talk to a few of their coaches as well. It\u2019s hard to parachute into these guys\u2019 lives and act like you know everything. I don\u2019t. I\u2019m trying not to interfere with what they already do so great that gets them here in the first place. Trying to learn is the first role of being the captain. The only thing I\u2019m clear about is what I don\u2019t know. What I don\u2019t know is what I\u2019ve never experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a double bonus for the US Open quarterfinalist De Minaur, who\u2019s getting some elite tutoring from some of the game\u2019s most legendary figures, his countryman Rafter included.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great to be here, to be a part of an amazing team, and obviously to be able to pick Pat\u2019s brain,\u201d said the 26-year-old from Sydney, ranked No. 8. \u201cI\u2019m very excited to be a part of Team World with these amazing competitors and to pick not only Pat\u2019s, but Andre\u2019s brain. It\u2019s epic, right? You don\u2019t get these opportunities often.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In his first few days on the job, newly hired Team World captain Andre Agassi, nearly two decades…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[42078,23136,15221,12551,97541,24000,99,2072,428],"class_list":["post-167806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-alex-michelsen","tag-andre-agassi","tag-francisco-cerundolo","tag-joao-fonseca","tag-patrick-rafter","tag-reilly-opelka","tag-sports","tag-taylor-fritz","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}