Two of the most impactful players of the 1980s and 1990s — Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi — married each other on October 22, 2001, and have been living together in Nevada’s Las Vegas in the US, Agassi’s hometown.
In an old interview with former Indian player and commentator Vijay Amritraj, Agassi was asked about the 1992 Wimbledon, the only time the couple won in their respective categories at a Grand Slam. Amritraj enquired about how much the American wanted to dance with Graf at the traditional Wimbledon ball event.
“Let’s discuss Wimbledon when both of you won the championships and there was a tradition of having the Wimbledon ball where the two champions would start out dancing for the evening event,” Amritraj said. “Apparently, you (Agassi) were really looking forward to dancing with her and she was somehow trying to sort of cancel the dance. Is that true?”
The eight-time Grand Slam champion began by praising his wife, stating that no matter who won on the men’s circuit, it would most probably be Steffi Graf among the women. He revealed that he was praying for the German to win since he was looking forward to dancing with her. However, much to his dismay, he was informed that the ball dance, for the first time in the event’s history, was canceled.
“Let’s first set the record straight and say that if a male won Wimbledon, there was a heck of a chance that Steffi was at the ball because she was winning among the women, for sure,” Agassi said. “It was rare for me to win it but if I won, she was there.”
“But the ball was, I guess, something that I always envisioned to be like you don’t know what it’s really like and I always heard about this dance that you have with the female champion. Steff’s playing Monica Seles in the finals and I’m praying for Steffi to win,” he added. “Then we get to the ball, looking forward to it and I don’t dance at all. To me, it would still have been enjoyable and it was the first year they canceled it.”
