Sampras and Agassi’s Relationship “Uncomfortable”

By Brittni Michaelis

In what was supposed to be a charity event, called the “Hit for Haiti” that raised $1 million for the small Caribbean nation of that suffered a catastrophic earthquake last month, quickly turned into a public feud between two tennis legends, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras.

Agassi and Sampras were playing in a doubles match with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, respectively, and were seen and heard making jabs at one another ranging from Agassi’s “pigeon”walking style to Agassi accusing Sampras of being a bad tipper.

It all seemed like fun and games, until Sampras served a ball directly towards Agassi, with what seemed like an intention to hit him, after Agassi emptied his pockets and then said, “I don’t have any money…. No, no wait. I got a dollar” suggesting that Sampras was a poor tipper.

The two are no strangers to fighting and competing against one another. Sampras and Agassi played each other 32 times during their careers, with each vying to defeat the other in an attempt to claim the number one spot in the tennis world. In 2009, in his book, Agassi wrote that, “Sampras was “more robotic than” a parrot” and Sampras found the comment, among others in the book, “disappointing” according to the Huffington Post.

After the public spat, Sampras said his feud with Agassi was “regrettable” and that it “just bums me out,” but did not openly apologize for his remarks or joking gestures towards Agassi. “Sampras told the Los Angeles Times that his back-and-forth with Agassi “makes our relationship uncomfortable” verbalized by the Huffington Post.

Agassi reportedly sent a text message to Sampras, to ask if he could apologize in person for his remarks and said on Monday that he feels “sick” about the feud. Agassi as of Wednesday has not heard back from Sampras.

Hostility has often been present between these two rivals, but most of the time it is been on the court. Whether or not the legends work it remains to be seen, as we continue to await a tennis rivalry that sniffed the tension that these two had.