Thursday, June 28, 2007

Wimbledon Past: Andre Agassi

At the beginning of the 1990s, the tennis world was dominated by Swedes and Germans. The Steffis, Stefans, Michaels and Borises were wholesome and athletic, but not particularly inspirational when it came to (my) adolescent fantasies. Then Andre Agassi appeared on the scene.





His long bleached hair and big dark soulful eyes made me melt. The stories of his bad-boy past didn't hurt either.





He posed looking more like Bret Michaels than John McEnroe.





He was small for a tennis player and not especially elegant, but he returned serve better than anyone else and bounded around the court like an enthusiastic puppy with his long blonde hair flying behind him.







And there was always that raw emotion and puppy-dog-eyed vulnerability bubbling under the surface.







The summer of 1992 saw a wave of Andre-mania as he battled his way through to win Wimbledon, and famously posed with his very eighties girlfriend: big hair, leather jacket, and tight jeans. For me, she was something to aspire to, just like the girls in Guns'n'Roses videos, tattooed and smoking and hanging off Axl's arm.



After that, my Agassi obsession slowly waned. He left his childhood sweetheart for a series of romances with the likes of Barbara Streisand and Brooke Shields, and the wild-child outsider seemed to have become properly mainstream.

A couple of summers later, I came into school and was greeted by the news that Agassi had cut all his hair off. A sad day and the end of an era.

5 comments:

royeros said...

The ultimate long-haired hippy tennis rebel sex icon was Ilie Nastase: check him out. Also, currently, Juan Carlos Ferrero sometimes has his hair long and is far too effeminately handsome for his own good. In football, you might like Roque Santa Cruz, who's as exotic and attractive as the name suggests (though I think he might have had a haircut recently), and Gabriel Batistuta, who was the king of the Jesus hairstyle. Also, Patrick Berger, lord of the Alice Band.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, but he has a mullet. Those aren't attractive. At all.

Anonymous said...

yep had to agree mullet compared to flowing long locks sorry that is a turn OFF!!
LOL

Anonymous said...

Whoever posted this article is a seriously twisted fan of Agassi's.

"And there was always that raw emotion and puppy-dog-eyed vulnerability bubbling under the surface like he wanted me to comfort him until he could admit his love for me and I could willing give him an erection S E R I O U S L Y.
A therapist probably recommened posting articles on this site as a form of coping with agassis restraining order against her.

Ha Ha For me, she was something to aspire to, just like the girls in Guns'n'Roses videos, tattooed and smoking and hanging off Axl's arm.HAHAHAHA

HAHAH AH A couple of summers later, I came into school and AHAHAHAH AH was greeted by the news that Agassi had HAAHAH cut all his hair off. A sad HAA day and the HA end of an era. HAHAHAHAHAHAH

Anonymous said...

not sure if you saw the 60 minutes interview with him, but the hair was fake! he actually started balding at an early age. the legendary mane was a wig.