"Andre Agassi was like David Beckham" - Chris Evert's ex-husband praises American for courting media attention unlike Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal

Chris Evert's former husband John Lloyd has lauded Andre Agassi for skilfully courting media attention to achieve crossover stardom beyond the tennis sphere, setting him apart from Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

On the latest episode of the 'Rock n Roll Tennis' podcast, Lloyd detailed how tennis grew greatly in appeal due to the publicity generated by the audience's love for Bjorn Borg. This led to celebrities joining in to play and spectate the sport, further enhancing its popularity.

While the former British No. 1 acknowledged the significant rise in the sport's popularity since, he questioned whether players like Federer and Nadal could have achieved celebrity status, akin to movie stars, had they actively courted media attention.

"I know its a big sport now but I just think you could create some movie stars of the tennis circuit. I know Federer is big and Rafa is big, I get that but imagine if they’d been the sort of players who actually courted the publicity. What they could have done with it, that’s my point," he said.

Lloyd hailed Andre Agassi as the prime example of a player who embraced the limelight, likening him to soccer icon David Beckham.

The 68-year-old highlighted the former World No. 1 's inclination to make public appearances with celebrities, such as the American's ex-girlfriend Barbra Streisand, in the presence of photographers.

"That’s actually the best example, since Borg was Andre Agassi, because Andre loved that. And Andre was a little bit like, sort of a David Beckham in some ways, in the soccer era. Agassi would go out to places, he was seen out with Barbra Streisand, seen out with this star and this star. And he knew that there were going to be photographers there so he sort of courted it, excuse the pun. And that just increased his stardom," he said.

Lloyd further contended that players like Agassi were essential to the sport due to their ability to transcend the tennis sphere and achieve crossover stardom in the eyes of the general public.

"I’m just looking at it from a media side, we need people like that. To me, it just makes our sport, it just goes above the level that its at and you get superstars that, people that don’t even particularly like tennis, like Agassi he was a crossover star. Everybody knew Agassi and it wasn’t just because he was a great tennis player, it was because of his off-court activities as well," he added.

"We welcomed her to the family" - Andre Agassi adopts kitten found in his backyard

Andre Agassi

Andre Agassi recently adopted a kitten that had wandered into his backyard. On Sunday, August 6, the American took to social media and shared a heartwarming picture of himself cuddling the grey kitten. The image also showed his dog Blue, who has been with the family since 2016.

The former World No. 1 divulged that the kitten had been affectionately named Sweetie after being welcomed into the family.

"A kitty showed up in our backyard... so we welcomed her to the family ❤️ meet Sweetie," Andre Agassi captioned the post on Instagram.

Agassi's post sparked a playful argument between his son Jaden and daughter Jaz as they jokingly argued over the rightful ownership of their new family pet.