“Going to make John McEnroe relive his defeat to me all over again” – Andre Agassi ahead of Pickleball Slam 2

Andre Agassi's mind games are on ahead of the Pickle Ball Slam 2 as he recently reminded John McEnroe of the inaugural edition of the tournament. Pickleball Slam 2 will begin on Feb. 4, 2024, with the main event being a mixed-double clash between the pairs of Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, and John McEnroe and Maria Sharapova.

The event will be held in Hollywood, Florida, at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. In the first edition of the Slam, Agassi joined forces with former US Open champion Andy Roddick to thrash McEnroe and his teammate Michael Chang.

Agassi and McEnroe first took on each other in a singles match, which the latter won. However, Roddick leveled the score by defeating the 1989 French Open champion, Chang.

The duo eventually prevailed by downing McEnroe and Chang in the deciding doubles battle and took home the $1M prize money.

Agassi aims for another triumph in the event's second edition as he tried to intimidate McEnroe with his words in a recent promotional video.

"On February 4th, Groundhog Day, it's going to come early this year because I’m going to make John [McEnroe] relive his defeat to me all over again," he said.

Notably, Agassi and McEnroe played against each other on the tennis court four times between 1986 and 1992, sharing two wins each.

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Andre Agassi: "John McEnroe is one of those guys who you don't have to overthink your strategy because he kinda defeats himself"

Andre Agassi

In another promotional video for Pickleball Slam 2, Andre Agassi showed faith in his primary strategy of letting John McEnroe doom himself. He also suggested that if things don't go as per the first plan, he would take care of the player himself:

“Mac is one of those guys who you don't have to overthink your strategy because he kinda defeats himself, I'm kinda counting on that as game plan A. But game plan B is me being so much better,” the eight-time Grand Slam champion said.

22-time Grand Slam winner Steffi Graf, who was by Agassi's side in the video, disagreed with his second game plan and implied that she would be the difference maker.

Agassi consented and boasted of their 30 Grand Slam titles combined against McEnroe's seven. At the same time, he was circumspect about five-time Major winner Maria Sharapova's presence.

"We have 30 Grand Slams and Mac has seven. I'm worried about Maria though because if she gets into Pickleball I can see her being a factor,” Andre Agassi added.