Andre Agassi was the star of the show this summer on TNT’s coverage at Roland-Garros.
While going viral for his analysis of Carlos Alcaraz’s new backhand stroke, Agassi drew attention like the best first-time sports broadcasters often do. Both fresh and comfortable, the retired American tennis star had everyone begging for more Agassi on their screens.
Because ESPN owns domestic rights to Wimbledon and the US Open, Agassi disappeared as quickly as he broke through. But in a new interview with Yahoo Sports, Agassi discussed his experience with TNT and what it might take for him to take another commentary role in the future.
Though the clip of his breakdown of Alcaraz’s swing made the rounds online, it is precisely the type of work Agassi said he does not want to do. Instead, Agassi prefers the one-off work he’s done with BBC (which does not air commercials) because it allows him to be more educational and informative.
“You could actually discuss tennis,” Agassi explained to Yahoo. “I’m not a fan of reducing what’s happening out there down to little insightful clips. It’s not how I process, it’s not how I see the game and it’s not a format that allows for much serious conversation around what’s actually going on.”
Agassi called the tournament-long gig with TNT in June an “experiment.”
From the sound of it, he still hasn’t made up his mind whether he liked it or not.
“I see tennis a certain way, and I wanted to see if there’s something interesting that I could contribute,” Agassi told Yahoo. “It was really a data experiment for me to see if there’s a way I can contribute to people’s experiences watching tennis.”
Match commentary is more free-flowing than studio work, but in the U.S., even matches are frequently interrupted by commercial breaks. Agassi would rarely have the space to go deep on a specific shot or swing during the course of a match.
Still, if the response to his work for TNT — and the continued momentum against John McEnroe taking up every major tournament commentary job — is any indication, the people want more Andre Agassi.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.