Andre Agassi sparked a debate within the tennis community when he claimed that Marat Safin would be the only player from his generation capable of competing with the current crop of players.
Agassi was in the commentary box for the Wimbledon semifinal between Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic on Friday. During the match, Agassi discussed the high level of tennis on display at the All-England Club and reflected on his era, claiming that Safin might be the only player capable of standing up to today’s stars.
“My generation doesn’t count. There’s one guy I can think of from my generation that, playing his best tennis, could compete with levels like this. One guy and one guy only: Marat Safin.”
Two-time Wimbledon doubles and one-time mixed doubles champion Paul McNamee questioned Agassi’s take and suggested that leaving out Pete Sampras from the discussion was unfair.
“A slight on Pete,” he wrote on X.
Agassi and Safin had a 3–3 head-to-head record. Safin beat Agassi in the first round of the 1998 French Open and, most notably, broke the American’s 26-match winning streak in Melbourne by defeating him in the semifinal of the 2004 Australian Open.
Agassi, meanwhile, developed one of tennis’s greatest rivalries with Pete Sampras. Sampras led their head-to-head 20-14.
Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras’ Historic Rivalry
Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras were two of the greatest tennis players of their generation, and both reached World No. 1 during the 1990s. While Sampras’ powerful serve landed him seven Wimbledon titles and 14 Slams overall, Agassi retired with eight Grand Slam titles built on an exceptional baseline game and one of the greatest returns of all time.
From the vault, the most cherished encounter between the two was in the quarterfinals of the 2001 US Open, where neither player managed to break the other’s serve and they played for a grueling three hours and 32 minutes, with each set going into a tiebreak. Sampras ultimately won the match in four sets.
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