Brad Gilbert: Andre Agassi always wanted to go after strength of his rival first

Brad Gilbert reveals Andre Agassi loved to identify the strength of his opponent and then go after it and try to break it down.

Between 1994 and 2002, Gilbert worked as Agassi’s coach. 

When preparing the tactic for the match, most coaches try to identify the weakness of the opponent their player is about to play. 

“What I was always worried about as a player was what the person I’m playing against did the s—–iest. I wanted to find that, find their weakness. When I would explain (this) to Andre, when we were talking about tactics, he would always stop me and say, ‘You’re always telling me about the weakness first. Let’s start with the strength.’ Then he would always want to go after the strength first. He was like, ‘If I can break somebody’s strength down in the first game, I might just be able to chop them down completely’. In my brain, because I didn’t have his skill set, it didn’t really make sense. But thinking about it through his lens and watching how he was able to make it happen, it was genius,” Gilbert said on The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast, per Sportskeeda. 

Gilbert: Agassi had a photographic memory

Agassi enjoyed the most successful days of his career while working with Gilbert.

During their time together, Agassi and Gilbert enjoyed a very successful partnership as the American tennis icon won six Grand Slams during that period. 

But coaching Agassi was easy in the way that Agassi was able to perfectly remember the game plan and tactics. 

“Andre and me could talk sometimes three hours the night before the match about strategy, tactics. Andre had a photographic memory,” Gilbert said.

In the last few years of his career, Agassi worked with Darren Cahill. 

At the 2006 US Open, Agassi ended his iconic tennis career.