{"id":4837,"date":"2013-11-09T17:48:25","date_gmt":"2013-11-09T22:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/?p=4837"},"modified":"2015-09-20T01:58:15","modified_gmt":"2015-09-20T05:58:15","slug":"andre-agassi-and-stefanie-graf-on-the-mysteries-of-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/blogs\/tennis-international-access\/andre-agassi-and-stefanie-graf-on-the-mysteries-of-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Andre Agassi and Stefanie Graf on the Mysteries of Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

“It is an illusion to think that setting goals and achieving them makes you happy.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

By Stefan Wagner.<\/h4>\n

Reprinted with permission from\u00a0The\u00a0Red Bulletin<\/a>.\u00a0\"redbull-com-logo<\/a><\/h4>\n

[divider]<\/p>\n

THE RED BULLETIN: Together you\u2019ve\u00a0won 30 Grand Slam tournaments,\u00a0earned fortunes, achieved worldwide\u00a0popularity and business success. \u00a0You raise millions for children\u2019s charities, look after young tennis\u00a0players, have a strong marriage\u00a0and are bringing up happy children. \u00a0Everything you touch seems to be\u00a0successful, but what was it like\u00a0after the end of your tennis careers? \u00a0Did you have to relearn what success is? A tennis tournament\u00a0begins on a Monday, the goal is\u00a0victory in the finals on Sunday: \u00a0that\u2019s relatively straightforward.<\/strong><\/p>\n

STEFANIE GRAF:<\/strong> And on the Monday\u00a0you get the new rankings, which tell\u00a0you where you stand. When I was still\u00a0playing tennis, a friend once said to\u00a0me, \u201cYou\u2019re so lucky, you can say that\u00a0you are the best in something.\u201d Today\u00a0I understand better than ever what he\u00a0meant. This phrase provides a certain\u00a0kind of security. A doctor or a therapist\u00a0never knows exactly how good he\u00a0really is, there\u2019s always the question\u00a0of whether or not he could be better.<\/p>\n

Was it easier for you playing sport\u00a0than it was afterwards?<\/strong><\/p>\n

SG:<\/strong>\u00a0No, there were different questions. \u00a0For example, whether the success that\u00a0you have achieved is actually what you\u00a0wanted to achieve. For a sports player\u00a0these questions go even deeper with age.<\/p>\n

ANDRE AGASSI:<\/strong> I have my own view\u00a0of success.<\/p>\n

Which is?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AA:<\/strong> I believe success is an illusion.<\/p>\n

But you won all four Grand Slams, over\u00a0$31 million in prize money and were\u00a0world number one. That is an illusion?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AA:<\/strong> Success in itself, as an end in itself,\u00a0is an illusion. Whether it\u2019s in sport or a\u00a0charitable foundation. Let me put it this\u00a0way: in the last year, Stefanie has helped 1,000 children with her Children for Tomorrow foundation \u2013 and even if it\u00a0were 2,000, there are still umpteen\u00a0thousand out there that she can\u2019t help. \u00a0Would you describe that as success?<\/p>\n

It would be crazy not to.<\/strong><\/p>\n

AA:<\/strong>\u00a0It wouldn\u2019t, because you describe\u00a0something as success that isn\u2019t actually\u00a0success. In tennis I learned that the\u00a0final isn\u2019t the goal, it can\u2019t be. That\u00a0would have meant, \u2018Shit, on Monday\u00a0it all starts again.\u2019<\/p>\n

Following your logic, Roger Federer isn\u2019t a successful tennis player.<\/strong><\/p>\n

AA:<\/strong>\u00a0He is, of course \u2013 but not because\u00a0he\u2019s won the most Grand Slam titles, but\u00a0because he\u2019s the all-time best, which he\u00a0is beyond a doubt, and yet he still tries\u00a0to develop. True excellence is the person\u00a0who understands that success won\u2019t come\u00a0sometime in the future, but rather here,\u00a0now. As soon as I understood that, a few\u00a0important things became clear: it\u2019s not\u00a0what I do that\u2019s important, it\u2019s how I do\u00a0it. I won\u2019t accept not giving my best. \u00a0I won\u2019t accept not wanting to be better. \u00a0Every day, I have to try to be better, no matter what the scoreboard says\u00a0or what the world rankings say, or\u00a0how much I\u2019ve raised in donations.<\/p>\n

But you can\u2019t separate \u2018success\u2019\u00a0from goals which are objectively\u00a0set and attained.<\/strong><\/p>\n

AA:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes you can. In fact you have to.\u00a0Try it! Set yourself a goal, work hard to\u00a0achieve it \u2013 will it make you happy? No. It\u2019s an illusion to think that setting goals\u00a0and achieving them makes you happy.<\/p>\n

How much money have you raised\u00a0in the last 15-20 years for your\u00a0charity projects?<\/strong><\/p>\n

SG:<\/strong>\u00a0I concentrate on the necessary\u00a0amount year by year. In total it\u2019s\u00a0millions, many millions.<\/p>\n

AA:<\/strong>\u00a0For me, over the years it\u2019s been\u00a0almost exactly $175 million.<\/p>\n

And do you know how many children\u00a0you\u2019ve helped?<\/strong><\/p>\n

SG:<\/strong>\u00a0In the past year it was 1,000\u00a0children, which was our highest\u00a0number for 15 years.<\/p>\n

AA:<\/strong>\u00a0Recently we had 1,300 children\u00a0per year in our academy.<\/p>\n

But you must regard that as success?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AA:<\/strong>\u00a0Success isn\u2019t what comes out,\u00a0but what you put in. Doing things\u00a0completely or not at all. Caring about\u00a0what you do. When it comes to charity: \u00a0invest yourself in your project. Find\u00a0out how you can make something\u00a0exceptional out of it. Does your fame\u00a0help? Do you have to collect donations yourself? Will you have to spend time\u00a0away from your children to give\u00a0interviews? Then you have to do it\u00a0with all your heart. When it comes to\u00a0tennis: find out what you\u2019re responsible\u00a0for, and concentrate on that. Work on\u00a0your fitness, on your stroke. Don\u2019t lie\u00a0to yourself and look for shortcuts. Success isn\u2019t a result. Success is a way\u00a0of living you choose for yourself.<\/p>\n

So success is subjective, not objective?<\/strong><\/p>\n

SG:<\/strong>\u00a0Absolutely.<\/p>\n

AA:<\/strong>\u00a0When you see success as a goal,\u00a0you\u2019ll never be successful. Because\u00a0it becomes like an addiction, you can\u00a0never have enough. Never.<\/p>\n

But how do you measure success?<\/strong><\/p>\n

SG:<\/strong>\u00a0By how you feel when you go to\u00a0bed at night.<\/p>\n

More and more tennis pros come to\u00a0you in Las Vegas to learn from you. \u00a0What can you teach these players,\u00a0some of whom are world class?<\/strong><\/p>\n

SG:<\/strong>\u00a0Actually sometimes it is about\u00a0technique. Not the basics, sure, but\u00a0there\u2019s often room for tips.<\/p>\n

You once said that you could teach\u00a0a young player in 10 minutes what you learnt in 10 years. What would\u00a0happen in those 10 minutes?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AA:<\/strong>\u00a0There are a few things that are\u00a0important to me, simple things. For\u00a0example, that there is only one important point you play in life, that is, the next\u00a0one. And that you should concentrate\u00a0on the things that you can influence \u2013you can control your attitude, your\u00a0work ethic, your concentration. If it\u2019s\u00a0windy or hot or something aches or\u00a0you\u2019re tired from the match yesterday,\u00a0then you have to accept it. I also try\u00a0to teach young players that tennis isn\u2019t\u00a0a sport where you\u2019ll get perfection. There\u2019s no 100 per cent tennis. There\u00a0is only the 100 per cent that is within\u00a0you on the day. It\u2019s all about bringing\u00a0out your own 100 per cent.<\/p>\n

SG:<\/strong>\u00a0I can\u2019t put it as succinctly as Andre,\u00a0I couldn\u2019t fit it all in 10 minutes. Also I\u00a0see my task a little differently: \u00a0I don\u2019t\u00a0give life lessons. I prefer listening to talking.<\/p>\n

\"Feature_AgassiGraf_EN-1<\/a><\/p>\n

In Open [Agassi\u2019s gripping and\u00a0brutally honest autobiography],\u00a0there are descriptions of depressive episodes, even after winning\u00a0Wimbledon and becoming number\u00a0one in world rankings. Was the\u00a0pain of losing really stronger than\u00a0the joy of triumph?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AA:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes, and that still applies.<\/p>\n

How do you deal with it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AA:<\/strong>\u00a0I\u2019ve learned to enjoy every moment. \u00a0A good day with a major final, that\u2019s\u00a0a good moment. But you have to learn\u00a0to value all the moments before that\u00a0led to it. The moment of victory can\u2019t be better than the moment of preparation. Learning that is pretty much a question\u00a0of survival for a tennis player.<\/p>\n

SG:<\/strong>\u00a0Andre\u2019s right. The feeling you have\u00a0after a victory fades so quickly. What we\u00a0call success has a terribly short half-life. \u00a0You would have been amazed if you\u2019d\u00a0seen Andre or me after a major victory. \u00a0There was some relief, maybe, but no\u00a0rejoicing or excitement. After a major\u00a0victory there\u2019s an emptiness, a routine,\u00a0\u2018Let\u2019s go home, we\u2019re done here.\u2019<\/p>\n

That sounds really sad.<\/strong><\/p>\n

AA:<\/strong>\u00a0Oh, it is. Learning to see things\u00a0differently is utterly essential. The day\u00a0in the weight room, on the training court\u2013 that has to count just as much as finals\u00a0day at Wimbledon. Not understanding that can be dangerous, because you make\u00a0bad mistakes. So you think, for instance, that money is important, but money\u00a0is nothing more than an expansion of\u00a0opportunities for spending your time. Money can\u2019t make you happy. When\u00a0you\u2019re happy with the opportunities that\u00a0come with less money, money completely\u00a0loses its significance. Money is a means\u00a0to an end, not an end in itself. Exactly\u00a0the same as what you\u2019ve been describing\u00a0as success: Success isn\u2019t an end in itself. Success doesn\u2019t mean winning.<\/p>\n

Not many world-famous sportspeople\u00a0would say that. How does an athlete\u00a0come to think like that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

SG:<\/strong>\u00a0Life is a good teacher, whether you\u2019re\u00a0a tennis player or not. You just have\u00a0to ask yourself one question and answer\u00a0it honestly: is the life I live the life that\u00a0I want to live?<\/p>\n

Did you already have that attitude\u00a0during your career?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AA:<\/strong>\u00a0At 27 I was number one in the world,\u00a0I had won Grand Slams, I had taken\u00a0drugs, I was divorced, I fell to number\u00a0141. I was unhappy. \u00a0And I had to make\u00a0a decision: do I keep playing tennis\u00a0or not? That was the moment when\u00a0I thought, even if I didn\u2019t choose tennis\u00a0for myself, because my father did that\u00a0for me, perhaps tennis will give me the\u00a0opportunity to get my life together. To do that I needed some meaning in my\u00a0life. The school I built was that meaning. And so tennis had a purpose, tennis allowed me to create and maintain something which is really important. Suddenly it was all completely simple: \u00a0tennis became a tool with which I could\u00a0do something I really wanted to do.<\/p>\n

You said that fear is a great motivator. \u00a0Given your life story, what you suffered\u00a0as a child through fear and pressure \u2013\u00a0did you really mean that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AA:<\/strong>\u00a0The fear of losing is an important\u00a0motivator. Fear of not making the best\u00a0of a situation.<\/p>\n

It seems as if you raise your children\u00a0without fear. With your charities you\u00a0try to make the lives of others easier.<\/strong><\/p>\n

AA:<\/strong>\u00a0But the fear of losing stays. That\u00a0doesn\u2019t go away. Ignoring the fear\u00a0doesn\u2019t help. I have a fear of failing my\u00a0children: that fear is good and right,\u00a0because it keeps me alert.<\/p>\n

Is there such a thing as a life\u00a0without fear?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AA:<\/strong>\u00a0We humans can love and hate, we\u00a0feel joy and fear, all these emotions are\u00a0within us. It would be wrong to try and\u00a0turn one of them off. Quite apart from\u00a0the fact that it would be impossible.<\/p>\n

Can you raise a child to be successful\u00a0in the conventional sense of the word?<\/strong><\/p>\n

SG:<\/strong>\u00a0No.<\/p>\n

AA:<\/strong>\u00a0But you can screw it up.<\/p>\n

SG:<\/strong>\u00a0That\u2019s something we\u2019re really afraid\u00a0of, that we screw up with our kids.<\/p>\n

AA:<\/strong>\u00a0You can teach someone to put the\u00a0scoreboard ahead of everything. But\u00a0that would be wrong. Children have\u00a0to learn to push themselves every day. \u00a0For themselves, not for anyone else,\u00a0certainly not for a scoreboard. When\u00a0you see the result on the scoreboard,\u00a0that\u2019s a bonus. But what\u2019s on the\u00a0scoreboard shouldn\u2019t be the meaning of\u00a0life. Life is bigger than any scoreboard.<\/p>\n

www.childrenfortomorrow.de<\/strong><\/p>\n

www.agassifoundation.org<\/strong><\/p>\n

Photography: Longines<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“It is an illusion to think that setting goals and achieving them makes you happy.” By Stefan Wagner. Reprinted with permission from\u00a0The\u00a0Red Bulletin.\u00a0 [divider] THE RED BULLETIN: Together you\u2019ve\u00a0won 30 Grand Slam tournaments,\u00a0earned fortunes, achieved worldwide\u00a0popularity and business success. \u00a0You raise millions for children\u2019s charities, look after young tennis\u00a0players, have a strong marriage\u00a0and are bringing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[338,102],"class_list":["post-4837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis-international-access","tag-andre-agassi","tag-steffi-graf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}