Andre Agassi was one of tennis’s most dynamic players, although he retired in 2006 his game is still well worth analysing to help improve your own.
Go through past footage of Andre with your coach and study his technique, you will find this to your advantage. In this analysis we focus on some of his technical abilities and good habits that would be well worth instilling in your own game.
Technical
Andre was known for his powerful baseline game, he has a great forehand with a short compact backswing which typifies great groundstrokes.
Forehand
He hits his forehand relatively flat with a moderate semi-western grip. This grip allows him to hit flat as well with a lot of spin, Andre normally hits the ball with a lot of extension and less windshield-wiper type rotation. In general his technique is good on his forehand side and the short swing is a great start for a superb forehand return.
Backhand
Similar to his forehand, Agassi’s backhand technique consists of a very short and compact swing. This allows him to deal with fast balls and use the opposition speed against them.
The power is generated through his body and not through the arms, if you look closely you will see his front leg straighten out before hitting the ball. His short swing in one of the reasons he has such a great backhand.
Slice
Andre is not a player that overuses slice and rarely on his backhands. His whole game is one of power and he like to tire his opponents out. But on occasion he counters short balls with a sliced backhand, although he is not the best at this.
The reason for this is that he plays too much from left to right and puts too much sidespin on the ball. Added to his habit of chopping down on the ball which makes it float too much.
Volleys
Andre is not particularly known for his volleys, like a lot of players how do not come to the net often their volleying is average. Looking at footage, when at the net, it seems that Andre keeps more of a forehand volley type grip which makes it hard to hit backhand volleys.
Serve
Andre has a solid serving style, and during his career he tried to improve this area of his game. His motion is fluid with no stopping of the racket. He achieves a good racket-drop position and uses pronation of the forearm well.
Perhaps he could improve the separation angle between his hips and shoulders. Look at the game’s best servers and notice that they rarely turn away from the net, rotating their shoulders more than their hips.
Andre Agassi’s tactics were based on never backing off from the baseline and really taking as much time as possible away from his opponents. His fast fast balls forced opponents to react quickly and he never gave them a chance to relax.
