-Jennifer Capriati!
-In the 90s,
professional tennis gets
a shot of adrenaline
from a new generation
of players.
Skill and style goes up
while the on-court etiquette
goes down.
-Oh, shut up.
-And endorsement deals
go through the roof.
-Cha-ching. Cha-ching.
-That helped grow the game
of tennis.
-But as their
celebrity increases...
-Ladies and gentlemen,
the hunkiest tennis player ever.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Andre Agassi! Andre!
-...and their emotional
well-being decreases...
-There's a lot of pressure.
-Jennifer Capriati's career
is on a downward spiral.
-And none of them
will say they're 100% stable.
-...the game will nearly cost
some players everything.
[ Shouting ]
-The stabbing of Monica
was one of the most
alarming episodes in tennis.
[ Theme music plays ]
♪
♪
♪
♪
-For decades, tennis was
a stodgy country club sport
where the color of the clothes
and the players
were the same --
White.
-You can say that tennis
started incredibly elitist
or exclusionary, depending on
what term you want to use.
And then, the '90s gave us
an expl*si*n
in so many different realms of
the sport all at the same time.
-[ Grunts ]
-Prodigies like Andre Agassi,
Jennifer Capriati,
Monica Seles,
and the Williams sisters
inject new life into the game,
attracting bigger audiences
than ever before.
They'll emerge as
the rock stars of tennis.
But just like rock stars,
some players will burn out
before they have a chance
to fade away.
-It's all different.
Everyone's
got a different story.
And the controversial stories,
the horror stories are really
about the prodigies.
My name is Pete Bodo,
and in the 1990s,
I was a tennis journalist
out there
traveling the world
and getting to know a lot
of professional tennis players.
[ Camera shutter clicks ]
-Well, tennis in the '80s
had its rivalries
and its bad boys.
-Bullshit!
That's a...load
of bull crap!
-Players reach new levels
of celebrity in the '90s
as TV begins focusing
as much on their personalities
as they do on their matches.
-In a sport like tennis,
one of the things
that is important
is the way that we see them.
We can see the temper tantrums
and hear them differently.
-I didn't say anything!
You son of a b*tch!
-My name is Courtney Cox.
I'm a former ESPN employee
and current scholar
looking at all things sport
as it relates
to tech and culture.
We can understand these athletes
as personalities differently.
And then, this building
of superstars,
the up and coming,
the Cinderellas.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-And who better
to be labeled as Cinderella
than a player with long,
flowing hair named Andre Agassi?
-Andre Agassi is probably
the most interesting
personality study in tennis.
-Born in Las Vegas,
Andre is forced into tennis
as a toddler
by his father, Mike,
a one-time Iranian
Olympic boxer turned
casino ambassador
for the Tropicana Hotel.
-Andre. How do you like tennis?
-Fine.
-Do you want to be a
tennis player when you get big?
-Yes.
-According to Andre,
his dad is so determined
for his 12-year-old son
to become a star player
that he administers amphetamines
to make Andre more focused
during junior matches.
-[Gulping]
-Very few of the really
successful players are people
who were really forced to play.
Andre Agassi is a pretty good
exception to that rule.
-Yeah. Andre Agassi.
He's a phenomenon, right?
Jeff Tarango here.
Top 100 in the world
for 13 straight years.
Can you call the supervisor,
please?
I have a big beef.
Enjoying my life in tennis,
after tennis,
during tennis,
tennis for a lifetime.
-Tarango recalls playing
against a pre-amphetamine Agassi
on the junior circuit,
including one match
that Agassi writes about
in his autobiography, "Open."
-Andre Agassi versus Tarango
in the 10 and unders
in San Diego question.
-Agassi accuses Tarango
of cheating
over whether a ball
was in or out.
-There was a USTA umpire
sitting right there
in the chair,
so, there's no way
he can say I cheated him
out of the match,
but his dad's in the RV
banging on it,
like, getting all upset
and everything,
and Andre's crying.
And so, he leaves and he thinks
I cheated him out of the match,
but it actually had nothing
to do with me.
-At 13, Andre's shipped off
to a tennis academy in Florida
run by Nick Bollettieri.
-Nick Bollettieri came into
tennis literally out of the sky.
He was a former paratrooper,
who ended up then becoming
kind of a tennis teacher,
and he had a string
of little camps and gigs
that he ultimately turned into
a coaching profession,
because he was
unrelentingly optimistic,
unrelentingly promotional,
including self-promotional,
which rubbed people
in the wrong way.
-Andre would not be
who he was today without Nick.
-To me, Nick Bollettieri was
the epitome of motivation.
-You want to hit.
Then, 1, 2, 3.
And then, go. Boom.
-When he walked onto the court,
you just felt like
you were a better tennis player.
You felt
like you could run faster.
You felt like you could do
everything better.
-Bollettieri will also coach
Grand Slam champion
Boris Becker,
as well as Jim Courier
and Monica Seles.
Every single player that went
to Bollettieri Tennis Academy
told me, "When he's not
on my court,
I don't play half as well."
Even me, who he'd never coached.
When he would come
to watch the match,
I would play
at a different level.
[ Rock music plays ]
-But when Agassi begins
working with Bollettieri,
he's in complete rebellion
against tennis,
sporting a Mohawk,
experimenting with booze,
and refusing to wear
tennis clothes to his matches.
Agassi pays the price
for his defiance
when he's forced
to clean the Academy's
communal toilets as punishment.
But according to Jeff Tarango,
Bollettieri has to go
one step further
to set the prodigy straight.
-Andre showed up to a tennis
tournament with Levi jeans on,
and they got into a bit
of a spatter.
And he said,
I need to discipline this kid.
And Nick locked him in a bus
for a whole weekend.
I guess, that was okay
in -- in the early '90s.
You're not going to get away
with it now.
But he had, like,
an epiphany in this bus.
And when Andre
came out of that bus,
he was a different human being.
He went from the rebel to be...
"I'm going to do
whatever you say.
I get it now."
I think, Nick Bollettieri
did it right with Andre.
I mean, he tortured the guy,
and he showed him that,
you know, you're not a talent
until you're actually a talent.
-In 1986,
Nike quickly signs
the tennis rebel
and starts changing
the culture of the sport
by featuring Andre
in some of their biggest ads.
-Andre Agassi was
their poster child,
literally challenging the style.
-That ought
to wake up the country club.
-...of the all-white
country club look
that was a part of tennis
for decades and decades,
with bright neon colors, whether
it's on apparel or on shoes.
I'm Tim Newcomb,
and I'm a freelance journalist
covering tennis gear
and business.
Any time that an athlete
wants to push the envelope,
Nike's there to do it.
-Just like they did
back in 1984
with Andre's precursor,
John McEnroe.
-[ Screams ]
-John McEnroe had
the Mac Attack shoe
that he wore in the mid '80s.
-Nike releases
the Mac Attack a year
before it launches
the Air Jordan.
But then, tennis players
have had shoes named after them
long before Michael Jordan
is even born.
-That's where it all began.
I think Jordan jumped
on our bandwagon as far as,
like, how to sell things,
and then, all of a sudden,
he's doing it
in basketball.
-Using Agassi,
Nike transforms their
business model,
selling not just sports gear,
but the players who wear it.
-It wasn't just
about tennis anymore.
It was like about Nike.
It was about Adidas.
It was about everybody building
a brand all of a sudden.
But the players were the brand.
-Everything's for sale
on a player's body.
So, I'm waiting for the day
when somebody gets a tattoo,
a sponsor tattoo on his forehead
to buy a certain brand
of ice cream or something.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Agassi's endorsement
deals help him attract admirers
who once had little interest
in professional tennis.
-Did you get what you came for?
-Definitely.
-What did you come for?
-A look of Agassi. [Laughs]
-We like his tennis,
but we also like to look at him.
[ Chuckles ]
-So, what's the attraction?
[ Indistinct conversations ]
-His hair.
I don't know. I like hair.
-What is the image of a rebel?
-But the marketing of Agassi
also sparks outrage
among the tennis media and
more traditional tennis fans.
-Image is everything.
-Andre Agassi had critics.
Is it style over substance?
And really in sports,
generally, the only way
that you're able to quiet
those critics is by winning.
[ Indistinct conversations ]
-And not just
any tennis tournament,
but one of the four
prestigious Grand Slam titles.
Until he wins one of those,
he remains an easy target.
-To me, that whole
"Image is Everything" campaign
was so misinterpreted
and so misused
and abused against Andre
that it really, really wasn't
anywhere near fair.
[ Racket chops ball ]
-He went against everything
that tennis represented,
the dyeing of the hair,
the earring,
like George Michael.
It made it interesting.
I kind of enjoyed it.
It was something different.
People hated it,
but I-I could appreciate it.
I'm Lori McNeil,
Former WTA number 8
in the world in singles
and number 3 in doubles.
I think, Agassi brought
that entertainment value
that people were looking for.
[ Cheering ]
He was kind of bucking
the tennis establishment.
Agassi really was the only one
that was really being
different in that way.
-But in the '90s,
Lori's focus isn't on Agassi.
It's on Steffi Graf, the player
to beat on the women's tour.
-The 1990s in women's tennis
was dominated by Steffi Graf.
She was the player
of the decade.
-Lori upset Steffi twice
during the decade.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Once in the first round
of Wimbledon.
-Unfortunately, I did --
I lost in the semis,
and I didn't win the whole
tournament in Wimbledon,
but it was a good run,
as they say.
-And Lori isn't
the only player gunning
for Graf's number 1 spot.
-And Monica Seles,
age 16, is one point from
becoming the youngest champion
in French Open history.
[ Cheering ]
-In 1990,
the teenager does just that.
-[ Grunts ]
[ Cheering ]
Winning her first
Grand Slam event.
Well, I just want
to thank my dad
who prepared me
so well for this tournament.
-On the women's side,
I would say it was Seles,
was the most impactful player
back then.
She was changing the game.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Monica Seles was, I think,
much more of a -- of a player
who threw darts, uh-huh, lasers,
just devilishly accurate.
-At the end of 1991,
after winning three of the
four Grand Slam women's titles.
Seles bumps Graf
from the number 1 spot.
[ Clock ticking ]
But there's one tennis fan
who's willing to bump Seles
off for good.
[ Shouting ]
-Her cry of pain and terror
cut through the stadium.
-Her attacker
was quickly subdued
by other spectators.
-[ Screams ]
-In the early '90s,
Agassi begins
his decade long competition
with fellow American
Pete Sampras.
-The Agassi-Sampras rivalry
was a major rivalry on court.
You had two Americans
going at it
with completely different
styles and games,
completely different
personalities.
-Sampras is cast
as the boy next door
opposite Agassi's
flamboyant rebel.
They confront each other in
the finals of the 1990 US Open.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Agassi ranked, fourth in the
world, is the favorite to win.
But number 12 Sampras
beats Agassi in straight sets.
-[ Grunts ]
[ Cheering ]
♪
Nike endorses both players and
plays up their different styles.
-Stop right here.
This'll wrinkle someone's
tennis spikes.
[ Horns honking, cars passing ]
-Putting them
in this commercial
to reach fans on both sides
of the net.
[ Rock music plays ]
-Nike was able to position them
both how they wanted to,
to sell differing lines and
styles of footwear and apparel.
-And she'll get a second serve.
-Sponsors like Nike
also compete
over a young prodigy
who's moving up
in the women's ranks
and seems destined
to become number 1.
-Return and Jennifer Capriati.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-I believe someday she will be
the number 1 player
in the world.
-Jennifer Capriati was perhaps
the most gifted ball striker
of all time.
[ Camera shutter clicks ]
-Like Agassi,
it's Capriati father
who pushes her into tennis
with his dreams of her
becoming a world class player.
And it works.
-At the age of 11 and 12,
was just beating up on people.
She won big titles
at a young age.
I think, she was only 13
when she won her
first Virginia Slims title.
She became, you know,
a kind of a -- a household name
overnight.
-Just 6 months
after turning pro,
Jennifer Capriati is
now the 13th ranked
women's tennis player,
and America's sweetheart.
[ Cheering,
camera shutter clicks ]
-Even before her professional
debut in March of 1990,
Capriati's father
has the 13 year old
signed to $5.5 million in
sponsorship deals with brands,
like, Diadora, Prince rackets,
and Oil of Olay,
making her the family's
main breadwinner.
-Capriati was the face of brands
as an incredibly young teenager.
-She even gets a Sega Genesis
video game named after her,
all while reassuring the press
she's enjoying
every minute of it.
-Are you having fun?
-Yeah, I'm having a lot of fun.
It was great.
God, worth it all.
[ Racket chops ball,
camera shutter clicking ]
-But the huge commercial
success of young male
and female tennis prodigies,
like Agassi and Capriati
masked the reality that not
all successful young players
are treated equally.
When Zina Garrison becomes
number 4 in the world,
one of her biggest challenges
is securing an endorsement deal,
something she still
doesn't have in 1990,
when she becomes
the first black woman
to reach the Wimbledon finals
in 32 years.
-Some agents were saying
she wasn't marketable.
I don't know
how you're not marketable.
Everybody's marketable, I think.
It was kind of
unbelievable, but...
But it happened.
-On her way to that final
against Martina Navratilova.
Garrison has already beaten
Monica Seles and Steffi Graf,
who both have multi-million
dollar sponsorships
covering all their
training and travel expenses.
-And the night
before you play Martina,
you're thinking of the fact
that you're the one
that doesn't have
an endorsement.
But there's this
demoralizing feeling
you have to experience
when you're dominant.
You're at the top of your game.
You've done everything
you can do,
and they still say that's
not enough, because you're you.
-It will take
until the end of the decade
for that to change
with the arrival
of Venus and Serena Williams.
[ Indistinct conversations ]
Until then,
the marketing stays focused
on young white tennis players,
helping boost their fame
while attracting the paparazzi.
[ Camera shutters clicking ]
Who in the '90s are becoming
increasingly aggressive
in their coverage
of all celebrities,
including their personal lives.
[ Camera shutters clicking ]
German star Steffi Graf
is hounded after her father
is accused of having an
illegitimate baby with a model.
As for the player once labeled
tennis's "Long-haired rebel."
Agassi is now dealing
with allegations he's actually
a "No-haired rebel,"
which he denies.
-Well, you talked about
the London tabloids being,
at times, vicious.
Did they have you, like,
rooming with an alien?
How bad did it get over there?
-No, they -- they --
they just --
they were funny, you know,
I mean, the whole week started,
the whole week started with them
saying I wear my white cap,
because I had lost all my hair.
-30 years ago,
it would've been, "Oh, yeah.
He's a tennis player.
He's a movie star."
Now, it's a little like,
we're all stars, you know?
We're both stars.
You know, I'm a star in tennis.
You're a star in Hollywood.
Let's get together.
-And that's just what Agassi
and Barbra Streisand do in 1992.
[ Camera shutter clicks ]
Their May-December romance
with Babs being 28 years
his senior,
makes headlines.
[ Cheering ]
But it also overshadows
Andre finally winning
his first Grand Slam title
at Wimbledon.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Beyond court behavior
of some players
also draws negative attention
from both the press
and spectators.
-[ Grunts ]
-For Monica Seles,
it's her trademark grunting
with every ball she hits.
-[ Grunting ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
-She's not doing it on purpose.
But, uh, she can stop it
on purpose, you know?
I've been practicing
next to her,
and she does not make any noises
when she's practicing.
[ Grunting ]
-In some parts of the match,
I was successful.
In some parts, I was not.
But I do hope that next year
when I come back here,
I won't be grunting.
[ Knife scraping,
ominous music plays ]
♪
-But one unhinged spectator
becomes fixated on Seles
after she replaces Steffi Graf
as the number 1 player
in the world.
♪
And on April 30th, 1993,
his obsession will become
global news
and forever change the sport.
-What's considered
the darkest day in tennis...
[ Shouting ]
-...is when Monica Seles
was stabbed
during a match in Hamburg.
[ Crowd shouting ]
-She stood frozen for a moment,
feeling her back,
not believing what had happened.
Then, medical personnel
rushed to help her.
-A deranged fan, uh, Gunter
Parche, a-a fan of Steffi Graf,
jumped out of the stands,
ran up on a changeover
when --
when Monica was sitting down
and stabbed her in the back
with a serrated knife.
-Her opponent, Magdalena
Maleeva, watched helplessly.
Finally, officials wheeled
Ms. Seles off to the hospital.
Doctors are keeping her
there overnight for observation.
-When Monica Seles was
stabbed, it was unbelievable.
I think, everybody
felt vulnerable.
Everybody realized that,
"Oh, my God,
this could happen to any of us."
-Despite making
a complete physical recovery,
Seles sinks into depression
and develops an eating disorder
that takes her off the circuit
for 2 years,
costing her the number 1 spot.
[ Indistinct conversations ]
And her attacker.
He receives a suspended sentence
and never spends a day
in prison.
-It was one of the
most alarming and unpleasant
and -- and kind of
sad episodes in tennis,
because it really had
a career-transforming effect
on Monica Seles, and therefore,
on everybody else,
because, of course, everybody
else is the people she played.
So, suddenly a lot of people
winning tournaments
or getting far in tournaments,
because Monica Seles was
not on board.
[ Camera shutter clicks ]
-The as*ault on Monica Seles
happens just 10 days after
an equally disturbing attack
on another female
tennis prodigy.
-While the Seles incident
created shock waves
around the world,
it wasn't really
the first incident of violence
against women, just a week
before Seles was stabbed,
you had Jennifer Rhodes,
a young girl,
promising young tennis player,
you know, not on a pro tour yet,
but, you know, I believe,
she was a college player,
and she had --
she had a promising career.
-Jennifer had just finished
taking private lessons
at an elite tennis academy
in New York City
when her coach becomes
sexually obsessed with her.
-A fellow named Gary Wilensky,
who essentially people remember,
and I frankly remember him,
because I used to play
at those tennis courts.
He'd be going around
on his roller skates,
and he -- he was coaching
Jennifer Rhodes,
and, um, his intention was
to steer her off to a cabin
he had somewhere
upstate New York
that was filled with all kinds
of sex toys and bondage
implements and things like that.
[ Taser buzzing ]
Yeah.
So, he had planned presumably
to lock her up in that cabin
and do whatever
he was gonna do.
-And this pornographic video
found inside
may have been the blueprint
for the obsessed man's desire.
Its title bears the name
of his victim --
Jennifer.
-Heroically, Jennifer manages
to call for help,
forcing her former coach
to flee the scene.
-And he ended up driving
off in a rental car
and putting a b*llet
through his head.
[ g*nsh*t ]
-The attempted abduction
of Jennifer Rhodes
and the stabbing of Monica Seles
may seem like
two unrelated events
chronicled by the news media,
but Pete Bodo thinks they both
point to an unsettling,
'90s reality.
-What it did underscore
was that, you know,
in some ways, it -- it was open
season on women tennis players
in that era.
[ Insects chirping ]
Women athletes were much more
easily manipulated at that time,
and they were much more
at the mercy of,
A, either parents,
B, coaches,
there were any number of stories
and still are, unfortunately,
about inappropriate
relationships
between coaches and students.
-The mistreatment
of female tennis players
in the '90s remains one of
tennis's dirty little secrets,
one that still plagues
women's tennis to this day.
But one story
that doesn't go unnoticed
is the downward spiral
of America's sweetheart --
Jennifer Capriati.
-Well, Jennifer Capriati's
arrest on drug charges
has brought a dark side
of her life to light.
The former tennis champ
was arrested yesterday
at a Coral Gables motel.
-She couldn't stop
being Jennifer Capriati.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-At the 1992 Olympics
in Barcelona,
Jennifer Capriati upset
Steffi Graf in the finals
to win gold for the US.
[ Cheering ]
-There it is.
Jennifer Capriati!
-Still only 15.
She's already called one
of the hardest working players
on the circuit.
-She was, uh,
the epitome of someone
who could push herself farther
than anybody else
could push herself.
[ Cheers and applause ]
She didn't have an off switch.
She couldn't stop.
-She had parental pressure.
She had contractual pressure.
If she wanted to, say,
take a month off,
there was somebody to say,
"Look, you can't do that.
You're committed to play here,
there, and everywhere.
And you've also got your
sponsor deal."
-But like Andre Agassi
early in his career,
Capriati has yet
to win a Grand Slam title
despite being ranked
So, when she's knocked
out of the first round
at the 1993 US Open by
the media starts questioning
whether she has what
it takes to be a true champion.
-While Jennifer rolls
over lower-ranked players,
she has yet to beat any
of the top 5 women.
-You're 14, 15,
you're facing media.
I mean, adults can't
sometimes handle the media.
-And Jennifer came here
with a teenager's mix of awe
and utter confidence.
-She was getting to the semis,
but I wanted to know
when she was going to win.
And I guess, in some way, she
internalized that as pressure.
And maybe everyone around her
not having the patience,
and everyone wanted it so soon.
So, eventually,
she just took a break.
She stopped playing.
-What does it mean
to play here at Wimbledon?
-It's always been
in my dream to play here
-And then, unfortunately,
you know, things began
to catch up with her.
She started
to get into her teenage years,
and suddenly,
she seemed to really get
a little bit rebellious.
-In May of 1994,
a break from tennis,
Capriati is arrested
for drug possession
at a motel
just outside of Miami.
-One-time tennis prodigy
Jennifer Capriati's career
is on a downward spiral.
First, she was arrested
on drug charges.
Now, she's lost
a key endorsement
and has reportedly entered
a drug treatment clinic.
-Despite the drug
being marijuana,
the media breathlessly
reports on Capriati's downfall.
[ Eerie music plays ]
-At the age of 13,
Jennifer Capriati exploded
onto the world stage
with her booming smile
and charming ground strokes.
But somewhere,
something went wrong.
-And start looking for someone
to blame for what they see
as a good girl gone bad.
-And there is plenty
of finger pointing over
whether she was forced
into big-time tennis
too early by her father.
-As, uh, any father
and, uh, any mother,
they teach their children
the best -- the best
that they -- they can be.
-I did not see anything
a*usive other than just yelling
and screaming,
and like, "Move your derriere,"
and all that stuff.
She never told me
about any kind of abuse,
but she was pushed harder
than almost any human being
could be pushed.
That's for sure.
[ Camera shutter clicks ]
-Capriati becomes
a case study in burnout...
and her story will provide
the backdrop for judging
how all tennis dads treat
their aspiring children.
-What do you feel inside
when you're on the court?
-I feel good.
-I feel good.
-But Richard Williams
is teaching
his daughters, Venus and Serena,
a different approach to tennis,
far from any
private country club courts.
-Nice.
-As Venus and Serena
are coming up in the '90s,
all the media coverage
around them
starts by talking about them
being from Compton.
[ Sirens wailing,
alarms sounding ]
-For most of America
in the '90s,
Compton conjures images
of the L.A. Riots
and movies like
"Boyz N The Hood."
♪
-We have Venus and Serena
coming up in this space
that there aren't a lot of
resources or public support...
[ Camera shutter clicks ]
...for them, and despite that,
their father, their family
support them in a way
that get them to a point
where they can compete
on a national
and international scale.
[ Rock music plays ]
-Their background being
so anti-tennis establishment
and having come from
the Compton public courts
into two of the best
tennis players to ever live,
is a story that resonates
with people outside of tennis.
-Initially coached by their dad,
the Williams sisters
steamroll the junior circuit.
-Serena is number 1
in the under 10.
And then, we have Venus, who
hadn't even lost a single match.
And she is number 1,
um, as an 11 year old.
-Richard does enroll them
in a Florida tennis academy,
but then forbids them
from continuing
on the junior circuit.
-He pulls them out and says,
"I want them
to have an education."
Before they go professional,
he says,
"I don't want you to think
that sports are your way out."
-Richard holds them back
from turning pro
until he thinks they're mentally
ready to handle the pressure.
For Venus, the older sister,
that moment comes
in October of 1994
when she debuts her talent
at the Bank of the West Classic.
-Returning to her
native California tonight
to play her first ever
professional match --
Venus Williams.
[ Applause ]
-The first time
I met Venus and Serena,
they were 10 and 12 years old.
I hit with Venus and Serena.
You knew they were
something special.
You can see it young.
They have that
from the beginning.
-As for the media,
they seem to fear
that Venus and Serena
will each become
the next Jennifer Capriati.
And in interviews,
they start fishing
for signs of future distress.
-Did you think
you could beat her?
-I know I can beat her.
-You know you can beat her.
Very confident.
-But when journalist
John McKenzie...
-I'm very confident.
-You say it so easily.
-...presses young Venus
for being confident.
-Why?-
Her father, Richard
comes to her defense.
-Because I believe it.
-Alright, cut right there
if you don't mind.
And let me tell you why.
What she said...
She said it with so much
confidence the first time.
But you keep going on and on...
-Listen, we can't
keep interrupting.
I mean, if you want --
-You got to understand
that you're dealing with an
image of a 14-year-old child.
-There's this interesting way
that he's seen as a tyrant.
He's interrupting.
He's unprofessional.
He doesn't understand
the decorum.
-She done answered it
with a lot of confidence.
Leave that alone!
-His idea of protecting
his daughter in that moment
is what I remember the most.
-Those protective instincts
of Richard Williams is something
Andre may have missed
out on as a child.
But now 25,
Agassi appears to be
self-possessed
and handling
the media spotlight just fine.
[ Camera shutter clicks,
rock music plays ]
He's now dating
actress Brooke Shields,
and after winning his
second Grand Slam title
at the 1994 US open,
Agassi is treated the same
as any show business celebrity.
-Ladies and gentlemen,
please welcome back
the hunkiest tennis player ever.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Andre Agassi! Andre!
[ Rock music plays ]
-But under the media spotlight,
it's harder to hide
from those tabloid rumors
that he's losing his hair,
especially, when they're true.
[ Hip-hop music plays ]
His signature mane of
fleecy hair is partly a weave.
Agassi's been going bald
since he was a teenager,
and it's Brooke Shields
who finally convinces him
to embrace it...
by buzzing off what he has left.
♪
[ Cheers and applause,
camera shutters clicking ]
To the public, Agassi
is living a sparkling life.
Going into 1995...
he's got a glossy girlfriend,
a polished scalp,
and a shiny number 2
in the world tennis rankings.
But in the shadows,
Andre is hiding a secret
much darker
than a synthetic hairpiece.
And it's about to come to light.
-I think he was always trying
to stay ahead of the game
and ahead of the curve.
I think, he just went too far.
-[ Snorting ]
-It looks like this is all
coming back to her.
-In 1995,
Monica Seles makes
a courageous return to tennis,
winning the Canadian Open.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Game, set, match, Seles.
-Months later,
she proves it's no fluke
by capturing her fourth
Australian Open.
♪
Jeff Tarango is also making
headlines during this time,
but for a
less celebratory reason.
-Uh, 1995 at Wimbledon,
there was an interesting
incident involving Jeff Tarango.
-Tennis player Jeff Tarango
stormed off the court
at Wimbledon.
The American is upset
with what he calls
corrupt officiating.
-That's it!
-Yesterday, Tarango became,
in his fouling,
the first player in the Open era
to default himself
from a Grand Slam,
storming off the court
after accusing the chair umpire
of being corrupt.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-1995, I'm playing
against Steffi Graf's boyfriend.
You know, Alexander Mronz's
in the third round.
♪
I keep acing the guy out wide,
and they keep calling it out.
Can you call the supervisor,
please?
I have a big beef.
-When Jeff argues the call
with umpire Bruno Rebeuh,
the crowd at Wimbledon
turns against him.
[ Shouting ]
-They were screaming so loud
that I literally
couldn't hit the serve.
So, I turned around to them
and I said...
Oh, shut up!
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Code violation, audible
obscenity warning, Mr. Tom.
-And he got a code violation
for that.
-I'm not -- No.
I'm not playing! No way!
-But then Jeff takes it
one step further.
-You are the most
corrupt official in the game,
and you can't do that!
And I'm just like, "You know
you're the most corrupt official
on the planet."
-For calling him corrupt,
the umpire deducts one game
from Jeff's score.
-This is very serious.
-And he doesn't take it well.
-Code violation,
verbal abuse, point --
-No way! That's it!
[ Cheers and applause ]
-[ Speaks indistinctly ]
-I can do two things,
I can grab him by his tie
and smash him down
onto the net post.
Or I could just take
the better side of life
and just walk off the court
right now.
-As he exits, his wife,
who had been watching
from the stands,
decides it's time for her to
come to her husband's defense.
-Meanwhile, Madam Tarango,
lovely French woman, you know,
gets up out
of her place court side,
walks over, and Bo comes
down from the chair.
She just gives him a --
whacks him across
the face with a,
you know, classic,
like, French slap.
[ Cheers and applause,
crowd jeering ]
♪
-The slap at Wimbledon.
I heard that it happened,
and I know that my wife
said it happened.
And the chair umpire, I don't
think he ever said it happened.
[ Crowd jeering ]
It's a gray area to me,
so, I'm not going to go on
the record about the slap.
-For his behavior at Wimbledon,
Tarango gets fined $20,000
by the Tennis Association.
-Cha-ching. Cha-ching.
-2 years later, in 1997,
Andre Agassi will face
significantly less repercussions
when a routine drug
test comes back positive
for a drug not normally ingested
by professional athletes.
Crystal meth.
Agassi denies knowingly
taking the drug
and blames his assistant
for spiking his energy drink
until a decade later,
when he finally tells
the truth in his memoir.
-Going through Agassi's book,
then, you come to the point
where he actually experiments
with meth
while he's basically a player.
♪
-I think, in that time,
when he says he was on meth,
I think, he was always trying
to stay ahead of the game
and ahead of the curve.
I think, he just went too far.
But not everyone thinks
he was taking crystal meth
as a performance enhancer.
-[ Snorting ]
-Andre's use of meth,
in a sense,
it's not shocking
or surprising,
because, look,
he was obviously, you know,
in rebellion against the sport
for much of the time.
-[ Snorting continues ]
♪
When do people turn to drugs?
Well, when they're
confused or unhappy
or depressed, whatever.
I think, that probably had
a fair amount
to do with Andre.
-These hands.
These miracle, magical,
life-giving hands.
-The drug seemed
to make him erratic.
-Maybe even lick one.
[ Laughter ]
-On the set
of the sitcom, "Friends,"
where his girlfriend Brooke
Shields is guest starring...
-Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
-He gets irate watching a scene
that he thinks is too sexual.
[ Laughter continues ]
♪
He storms off and drives back to
his home in Las Vegas alone...
♪
...where he destroys most
of his tennis trophies.
♪
Despite incidents like this,
Andre hides his addiction
from Brooke,
and they tie the knot in a small
ceremony in April of '97.
-I don't think it's like
he was running down the street
looking for meth, because,
you know, he had an issue.
I think, he was, like,
trying to make himself
a better tennis player.
And it wasn't happening.
And -- And he was looking
for something.
He made a mistake.
He made a few mistakes.
♪
-If he took the drug
to improve his game,
it clearly doesn't work.
[ Camera shutter clicks ]
Within a year,
Agassi falls from the top 5
to 141st in the world rankings.
♪
Like the struggles
of Capriati and Seles,
Agassi's downward spiral
highlights the pressures
facing star players
in a decade
when little attention
is being paid to mental health.
-I think, in the '90s,
mental health,
it was kind of like a taboo
to really say
that you were having
any kind of problems.
Well, people just
didn't talk about it,
because they, maybe
thought it was, uh,
a sign of weakness.
[ Camera shutter clicks ]
-I think, sports psychology
started becoming big
in the '90s,
but nobody was
thinking about it
as mental health,
they were thinking about it as,
"How can I be better
than that other person?"
-While both Agassi
and Capriati's troubles
take them down,
neither is taken out.
They're both about
to shock the world of tennis
with what they do next.
-And we used to say,
"It's not how you fall.
It's how you get back up."
-As the '90s wind down,
Andre Agassi surprises everyone
in his sport
by doing the unexpected.
He makes a comeback.
-I think, Andre showed
a lot of character
in how he rebounded
from this very confusing,
I think, period in his life.
-I think it made
an impact on a lot of people,
and you realize we're
all vulnerable.
Like if Andre is
the highest paid player
and he's having
those kind of issues,
then it's okay
for us to have some issues.
-Over 12 months, Agassi battles
his way from 141st in the world
back into the top 10.
By summer of 1999,
his two-year marriage
to Brooke Shields is over,
but off the drugs
and on a new fitness routine,
Agassi finishes the year
as the number one men's
professional tennis player
in the world.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-I think he kind of came
to terms with tennis,
and he came to value
and appreciate
his profession
and his talent.
-At the dawn
of Agassi's rebirth,
Steffi Graf, just 30 years old,
announces her retirement
mere months after winning
her 22nd Grand Slam title
at the French Open.
She and Agassi
start dating that year.
-When she retires,
that leaves a void.
That leaves an opening.
-One Jennifer Capriati is
surprisingly ready to fill.
In 2001, 11 years after
her promising debut,
she enters the Australian Open
as the 12th seed,
beats Monica Seles
to enter the semi-finals,
and then defeats Martina Hingis
to win her first
Grand Slam tournament.
By the end of the year,
Capriati is the number one
female player in the world.
-She played a perfect match.
-She'd won the Australian Open.
That was a
very heartwarming story.
And then, of course, you had
the biggest story
of all, really,
was the Williams sisters'
rapid development
and emergence
as Grand Slam champions.
-To see where we come from,
out of the worst ghetto,
to be here at the finest club
in the world.
-Starting in 1999,
the Williams sisters
began dominating
the sport's top events.
-It will quickly become
Serena versus Venus
in most of these
major tournaments.
Those were the two
that were really
just taking over
the sport of tennis.
-Unlike Zina Garrison
back in 1990,
the Williams sisters have
no trouble landing sponsors,
including Venus's five-year,
$40 million endorsement
deal with Reebok,
the biggest for
any female athlete in history.
-When Venus Williams signed
her deal with Reebok,
it was huge in the landscape
of female sports.
Still to this day,
the highest-paid female athletes
in terms of endorsements
are tennis players.
-The Williams sisters profoundly
changed the demographic
of who watches and plays tennis,
attracting people of color
to a sport
historically dominated
by affluent white people.
-I feel so happy.
It's like a dream come true
because I've been waiting
for this moment
for a very long time.
-People that never
would have watched tennis
started watching tennis,
coming to tennis tournaments.
[ Announcer speaks
indistinctly ]
They reached an audience
that tennis hadn't reached.
-Televised tennis now reaches
more than a billion people
globally,
and at the 2018 U.S. Open,
Serena's final match
against Naomi Osaka
drew in 50% more television
viewers than the men's final
the following day.
-You can't overestimate how
big an impact Venus and Serena
and their story
had on changing things.
-Much of the diversity of talent
on the tennis circuit today
can be directly attributed
to the Williams sisters.
But there's also
the trailblazers of the '90s --
people like Zina Garrison,
Capriati,
Seles,
and Agassi, who all left
their marks on the game.
-It doesn't just begin
with Venus and Serena.
We're all standing
on the shoulders of other people
that have come before us.
-I think that the stars
of the past,
they have made a space to carve
out for the next generation.
And so it's
not just Venus and Serena.
Now we can have 5 of them,
hopefully 5, 15 of them.
-Any time that you have
a player
that can push back
against an establishment,
then that creates more room
for somebody to come in
behind them.
-That's what's great
about tennis,
that every era is going to show
something better.
The '90s made tennis happen
for the future.
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