Legendary Tennis Coaches: Brad Gilbert - Mr. "Winning Ugly"
In the third part of our series about tennis's most legendary coaches: Brad Gilbert , the inventor of the "Winning Ugly".
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Mar 07, 2023, 07:13 am
Brad Gilbert 's coaching career began with a cozy dinner on the sidelines of the Miami Open in 1994. It wasn't that comfortable after all: Andre Agassi had invited, but when Gilbert trotted up there were problems: Gilbert didn't want to sit outside, despite the best Wetters (he's afraid of "Manny Mosquito"). Then the restaurant doesn't even have his favorite beer ("Bud Ice"), which is also the only one he drinks. So Gilbert leaves the arrangement again, personally gets a six-pack at the store around the corner. Then to give the Agassi manager a little tutoring lesson on how to order a chicken leg with mozzarella.
Andre Agassi does a great job of describing this scene in his autobiography, and after enjoying the five pages, one wonders if Gilbert is either genius or rather has a neat shot at the waffle. Or both.
After reciting his 15-minute monologue about Agassi's shortcomings as a tennis player, Agassi's case is clear: Gilbert must be the man to put his younger compatriot back on track. And Gilbert, who is actually still active himself, says yes straight away.
Agassi and Brad Gilbert: Six Grand Slam victories together
One of the most successful partnerships in professional tennis begins: Gilbert teaches Agassi that you don't always have to play perfectly to win . But "only" better than the current opponent.
Gilbert knows that himself only too well: he had brought it up to 4th place in the ATP ranking with mediocre technique but a razor-sharp mind and got the dubious compliment from a fuming John McEnroe that he (Gilbert) did it don't deserve to be level with him (McEnroe). Gilbert later used this episode in his bestseller "Winning Ugly", among other things.
He led Agassi to number 1 in the world for the first time, and the former tennis rock star won a total of six of his eight Grand Slam titles under "BG", as Gilbert is called by everyone.
Gilbert also makes Andy Roddick number 1
After Agassi, Gilbert takes on another compatriot, the young Andy Roddick, whom he first talks out of the orange visor in favor of a black baseball cap (looks more dangerous), shortly later the two Roddicks win their first and only major (US Open 2003). At the end of the year, Roddick becomes world No. 1. However, a later engagement with Andy Murray only lasted for a short time - allegedly Gilbert, who was already nicknamed "CNN" when he was active thanks to his unasked-for information, babbled too much. Gilbert has been doing this full-time for years, to the delight of most tennis fans: on ESPN as an expert or as an on-court questioner at the US Open.
Oh yes, Brad Gilbert also deserves a lot of credit: the marriage between Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf. Because Gilbert had hired himself out here as a matchmaker, and had arranged a first joint training session with Graf's coach at the time, Heinz Günthardt. The rest is tennis history.