Why Giron believes Agassi has extended his career

Marcos Giron’s 6-4, 6-1 win Friday in the quarter-finals of the Infosys Hall of Fame Open appeared routine on the surface. But it did reveal something interesting.

In the front row was Andre Agassi, the former No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings. The all-time great even gave Giron a fist bump during the match.

“The more time I spend with him, I realise he’s just a pretty face,” Giron joked during his on-court interview. “No honestly, the guy’s unreal. He’s really the nicest guy I’ve ever met. His knowledge is incredible, so it’s really, really special. He’s somebody I looked up to growing up and it’s really amazing and he’s even better in person than you can imagine.”

Giron said their relationship “kind of came out of nowhere” in San Diego four years ago. A player named Hudson Rivera asked if Giron could hit, and Agassi was going to be there. They had never previously met.

“I absolutely was so pumped,” Giron told ATPTour.com. “Later that year, Sebi Korda was going to go out to Vegas [to work with Agassi], so they were looking for guys to hit with and I jumped at the opportunity. I spent a few days there. We talked some and it was an amazing experience.

“He gave me a few nuggets back then that were absolutely epic. And every now and again, every few months, it was just a few texts here and there, a call here and there.”

The depth of their relationship changed towards the end of 2022. Giron reached out to the 60-time tour-level champion and asked what Agassi thought of his game. He told the legend he wanted to make “next steps”. Agassi has since become a mentor to Giron.

“Since 2020 he's been nothing but incredibly friendly, he would take the time. I think I went to Vegas for three days and actually it really did change my life, his view on the game. I really believe he extended my career by years,” Giron said. “Having his guidance and his knowledge and his vision… You can see that he sees the game on a whole different level than other guys. And so it's amazing to kind of take something away from it.

“Since then we've been in communication. We text, we call. Not every day, but he always is super friendly. He's very insightful. Every now and again, I go out to Vegas, and it's really an amazing thing.”

The 30-year-old Giron reached his career-high PIF ATP Ranking of No. 44 earlier this year and is chasing his first ATP Tour title this week in Newport. He has earned wins in 2024 against stars including Andrey Rublev, Andy Murray and Matteo Berrettini.

Giron is playing the best tennis of his career and some of the improvements he has made are in part thanks to advice he has received from Agassi.

“When you're around him you realise the way he sees it, it's like a magnifying glass. He sees the entire canvas. And when something's happening, he can immediately pick out whether something makes sense, or it doesn't make sense. What's wrong here? What's wrong there? What's the global thing?” Giron said. “The biggest thing that he saw was that I was not looking for enough opportunity to be aggressive. That was the biggest thing. And then he also really helped with my backhand. To be honest, he helped my backhand a lot.”

A former college tennis star at UCLA, Giron has long moved well, had a top-tier forehand, served well for his size and competed really hard.

“But before I would say that I was winning a lot of matches by a lot of heart, a lot of hustle and a lot of other ways,” Giron said. “He really kind of helped me, I would say, take it to my opponents and actually be a threat.”

That made Giron’s victory on Friday even more special. Agassi does not travel with his countryman, but is in town with International Tennis Hall of Fame induction activities ongoing.

“It was amazing. Any time that you can be around him it's really an amazing thing. It's awesome. Also [his wife] Steffi [Graf], she's incredible. She's so kind. And of course, needless to say all her history. She's an incredible champion,” said second seed Giron, who will play fourth seed Christopher Eubanks in Saturday’s semi-finals. “For me, it's so amazing that they even give thought or effort into it. It's like, who am I? I play tennis and so it's just so nice that they are living super busy lives, they've got a lot going on — kids, they've got their foundation.

“They've got a lot going on and so for them to even be watching tennis, to watch my matches and give thoughts and feedback is just such a special thing.”