06 July 2023 , 15:59
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Wimbledon champion Andre Agassi is said to have smashed the original trophy he received for winning at SW19 after reacting badly to watching his then-wife Brooke Shields filming a "Friends" scene.
Agassi, 52, enjoyed a colourful 20-plus year career, winning eight Grand Slams and being considered one of the greatest tennis players ever. The first of those eight titles came at Wimbledon in 1992, during what was only his third appearance at the All-England Club.
The American went on to win the Australian and US Open in the ensuing years while rising to No. 1 in the world rankings. Away from the court, Agassi dated singer Barbra Streisand and had a relationship with actress Brooke Shields during the 1990s.
She was featured in a 1996 "Friends" episode and portrayed Joey's stalker in the show. One scene sees her character lick the fingers of actor Matt LeBlanc.
On set during that day of filming was Agassi, watching from the sound stage. Then Shields' boyfriend, he felt she had "made him look a fool" and told her as much before storming out.
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He is then said to have driven home to Las Vegas from the Los Angeles set before taking his emotions out of the various tennis trophies kept at his house. Shields shared the story in her 2015 memoir "There Was A Little Girl: The Real Story Of Mother And Me."
It reads: "Upon arrival, he systematically smashed and destroyed every single trophy he had won, including Wimbledon and the US Open, never mind all the others.”
Agassi and Shields were married for two years between 1997 and 1999 (AFP via Getty Images)
Brooke Shields starred as Joey Tribbiani's (Matt LeBlanc) stalker ErikaShields adds that she had all the trophies replaced after the incident over the following three years. Two years after the incident, Agassi and Shields remained together and married in 1997.
They stayed together for two years between 1997 and 1999 before eventually divorcing. In the same memoir, Shields also opened up on their wedding day.
"I could not form a sentence," it reads. "I kept shaking my head as if I had duct tape across my mouth.
"It hit me all of a sudden - I knew I had made a mistake. I did not want to be married…I wanted to be a bride, but I shouldn't have been married yet."
In the years since, both have married again and for good. Two years after getting divorced, Agassi married fellow tennis player and 22-time Grand Slam winner Steffi Graf.
The couple has two children, a son (Jaden Gil) and a daughter (Jaz Elle) and the family is said to live in Agassi's hometown, Las Vegas. The American has remained around tennis, too, coaching Novak Djokovic for just under a year between 2017 and 2018.
After dating John Travolta, Liam Neeson and John F. Kennedy Jr. in the ensuing years, Shields remarried in 2001 to television writer Chris Henchy. They also have two children together, daughters Rowan and Grier.