"Boris Becker blows kisses at my box, at Brooke Shields" - When Andre Agassi was so angry with German that he lost focus momentarily during US Open SF

Andre Agassi once revealed why he lost his focus during his US Open semifinal against Boris Becker in 1995.

Agassi entered the tournament as the defending champion and top seed that year. He booked his place in the semifinals with wins over Bryan Shelton, Alex Corretja, Stefan Edberg, Jared Palmer and Petr Korda.

Here, he was up against fourth seed Boris Becker and wrote about the match in his autobiography "Open", released in 2009. Agassi mentioned that after he won the second set, the German started to "play with his mind" by blowing kisses towards his box at his then-girlfriend Brooke Shields.

The American said that he lost his focus for a while and by the time Becker won the third set; the crowd knew that the battle on-court was a personal one.

"I win the second set, 7–6. Now he starts to squirm, to look for an edge. He tries to play with my mind. He’s seen me lose my cool before, so he does what he thinks will make me lose my cool again, the most emasculating thing one tennis player can do to another: He blows kisses at my box. At Brooke. It works. I’m so angry that I momentarily lose focus," Andre Agassi wrote.

"In the third set, with me ahead, 4–2, Becker dives for a ball that he has no business reaching. He gets there, wins the point, then breaks me, then wins the set. The crowd is now wild. They seem to have figured it out, that this is personal, that these two guys don’t like each other, that we’re settling old scores," he added.

Agassi went on to win the match 7-6(4), 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-4 to reach the final, where he lost to Pete Sampras.

Andre Agassi and Boris Becker faced each other in five Grand Slam matches

Andre Agassi at the Netflix Slam

Andre Agassi and Boris Becker faced one another 14 times, with five of those matches coming at Grand Slams. While the two never faced in a Major final, they did have a lot of semifinal encounters.

The first Grand Slam meeting between Agassi and Becker came in the US Open semifinals in 1990, with the American coming back from a set down to win 6-7(10), 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 to reach the final, where he was beaten by Pete Sampras.

The two then locked horns in the semifinals of the 1991 French Open, with Agassi once again triumphing in four sets, this time winning 7-5, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. The American was beaten by compatriot Jim Courier in the final.

The closest encounter between the two came in the quarterfinals of the 1992 Wimbledon Championships, in which Andre Agassi won 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

The only time Boris Becker beat the American in a Grand Slam match was in the semifinals of the 1995 edition of the grasscourt Major, winning 2-6, 7-6(1), 6-4, 7-6(1). It was also the last Grand Slam encounter between Agassi and Becker.