"I don't know why everybody's so offended at the word" - When Andre Agassi sparked controversy with comment on fellow American ATP player

Andre Agassi once defended himself after making a controversial comment about fellow American player Vincent Spadea. Agassi made the remark after his shock loss to Spadea in the second round of the 1998 Cincinnati Open.

Earlier that year, Agassi had claimed a 6-4, 7-5 win over Spadea in the third round of the Miami Open and referred to his compatriot as a "classic journeyman," which is used to refer to players that are competent but not exceptional. As such, the term came back to haunt Agassi after he suffered a 6-2, 0-6, 7-6(2) loss to Spadea in Cincinnati.

During his post-match press conference, Andre Agassi was asked whether his initial remark had been 'misrepresented.' However, the American did not budge, asserting that calling Vincent Spadea a journeyman wasn't an opinion but a fact, given that he hadn't cracked the top 50 in the rankings despite being on tour for six years.

"So Vince's been on the Tour for six years and never broke the Top 50. I'm not giving my opinion when I call him a journeyman. Jones Bjorkman was a journeyman before he broke through. Greg Rusedski was a journeyman. They played five, six years on the Tour and they weren't doing -- weren't having great results. And then all of a sudden it's possible to change," Andre Agassi said.

Agassi also emphasized that being called a journeyman was not an insult, pointing out that it was still impressive to only be behind 50 other players in the rankings.

"But "journeyman" is not an insult. I don't know why everybody's so offended at the word "journeyman". There's a lot of the guys that would like to be considered journeyman. There's 50 people in the world better than you. That's still pretty good," he said.

"But you can't say that being a journeyman is an opinion. It's a matter of fact. There's no opinion about it. It's not meant to speak for his potential. It's meant to speak for his results," he added.

Despite his stunning win over Andre Agassi, Vincent Spadea failed to repeat his heroics against Pete Sampras, as the top seed claimed a 6-3, 6-2 victory in their fourth-round clash at the Cincinnati Open.

Andre Agassi after Cincinnati Open loss: "Vincent Spadea played like I expected him to, it's no surprise to me"

Andre Agassi - Source: Getty

Despite his frank analysis of Vincent Spadea's level after their Cincinnati Open clash, Andre Agassi gave his compatriot props for showing a lot of improvement since their last meeting. He also argued that Spadea was often "underestimated" by fans and asserted that he wasn't surprised by his fellow American's stellar performance.

"He's playing better. He's hitting his shots, I think, very decisively. I think the best part of his game is when it is in his pocket, he hits it very effectively," Agassi said. "But then he played like I expected him to. It's no surprise to me. A lot of people underestimate him but I think the players know he plays well."

Interestingly, Spadea then pulled off another surprise upset over Agassi in the fourth round of the 1999 Australian Open. With his 6-1, 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-3 win, Spadea advanced to the quarterfinals of a Major for the first time in his career and also broke into the top 30 of the ATP rankings.

However, Andre Agassi finally got his revenge in their final encounter on tour, beating Vincent Spadea 6-1, 6-3 in the fourth round of the 2004 Madrid Open.