Agassi a great tennis player ... and a regular guy

	Andre Agassi has had a marvelous career, but what most impresses people who have worked with him over the years is his character. Jamie Squire/Getty Images

It is the content of the encounter that is more important than the form.
-- Unknown

THE LOCKER ROOM SUPERVISOR: "I've been in the men's locker room here for the past 23 years," says Carl Munnerlyn, the locker room supervisor at the U.S. Open. "Andre Agassi's style in the locker room is very loose. He'll speak to just about anybody. If you're a person even he's not particular close with but he knows you, he'll have a conversation with you. He's a nice guy. First-class all the way. When I see young players come in, I see them stare at him. They respect him by the way they look at him. I'm not going to say it's awe, but they acknowledge his stardom and how he goes about his business. His locker here is No. 238. I gave him that locker. It's not so much the number but the area he likes. He got here last Saturday and we kind of looked at each other. I said, 'You want the same locker, Andre?' He said, 'Yeah, you know the drill.' And I do know the drill."

THE DAYCARE WORKER: "Last year Steffi and Andre brought in the kids before the men's final," said Ashley Astarita, a wiser-than-her-years 16-year-old who has worked at the U.S. Open's Family Room for three years. "I remember Steffi kept coming in and out of the room. She was so nervous. She kept saying, 'He's tired. He's tired.' She was a wreck she was so nervous. There was another time when Andre was in here. He looked like such a great father, especially playing with Jaden. His son would run around and Andre would follow him. He really interacted with his kids. When I tell people I've watched Andre Agassi's kids, they always say the same thing: 'Oh, my God, really?'"

THE STRINGER: "You work with some players and they don't change," says Roman Prokes, who has been stringing Agassi's rackets since 1991. "But my respect for him has grown over the years. The tennis is almost irrelevant at this point. I respect him as a human being. I strung his rackets for tonight's match against Andrei Pavel. They are right over there. [Prokes points to the rackets.] I don't think these are the last ones I'll string, though. I think I'll be doing a lot more this week. Once you gain Andre's trust, you have his trust. He'll never second-guess it. He doesn't say, 'Do this.' He asks about things. He'll ask what we did last year or what tension he should use, or we'll talk about how fast or slow the courts are. He listens and takes advice. It's been an unbelievable ride with him. I've seen the world many times. Way too many times, if you ask my wife."

THE TRAINER: "Maybe he changed in some respects, but for me he has always had the same demeanor since I first saw him in 1986," says Bob Russo, the head trainer for the USTA. "When I say he has not changed, I mean he has the same heart he had then. Maybe some peripheral things have changed, but he has always been a quintessential gentleman and a guy who really cares. He's like anybody else who has been No. 1 or a great player. I was with the Cosmos and it was like that with Pelé. None of the guys who were the greatest athletes left anything to chance. You may think they were cavalier about such things, but they weren't. If something very small was bothering him, he would seek you out and get your opinion. When I was inducted into the USTA Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame two years ago, I said I was glad that his career and my career came together for the Davis Cup in 1992. You had John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and Andre in Fort Worth against Switzerland. I was the trainer. That was probably the greatest team ever put together. Four guys who were No. 1. I look at that picture now and say, 'Man, it was good to be part of that.'"