Jaden Agassi (right) is a baseball star (Image: Getty)
Jaden Agassi has vowed to make his surname a ‘baseball name’ after joining Team Germany ahead of the World Baseball Classic Qualifiers. The 23-year-old is the son of tennis icons Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf.
Many might have assumed that Agassi would be primed for a career in tennis. His parents share 30 combined Grand Slam titles and dominated the sport for much of their careers.
However, Agassi insists that his only sporting love has been baseball. He picked up a tennis racket plenty of times during his formative years but, by his own admission, could never keep the ball in play.
Despite being born in Nevada, USA, Agassi has chosen to play baseball for his mother’s country, Germany. He will lead the team out in the World Baseball Qualifiers.
“Agassi is a very tennis last name, of course,” Agassi told WKBN News. “The goal is to try to make it a baseball one.”
In a separate interview with , he added: “I’m so excited [to play for Germany]. It’s been a dream of mine since I was a little boy to compete on an international scale. [I want to] make my mom proud, make Germany proud and do them right.”
Agassi has developed into an impressive pitcher, and although his college numbers were not hugely impressive, he impressed in the 2024 MLB Draft League. He posted a 2.96 earned run average and was named Player of the Week on July 8.
Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi had Jaden in 2001 (Image: Getty)
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He realised baseball was the sport for him when all he wanted to do was hit tennis balls as far as he could.
“I started playing baseball when I was six years old in T-ball,” Agassi continued. “I loved it. I’ve picked up a tennis racket a good amount, but it was always hard for me to keep that ball in between the lines. I just wanted to hit that thing as far as I could. Baseball had my love since day one.
“I entered college with the ability to be a decent pitcher, but I was a thrower. And because of lost time I was behind the eight ball. But at the University of Southern California I was blessed with some great coaches who began teaching me the art of pitching.”