[adpd]

Agassi wasn't loud-mouthed to be exact. Agassi was on a journey of self-discovery, and wasn't sure who he was. He resented playing tennis (until much later in his career), and disliked authority. The combination of these factors came out as someone who was 'badass'.

Sampras was single-minded in his focus for achieving greatness, but he wasn't always that way. It took a defeat on the tennis court in his early twenties to give him the pure appetite for winning. Before that, he was ok with losing.

Sampras ended his career earlier for a few reasons; spending more time with his family, feeling he had nothing left to prove, and the emergence of Roger Federer!

Agassi clearly found a resurgence in his tennis once he hated it less, and having his premier rival no longer around to stop him winning Grand Slams, felt he could still achieve more.

[geoka9]

I would add burnout to the list of things that made Sampras retire. I would not include Roger Federer, because it's not like he's ever been Pete's nemesis - they've only played one match and it was a close one, but that's beside the point (Pete wasn't even ranked in the top 5 when he won his last US Open).

They are exactly one generation of players apart. Pete had been thoroughly burned out (and retired) long before Roger started to win everything in sight.

Agassi, on the other hand, became a philantropist closer to the end of his career and was trying to earn as much money for his foundation as he could. So he continued grinding despite his aggravating back problem (he had to get cortisone shots in his back before matches).