"He got fixated on his shoe and he couldn't let it go": Former opponent of Agassi looks back on strange incident when facing former World No.1

Former player MaliVai Washington recalled an interesting moment on the court during a match against former number one player Andre Agassi in 1995.

Andre Agassi had many great moments on a tennis court but also several bizarre ones with MaliVai Washington remembering one particular one in 1995. The match was a strange one as Agassi took the opening set of that event comfortably. He lost the second set 1-6 showing some discomfort with his shoes even changing pairs. Eventually, he lost the match which Washington attributed to his bizarre fixation on his shoes that day.

In an interview with fellow former player Stubbs, Washington admitted that Agassi was clearly the better player but he played much of the latter part of the match completely distracted:

"The last time we played, we played in Essen, Germany. I took him down. But you wanna hear what's funny? It's not because I was better than him, Flat out he was better than me, no questioning that. But, in that match, something happened to his shoe. Literally his shoe and he got fixated on his shoe and he couldn't let it go. So, he wins the first set and then I beat him in straight sets after that."

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Beating Agassi

That was not the only time Washington beat Agassi as he recalled another instance when he bested him:

"I had Andre at one of our charity events. And during our charity event, he talked about him actually beating me. But, since it's actually my charity event, I get the microphone last. So, I actually told a story about how we were 11 years old in San Diego, California, I beat him 6-3, 6-3, that was the first time we had ever played".

Washington had a career high of 11 back in 1992 and won four career trophies.

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