"I'd been created to never be satisfied...when I retired, it was like I cut off my hair" - When Andre Agassi said he felt liberated on quitting tennis

American tennis legend Andre Agassi had claimed he felt "liberated" once he quit tennis at the age of 39.

Agassi turned professional at the tender age of 16 in 1986 and amassed several trophies before calling it a day in 2006. He won his first Grand Slam title at the Wimbledon Championships in 1992.

Two years later, the American triumphed at the US Open after beating Germany's Michael Stitch in the final. He became the first to win the New York Major as an unseeded player. He lifted the trophy at Flushing Meadows one more time in 1999.

Agassi enjoyed great success down under as he won the Australian Open four times in 1995, 2000, 2001, and 2003. He also won the French Open in 1999 with a victory over Andrei Medvedev from Ukraine.

The eight-time Grand Slam champion brought glory to his nation with a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics and three Davis Cup titles in 1990, 1992, and 1995. Agassi held the World No. 1 ranking for 101 weeks during his storied career.

Despite all the glory, Andre Agassi confessed in an interview dated November 10, 2009, that he was never pleased with what he did on a tennis court. He even stated that quitting the sport felt like gaining freedom.

"I was liberated. I never missed tennis. I never liked the competition. I never liked the pressure I put on myself. I never liked that I couldn't be perfect at it. It felt like I had been created to never be satisfied," Agassi told SPIEGEL International.

The 53-year-old revealed that walking away from tennis felt like embracing being bald in 1995.

"I resented how bad losing felt and how not good winning felt. It was never balanced. I could not escape this. When I retired, it was like the day I cut off my hair," he said.

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Andre Agassi: "I was embarrassed, a professional athlete who was afraid of moving because his hair might fall off"

Andre Agassi

Andre Agassi admitted to feeling ashamed of losing his hair and using fake hair. As per the American, his movement on the court was hampered by the fear of his wig falling off.

He recalled his first wife Brooke Shields' advice to not focus on his baldness excessively.

"I was embarrassed, a professional athlete who was afraid of moving because his hair might fall off. Brooke Shields, my first wife, told me: 'Shave your head, it isn't important'. And retirement felt similar, like a liberation. Everything - the pressure, the physical pain - was gone," he said during the interview.

Andre Agassi was married to Shields from 1997 to 1999 before tying the knot with 22-time Grand Slam champion Steffi Graf on October 22, 2001.