| Agassi's Idaho Resort |
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Page 1 of 5 Image isn't everything to Andre Agassi in his life-after-tennis career in real estate development. But his new resort in Idaho sure looks good. "I always get two questions," Andre Agassi tells me as he reclines, sighing, on the living-room couch of a penthouse in Tamarack Resort’s Lodge at Osprey Meadows. “‘Why Idaho?’ And ‘Are you just attaching your name to this place?’” The sigh is one of satisfied fatigue—from a day on the slopes, a busy first year of retirement, and, apparently, this endless line of questioning. It’s no coincidence that Agassi has been snowboarding for about a year now—it was forbidden, along with motorcycle racing and skydiving, during his playing days. He’s a quick but conservative study, betraying none of the reckless flamboyance that defined the early years of his tennis career. Case in point: Agassi’s favorite run on Tamarack’s 2,800 feet of vertical is a pleasant blue cruiser called Serenity. What happened earlier this December afternoon, however—between the slopes and the penthouse—was anything but serene. While walking along a slick embankment to the edge of vast Lake Cascade, just a short stroll from where the hotel he’s building will stand, the tennis icon with legendary footwork slid again and again toward the frigid waters. We weren’t on asphalt, grass, or clay, after all. On snow, Andre Agassi falls down just like a normal person. 
Now, back at the penthouse, it’s time to forget the whole thing and consider those two persistent questions, which, predictably, I was about to ask. Gunlek Ruder, the president of Agassi Graf Development—a real estate and hospitality company created in 2006 to bring Agassi’s lifestyle to the world—enters and sets a couple of Coors Lights on the coffee table in front of Agassi and me. “No Diet Coke in the refrigerator,” says Agassi, smiling. With more time on his hands to lift weights (and toss back a few more cold ones than would have been advisable in his tennis days), Agassi has bulked up since quitting the tour, adding 15 to 20 pounds of mostly muscle mass, by the looks of him. Given his penchant for tight, stylish shirts, he could be mistaken for a bouncer on the Strip in his hometown of Las Vegas.After a slug of light beer and another sigh, Agassi explains how he ended up in Idaho. “My wife [Steffi Graf] was pregnant with our second child, and we were thinking, How are we going to set up traditions in our lives, places to go and things to do that we had to give up for tennis? A friend told us about Tamarack.” Agassi stops and raises his arms to the bluebird sky in disbelief, much as he did after most of his eight Grand Slam victories. The beauty that brought him here, he seems to suggest, is all around us. “Within 48 hours of arriving,” Agassi continues, “we’d bought a chalet in town.” |
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