“Legendary American tennis player Andre Agassi lost his first three matches against Boris Becker,” Insider wrote. Becker was a Wimbledon champion at 17: “At Wimbledon in 1985, the redhead from Germany became the youngest male major champion in history at age 17 years, 7 months,” the International Tennis Hall of Fame says, and The Big Lead puts Agassi at “0-3 in the 1988 and 1989 seasons against Becker.” By Agassi’s own account, he “used to struggle mightily to return Becker’s serve,” as Insider put it, and “spent endless hours watching tapes of Becker’s game,” Scroll.in reported.
Then, he said in a 2017 interview with The Players’ Tribune, he spotted something. “I started to realize he had this weird tick with his tongue,” Agassi said, as Insider quotes him: “just as he was about to toss the ball, he would stick his tongue out. And it would either be right in the middle of his lip, or it’d be to the left corner of his lip.” “If he’s serving in the deuce court and he put his tongue in the middle of his lip, he was either serving up the middle or to the body. But if he put it to the side, he was going to serve out wide.”
“The hardest part wasn’t returning his serve - it was not letting him know that I knew this,” Agassi said. “I had to resist the temptation of reading his serve for the majority of the match and choose the moment when I was gonna use that information on a given point to execute a shot that would allow me to break the match open.” They met 14 times “over an 11-year spell between 1988 and 1999,” Tennis365 says, and “After Becker won the first three encounters, Agassi triumphed in 10 of the last 11 meetings, which came from 1990 onwards,” for “a 10-4 edge.”
“I told Boris after he retired,” Agassi said, as Scroll.in reported; Becker’s “career spanning from 1984 to 1999,” in Tennis365’s words. “I told him at Oktoberfest, while we were having a pint.” In a 2021 telling, quoted by Insider, Agassi said: “We went out and had a pint of beer together, and I couldn’t help but say, ‘By the way, did you know you used to do this and give away your serve?’” “He about fell off the chair,” Agassi said. As Agassi tells it, Becker said he had always thought “it’s like he reads my mind,” and then: “Little did I know, you were just reading my tongue.”
Becker has answered the story himself. When a follower asked him in an Instagram Q&A “if Agassi’s story was true,” TennisUpToDate reported in 2023, he replied: “That’s one of the best Hollywood stories I ever heard.” He added: “I read AA’s [Andre Agassi’s] book and smiled! Love him.”
Fact check
The facts and where they come from
- By his own account, he couldn’t return Boris Becker’s serve until he watched his tongue. Insider: “Agassi said that he used to struggle mightily to return Becker’s serve. Then, after some film study, he realized Becker would indicate how he was going to serve by moving his tongue.” International Tennis Hall of Fame: “He was going to launch a big, booming serve.” 14
- His name is Andre Agassi. Insider: “Legendary American tennis player Andre Agassi lost his first three matches against Boris Becker.” 1
- Becker, Wimbledon champion at 17, beat him the first three times they met. International Tennis Hall of Fame: “At Wimbledon in 1985, the redhead from Germany became the youngest male major champion in history at age 17 years, 7 months.” Tennis365: “After Becker won the first three encounters.” The Big Lead: “After going 0-3 in the 1988 and 1989 seasons against Becker.” 436
- So Agassi studied tapes of Becker, over and over. Scroll.in: “Agassi said he spent endless hours watching tapes of Becker’s game.” Insider: “after some film study.” 21
- Then, he says, he saw it: just before the toss, Becker’s tongue came out. Agassi (2017), as Insider quotes him: “I started to realize he had this weird tick with his tongue … just as he was about to toss the ball, he would stick his tongue out. And it would either be right in the middle of his lip, or it’d be to the left corner of his lip.” 1
- In the middle, he says, it meant a serve up the middle or at the body. Agassi, as Insider quotes him: “If he’s serving in the deuce court and he put his tongue in the middle of his lip, he was either serving up the middle or to the body.” 1
- To the side, it meant a serve out wide. Agassi, as Insider quotes him: “But if he put it to the side, he was going to serve out wide.” 1
- The hardest part, he said, was hiding that he knew. Agassi, as Insider quotes him: “The hardest part wasn’t returning his serve - it was not letting him know that I knew this.” Agassi, as Scroll.in quotes him: “I had a problem hiding the fact I could break it at will.” 12
- So, he says, he only used it on the points that mattered. Agassi, as Insider quotes him: “I had to resist the temptation of reading his serve for the majority of the match and choose the moment when I was gonna use that information on a given point to execute a shot that would allow me to break the match open.” 1
- He won 10 of their next 11 matches. Tennis365: “The German faced Agassi 14 times over an 11-year spell between 1988 and 1999, with his American rival holding a 10-4 edge. After Becker won the first three encounters, Agassi triumphed in 10 of the last 11 meetings, which came from 1990 onwards.” 3
- He says he kept the secret until Becker retired. Agassi, as Scroll.in quotes him: “I told Boris after he retired.” Tennis365: Becker’s “career spanning from 1984 to 1999.” 23
- Then over a beer at Oktoberfest, he says, he told him. Agassi, as Scroll.in quotes him: “I told him at Oktoberfest, while we were having a pint.” Agassi, in a 2021 telling quoted by Insider: “We went out and had a pint of beer together, and I couldn’t help but say, ‘By the way, did you know you used to do this and give away your serve?’” Insider: “Agassi said he later revealed the tick to Becker over a beer at Oktoberfest.” 21
- Agassi says Becker nearly fell off his chair. Agassi, as Insider quotes him: “He about fell off the chair.” Scroll.in: “He fell off the chair.” 12
- Becker had always thought Agassi was reading his mind, Agassi says. Agassi, quoting Becker, as Insider reports: “it’s like he reads my mind.” 1
- He was only reading his tongue. Agassi, quoting Becker, as Insider reports: “He said, ‘Little did I know, you were just reading my tongue.’” 1
- Becker has called it “one of the best Hollywood stories” he ever heard. Becker, in an Instagram Q&A, as TennisUpToDate reports (July 12, 2023): “That’s one of the best Hollywood stories I ever heard.” And: “I read AA’s [Andre Agassi’s] book and smiled! Love him.” 5
Sources
- Tennis legend Andre Agassi revealed that he learned how to beat a rival by watching his tongue on serves (Scott Davis, April 29, 2021) Insider, on Yahoo (Internet Archive copy)
- Watch: Andre Agassi literally relied on Boris Becker’s slip of tongue to read his serve (January 20, 2017) Scroll.in
- Boris Becker on his rivalry with Andre Agassi, with their head-to-head record (Ewan West, September 26, 2025) Tennis365
- Boris Becker International Tennis Hall of Fame
- “That’s one of the best Hollywood stories I ever heard”: Becker responds to story by Agassi about reading service due to tongue movement (July 12, 2023) TennisUpToDate
- Andre Agassi reveals huge secret about Boris Becker in viral interview (March 28, 2026) The Big Lead
Notes
Agassi’s account: the tongue tell is Agassi’s own story, from a 2017 interview with The Players’ Tribune (as Insider and Scroll.in report it), a 2021 telling and his book “Open,” so this page tells it in his words. Becker called it “one of the best Hollywood stories I ever heard” (Instagram, 2023, via TennisUpToDate). A June 2025 article is headlined that Becker disagrees with the story; we could not read that page, so its words aren’t used.
When he told him: Agassi says “after he retired”; Becker’s career ran from 1984 to 1999 (Tennis365). Insider’s article carries a photo it captions as the two of them at Oktoberfest in 1998, before Becker retired, so the telling may have been on a later visit; the Short says only “He says he kept the secret until Becker retired.” A popular retelling says Agassi kept the secret for his entire career; by his own words he told Becker after Becker retired, so that isn’t used.
The tell: Agassi says the middle-or-side rule was for serves in the deuce court, with the tongue in the middle of the lip or at its left corner; in “Open,” as TennisUpToDate quotes it, Becker’s tongue “points like a tiny red arrow to where he’s aiming.” The Short keeps it simple: the middle meant up the middle or at the body, the side meant out wide.
The record: Tennis365 gives 14 meetings from 1988 to 1999, 10-4 to Agassi, with Becker winning the first three and Agassi 10 of the last 11, from 1990 on. Insider lists a 1990 French Open semifinal win we found nowhere else and calls one of Becker’s wins a 1995 Wimbledon final (it was a semifinal); those details aren’t used.
Wimbledon at 17: the Hall of Fame’s “youngest male major champion in history” describes 1985; the Short says only “Wimbledon champion at seventeen.”
Andre Agassi and Boris Becker are alive. Only their tennis, published reporting and their own published words are used; nothing here goes into their private lives.
Pictures: no free photo shows Agassi in his matches against Becker (1988–1999), the two of them together, or the Oktoberfest night. Andre Agassi is at the Pam Shriver Tennis Classic in Baltimore on December 12, 2001, though the file name says 1999 (John Mathew Smith & www.celebrity-photos.com); serving at the US Men’s Clay Court Championships in Houston on April 19, 2005 (Chris Josefy); practicing at Indian Wells on March 12, 2006 (Akademan); and at the Rogers Cup legends exhibition in Toronto on August 13 and 14, 2011 (ZankaM, Laslovarga). Boris Becker is in Davis Cup matches in Frankfurt against Michael Tauson on April 8, 1988, and Morten Christensen on April 10, 1988, not against Agassi (two photos by Mauritz Antin, Finnish Heritage Agency, cropped to remove the print borders); at Mercedes Stars & Cars in Stuttgart on November 3, 2007 (AngMoKio); at the Frankfurt Book Fair on October 10, 2013 (Lesekreis); and at a Laureus press conference in Madrid on April 21, 2024 (Barcex). Centre Court at Wimbledon is seen at the 1991 final, not his 1985 title (Barry Shimmon). The VHS cassette (LoMit), the tennis courts in Melbourne, Florida, seen from a drone in 2017 (Michael Seeley, cropped to remove a watermark) and the Hippodrom tent at the 2010 Oktoberfest (holzijue, Pixabay) are stand-ins. The other people in these photos are not named.
Photo credits
The archive photos in this story
The photographs and illustrations in this story are in the public domain or shared under open licenses; each one is credited below with its license. Tap one to enlarge it, or follow the link to its Wikimedia Commons page for the full record. The narration, captions and graphics in the Short are our own; its music and sound effects are credited below.
Music and sound effects
Music: Schumann, Kinderszenen, Op. 15: No. 1 'Of Foreign Lands and Peoples (Musopen, public domain); Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition: IV. Bydlo (piano) (Musopen, public domain); Dvorak, Symphony No. 9 'From the New World': II. Largo (Musopen, public domain).
Sound effects: Freesound, CC0.
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