Boris Becker’s telltale tongue
Poker players are always on the lookout for an opponent’s “tell”, said Mike Atherton in The Times – for an unconscious, almost imperceptible tic that gives away the strength of the opponent’s hand. And occasionally the same occurs in the world of sport, as the US tennis star Andre Agassi discovered in the course of his encounters with the great German tennis player Boris Becker.
The first time Agassi came up against Becker – in 1988 – he lost the match. He lost the next one too, and the one after that. But after that, in a decade-long rivalry which “became increasingly personal and bitter”, Agassi dominated “time and again”, losing just once to his nemesis. His secret? He had figured out Becker’s “tell”, enabling him to handle his “booming” serve.
All he had to do was look at Becker’s mouth, said Emily Benammar in the Herald Sun (Melbourne). Agassi noticed that just before the German tossed the ball, he’d stick out his tongue. If it went to the left of his mouth, he’d serve wide: if it stayed in the middle, he’d serve straight. But now that he’d found out how to nullify Becker’s greatest strength, Agassi had a new problem: he couldn’t let Becker know he’d been rumbled. So he would let Becker win the odd service point, to allay his suspicions. Even then, Becker had a nagging feeling something was up. But it was only when he retired, in 1999, that Agassi finally confessed. “I used to go home and tell my wife, ‘It’s like he reads my mind,’” Becker told Agassi. “Little did I know you were reading my tongue.”