Andre Agassi recalls the first time he saw Rafael Nadal: ‘I knew I’d never beat him’

Roddick listened along as Agassi set the scene in the locker rooms at Roland Garros two years before Nadal’s first title in Paris.

“You remember those lockers where they used to click them?” Agassi continued. “I could see him through lockers, and he looks at his code, and he’s a rookie trying to figure it out.

“He’s like [Rafa grunt] and then he starts again. Looks at his code, click, click, click, and it doesn’t open. He goes BAM! and he hits the locker. I’m not kidding, God as my witness, he hits the locker. I’m going, ‘Is this kid serious?’

“Then he’s like click, click, click, and it opens, and he goes, ‘Vamos!’,” Agassi exclaimed, copying Nadal’s iconic same-arm-same-leg celebratory cheer.

“There was no one else in there, and he self-Vamos’d?” Roddick asked in wonderment.