Andre Agassi's former manager sues Steffi Graf

In a town that worships fame, there are few, if any, residents more revered than Andre Agassi.  Here, he is more than a celebrity. He's a local boy who not only made good, but who also gives back to his community. Agassi doesn't travel the celebrity circuit in Vegas; he almost never turns up on red carpets at openings. He's also very private, rarely granting interviews to the media. Agassi comes across as someone who guards his privacy. But that privacy is being threatened by a lawsuit against his wife.

Some background:

To the best of my memory, I have only interviewed Andre Agassi once in the last decade while covering  Vegas. And, of course, the occasion for our 2007 interview was Agassi's annual charity concert (Sheryl Crow  performed at the 2008 benefit) and dinner that raises money for the Andre Agassi Foundation.

That event, Andre Agassi's Grand Slam for Children, now at Wynn, has been THE gathering of the local elite in Vegas for 13 years now.

The Agassi Foundation benefit is also the only time I know of that the retired tennis player uses his lifetime network of Vegas connections to produce what Vegas calls juice. Agassi has a lot of juice. The result is wealthy donors and companies (including executives from many Strip casinos) sponsor tables at the event. Over the years, the Grand Slam events have helped Agassi raise tens of millions for the foundation.

Philanthropy is not all Agassi does. He's known locally as an investor in projects. The behind-the-scenes player on the business side for Andre Agassi was childhood friend Perry Rogers. Rogers received enough credit for Agassi's perceived investment smarts to be included in a New York Times article (along with Agassi) in a May profile looking at the next generation of Vegas moguls.

But in October, Agassi and Rogers announced they were ending their business relationship. They made a point of emphasizing how amicable the split was and how the friendship was intact. In fact, Rogers in October insisted that preserving the friendship was the paramount objective for them both. Now comes the news that Rogers has filed a lawsuit against Agassi's wife, retired pro tennis player Stefanie Graf, for the tiny, tiny sum of $50,000. To compare: A Diamond Level table at  Agassi's Grand Slam for Children cost $85,000 this year.

OK, $50,000 is still a lot of money to me. But reading the four-page lawsuit (posted by the Las Vegas Sun), one discovers that, for Rogers, the payments represent less than two months' pay from Graf. In fact, she did not even commence paying Rogers until 2007 when one of Graf's accounts hit the magic $20-million mark. From that point on, she paid him her 15% until the time of her husband's split with Rogers in October. Therefore, the money sought represents only what's owed for the last couple months. So, maybe it would be better to say, rather than $50,000 being a tiny sum, this seems a tiny reason to file a lawsuit against the wife of your lifelong friend.

Then again, at four pages, the lawsuit was clearly written to give away as little information as possible. For example, one glaring omission: There is no mention of what Rogers' contributions were or the significance of the $20 million that resulted in the the allegedly owed payments.  I suspect this lawsuit is more about Rogers showing his willingness to use the courts and place matters in the public arena than about his desire to recoup the $50,000 he feels owed.

That seems to be how Agassi is taking the lawsuit. In a statement that appears in Norm Clarke's Review-Journal column, Agassi says: "I am both saddened and disappointed to learn that Perry has filed a lawsuit and sadder still that he has sued my wife, Stefanie. I remain hopeful that we will be able to resolve our business issues with minimal damage to our families and mutual friends." It will be noted that Agassi's statement does not mention preserving his own friendship with Rogers.

Photo: Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf. Credit: Sarah Gerke