Gullikson unveils advice he gave Agassi in Atlanta

Andre Agassi accomplished plenty during his decorated career, but one accolade puts him above even his greatest rivals: gold medalist at the 1996 Olympic Games.

That season, Agassi went a respectable 38-14, reached the semifinals of the Australian Open and US Open, and won titles in Miami and Cincinnati. The very next year, his ranking would plummet to No. 141 in what became his rock bottom for reasons beyond just tennis.

In Atlanta in late July, Agassi came in as the top seed but struggling with his mindset. He was joined by his coach Brad Gilbert, and, as part of Team USA, he was also helped by Tom Gullikson.

"I had watched Agassi play in plenty of the summer hard-court tournaments leading up to the Olympics and he really wasn't playing very well," Gullikson said on the TENNIS.com Podcast. "He was kind of not running for balls and not competing, and mentally checking in and out of matches."

Gullikson with Agassi, Jim Courier and Pete Sampras at the 1995 Davis Cup final. (Getty)

As the captain of the Davis Cup team, Gullikson had worked with Agassi before, including the year before when they won the Davis Cup title. So he felt more than comfortable giving the then-26-year-old Agassi a pep talk.

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"I told Andre three things," Gullikson said. "Run for every ball, don't stop running. Compete for every point; no checking in and out of the matches, no throwing away points, mentally just stay in the moment. And then my third thing was keep your poise and composure no matter what."

Seems absurdly simple, right?

"It's funny sometimes when you coach high level players everybody always thinks you give them really complicated advice," Gullikson said. "I think the best coaching advice is always the simplest. If you can keep things fairly simple, you don't have a million thoughts going through your head when you're playing."

Agassi had some close calls in Atlanta, including going down a set to Italy's Andrea Gaudenzi in the third round, and fighting through three tight sets with Wayne Ferreira in the quarterfinals. By the time he made it to the final, Agassi was in stellar form and tore through Sergi Bruguera.

Agassi became the first man to win a Career Golden Slam. (Getty)

"He was in Atlanta for one reason and that was to win the gold medal," Gullikson said. "I've never seen a guy happier in my life to wear that gold medal around his neck. That was certainly one of the highlights of my coaching career."

Agassi's golden run stands alone in history as he's the only American man in the Open era to win a singles gold medal (tennis was only reinstated as an Olympic sport in 1984). He would end his career in 2006 with eight Grand Slams and 101 weeks spent at No. 1.