Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi, 25 Years Married: a Backyard Wedding in Las Vegas, Barefoot and in Jeans, With Their Mothers as the Only Guests

On 22 October 2001, in the backyard of their home in Las Vegas, Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi were married before Judge Michael Cherry. The only guests were their mothers, Heidi and Elizabeth. Twenty-five years later, it is one of the most stable marriages in sport - and one of the quietest.

The photos the internet has for years linked to their wedding are actually from a different event. Graf wore the white off-the-shoulder "Bardot" mini dress to the Wimbledon Champions' Ball in London in 1992, the year they were first seen together. Back then they weren't even a couple. Later, that dress started to look like a preview.

Agassi described the real ceremony in his 2009 autobiography, Open. They stood barefoot, in jeans. Instead of traditional rings, they tied raffia cords around each other's fingers. And at the most solemn moment, the silence was broken by gardeners with lawnmowers and leaf blowers - Agassi had to ask them to switch off the machines for five minutes.

The background makes the story even more remarkable. Graf had 22 Grand Slam titles at the time. Agassi had a marriage to actress Brooke Shields behind him, from 1997 until their divorce two years later. Graf was pregnant with their first child, Jaden Gil, who was born four days after the wedding.

Later came their daughter, Jaz Elle. The family still lives in Las Vegas today. Of their first meeting, Agassi says: "I fell in love with Steffi the first time I saw her."

At a time when weddings are measured by the number of guests and the price of the dress, this one is a reminder that a marriage isn't built by the ceremony. How many couples today would dare to have a backyard wedding, with two mothers, a judge and gardeners waiting to finish their work?