1970–1985: Early life
Mike Agassi reportedly banged on the fences with a hammer during Andre's matches when his son lost a point, screamed at officials and was ejected more than once. In an extended passage from the book "Open", Agassi details how he and his father hustled the greatest running back in football history,
Jim Brown, back in 1979, when Agassi was just 9 years old.
As Agassi recounts in his autobiography, "Open", Jim Brown was at a tennis club in Vegas one day complaining to the owner about a money match that was cancelled. Agassi's father stepped in, told Brown that he could play his son and put up his house for the wager. Brown countered with a $10,000 bet instead. After asking the 9-year-old some questions about his skills (Agassi told him he never loses) and getting warned by the club owner not to take the bet, Brown and Mike Agassi agreed that they'd set the amount after he and Andre played two sets. After dropping two straight sets by a score of 3-6, Brown politely declined the 10K wager and offered $500 for the third. He lost, 6-2.
At age 13, Andre was sent to
Nick Bollettieri's Tennis Academy in Florida.
[22] He was meant to stay for only 3 months because that was all his father could afford. After ten minutes of watching Agassi play, Bollettieri called Mike and said: "Take your check back. He's here for free," claiming that Agassi had more natural talent than anyone else he had seen.
[23][edit]International tennis career biography
[edit]1986–1993
He turned professional at the age of 16 and his first tournament was in
La Quinta, California. He won his first match against
John Austin 6–4, 6–2 but then lost his second match to
Mats Wilander 6–1, 6–1. By the end of the year, Agassi was ranked World No. 91.
[24] Agassi won his first top-level singles title in 1987 at the
Sul American Open in
Itaparica.
[22] He ended the year ranked World No. 25.
[22] He won six additional tournaments in 1988 (Memphis,
U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships,
Forest Hills WCT, Stuttgart Outdoor,
Volvo International and
Livingston Open),
[22] and, by December of that year, he had surpassed US$2 million in career prize money after playing in just 43 tournaments – the fastest anyone in history had reached that level.
[citation needed] During the year, he set the Open Era record for most consecutive victories by a male teenager, a record that would stand for 17 years until being broken by
Rafael Nadal in 2005.
[25] His year-end ranking was World No. 3, behind second-ranked
Ivan Lendl and top-ranked
Mats Wilander. Both the
Association of Tennis Professionals and
Tennis magazine named Agassi the Most Improved Player of the Year for 1988.
[22]In addition to not playing the Australian Open (which would later become his best Grand Slam event) for the first eight years of his career, Agassi chose not to play at
Wimbledon from 1988 through 1990 and publicly stated that he did not wish to play there because of the event's traditionalism, particularly its "predominantly white" dress code to which players at the event are required to conform.
Strong performances on the tour meant that Agassi was quickly tipped as a future Grand Slam champion. While still a teenager, he reached the semi-finals of both the French Open and the
US Open in 1988, and made the US Open semifinals in 1989. He began the 1990s, however, with a series of near-misses. He reached his first Grand Slam final in 1990 at the French Open, where he was favored before losing in four sets to
Andrés Gómez. He reached his second Grand Slam final of the year at the US Open, defeating defending champion
Boris Becker in the semifinals. His opponent in the final was
Pete Sampras; a year earlier, Agassi had beaten Sampras 6-2, 6-1 after which he told his coach that he felt bad for Sampras because he was never going to make it as a pro. Agassi lost the US Open final to Sampras 6–4, 6–3, 6–2.
[22]The rivalry between these two American players became the dominant rivalry in tennis over the rest of the decade. Also in 1990, Agassi helped the United States win its first
Davis Cup in 8 years and won his only
Tennis Masters Cup, beating reigning Wimbledon champion
Stefan Edberg in the final.
In 1991, Agassi reached his second consecutive French Open final, where he faced fellow Bollettieri Academy alumnus
Jim Courier. Courier emerged the victor in a five set final. Agassi decided to play at Wimbledon in 1991, leading to weeks of speculation in the media about the clothes he would wear. He eventually emerged for the first round in a completely white outfit. He went on to reach the quarter-finals on that occasion, losing in five sets to
David Wheaton.
Agassi's Grand Slam tournament breakthrough came at Wimbledon, not at the French Open or the US Open where he had previously enjoyed success. In 1992, he defeated
Goran Ivanišević in a five set final.
[22] Along the way, Agassi overcame two former Wimbledon champions in
Boris Becker and
John McEnroe. No other baseliner would triumph at Wimbledon until
Lleyton Hewitt ten years later. Agassi was named the
BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year in 1992. Agassi once again played on the United States'
Davis Cup winning team in 1992. It was their second Davis cup title in three years.
1993 saw Agassi win the only doubles title of his career, at the
Cincinnati Masters, partnered with
Petr Korda. Agassi missed much of the early part of that year with injuries. Although he made the quarterfinals in his Wimbledon title defense, he lost to eventual champion and World number one Pete Sampras in five-sets. Agassi lost in the first-round at the US Open to
Thomas Enqvist and required wrist surgery late in the year.
[edit]1994–1997
With new coach
Brad Gilbert on board, Agassi began to employ more of a tactical, consistent approach, which fueled his resurgence. Agassi started slowly in 1994, losing in the first week at the French Open and Wimbledon. Nevertheless, Agassi emerged during the hard court season, winning the
Canadian Open. His comeback culminated at the
1994 US Open with a 5-set fourth-round victory against compatriot
Michael Chang and then becoming the first man to capture the US Open as an
unseeded player, beating
Michael Stich in the final.
[22]In 1995, Agassi shaved his balding head, breaking with his old "image is everything" style. He competed in the
1995 Australian Open (his first appearance at the event) and won, beating Sampras in a four set final.
[22] Agassi and Sampras met in five tournament finals in 1995, all on
hardcourt, with Agassi winning three. Agassi won three Masters Series events in 1995 (
Cincinnati,
Key Biscayne, and the Canadian Open) and seven titles total.
[22] He compiled a career-best 26-match winning streak during the summer hardcourt circuit, which ended when he lost the
US Open final to Sampras.
Agassi reached the
World No. 1 ranking for the first time in April 1995. He held that ranking until November, for a total of 30 weeks. In terms of win/loss record, 1995 was Agassi's best year. He won 73 matches and lost only 9. Agassi was also once again a key player on the United States'
Davis Cup winning team - the third and final Davis Cup title of Agassi's career.
1996 was a less successful year for Agassi, as he failed to reach any Grand Slam final. He suffered two early round losses at the hands of compatriots
Chris Woodruff and
Doug Flach at the French Open and Wimbledon, respectively, and lost to Chang in straight sets in the Australian and US Open semifinals. At the time, Agassi blamed the Australian Open loss on the windy conditions but later admitted in his biography that he had tanked (lost on purpose) this match as did not want to play
Boris Becker whom he would have faced in that final. The high point for Agassi was winning the men's singles gold medal at the
Olympic Games in
Atlanta, beating
Sergi Bruguera of Spain in the final 6–2, 6–3, 6–1.
[22] Agassi also successfully defended his singles titles in Cincinnati and Key Biscayne.
1997 was the low point of Agassi's career. His wrist injury resurfaced, and he played only 24 matches during the year. He would later confess that he started using
crystal methamphetamine at that time, allegedly on the urging of a friend.
[26] He failed an ATP drug test, but wrote a letter claiming the same friend spiked a drink. The ATP dropped the failed drug test as a warning. He stated upon admitting to his drug use that the letter was a lie.
[27] He quit the drug soon after. He won no top-level titles and his ranking sank to World No. 141 on November 10, 1997.
[22][edit]1998–2003
In 1998, Agassi began a rigorous conditioning program and worked his way back up the rankings by playing in Challenger Series tournaments, a circuit for pro players ranked outside the world's top 50. He also played classic matches in this period against
Pete Sampras and
Patrick Rafter.
In 1998, Agassi won five titles and leapt from World No. 122 to No. 6, the highest jump into the top 10 made by any player during a calendar year.
[28] At Wimbledon, he had an early loss in the second round to ATP player Tommy Haas. He won five titles in ten finals and was runner-up at the
Masters Series tournament in Key Biscayne, losing to
Marcelo Ríos, who became World No. 1 as a result.
Agassi entered the history books in 1999 when he came back from two sets to love down to beat
Andrei Medvedev in a five-set French Open final, becoming, at the time, only the fifth male player (joining
Rod Laver,
Fred Perry,
Roy Emerson and
Don Budge—these have since been joined by a sixth,
Roger Federer and a seventh,
Rafael Nadal) to have won all four Grand Slam singles titles during his career. This win also made him the first (of only three, the second being
Roger Federerand the third being
Rafael Nadal) male players in history to have won all four Grand Slam titles on three different surfaces (clay, grass, and hard courts), a tribute to his adaptability, as the other four men had won their Grand Slam titles on clay and grass courts. Agassi also became the first (of only two, the second being
Rafael Nadal) male player to win the
Career Golden Slam, consisting of all four Grand Slam tournaments plus an Olympic gold medal.
Agassi followed his 1999 French Open victory by reaching the Wimbledon final, where he lost to Sampras in straight sets.
[22] He rebounded from his Wimbledon defeat by winning the
US Open, beating
Todd Martin in five sets (rallying from a 2 sets to 1 deficit) in the final. Agassi ended 1999 as the World No. 1, ending Sampras's record of six consecutive year-ending top rankings (1993–1998).
[22] This was the only time Agassi ended the year at number one.
Agassi began the next year by capturing his second Australian Open title, beating Sampras in a five-set semifinal and
Yevgeny Kafelnikov in a four-set final.
[22] He was the first male player to have reached four consecutive Grand Slam finals since
Rod Laver achieved the Grand Slam in 1969.
[29] At the time, Agassi was also only the fourth player since Laver to be the reigning champion of three of four Grand Slam events, missing only the Wimbledon title.
[30]2000 also saw Agassi reach the semifinals at Wimbledon, where he lost in five sets to Rafter in a match considered by many to be one of the best ever at Wimbledon.
[31] At the inaugural
Tennis Masters Cup in
Lisbon, Agassi reached the final after defeating
Marat Safin 6–3, 6–3 in the semifinals to end the Russian's hopes to become the youngest World No. 1 in the history of tennis. Agassi then lost to
Gustavo Kuertenin the final, allowing Kuerten to be crowned year-end World No. 1.
Agassi opened 2001 by successfully defending his Australian Open title with a straight-sets final win over
Arnaud Clément.
[22] Enroute, he beat a cramping Rafter (7–5, 2–6, 6–7, 6–2, 6–3) in front of a sell-out crowd in what turned out to be the Aussie's last Australian Open. At Wimbledon, they met again in the semifinals, where Agassi lost another close match to Rafter, 8–6 in the fifth set. In the quarterfinals at the US Open, Agassi lost a 3 hour, 33 minute epic match
[32] with Sampras 6–7(7), 7–6(7), 7–6(2), 7–6(5),
[33] with no breaks of serve during the 48-game match. Despite the setback, Agassi finished 2001 ranked World No. 3, becoming the only male tennis player to finish a year ranked in the top 10 in three different decades
[34] (1980s - finishing World No. 3 in 1988 and No. 7 in 1989; 1990s - finishing World No. 4 in 1990, No. 10 in 1991, No. 9 in 1992, No. 2 in 1994 and 1995, No. 8 in 1996, No. 6 in 1998 and No. 1 in 1999; 2000s - finishing World No. 6 in 2000, No. 3 in 2001, No. 2 in 2002, No. 4 in 2003, No. 8 in 2004 and No. 7 in 2005). He also was the oldest player (age 31) to finish in the top three since 32-year old Connors finished at World No. 2 in 1984.
[28]2002 opened with disappointment for Agassi, as injury forced him to skip the Australian Open, where he was a two-time defending champion. The last duel between Agassi and Sampras came in the final of the US Open, which Sampras won in four sets and left Sampras with a 20–14 edge in their 34 career meetings. The match was the last of Sampras's career. Agassi's US Open finish, along with his Masters Series victories in Key Biscayne,
Rome, and
Madrid, helped him finish 2002 as the oldest year-end World No. 2 at 32 years and 8 months.
[28]In 2003, Agassi won the eighth (and final) Grand Slam title of his career at the Australian Open, where he beat
Rainer Schüttler in straight sets in the final. In March, he won his sixth career and third consecutive
Key Biscayne title, in the process surpassing his wife,
Steffi Graf, who was a 5-time winner of the event. The final was his 18th straight win in that tournament, which broke the previous record of 17 set by Sampras from 1993–1995. (Agassi's winning streak continued to 20 after winning his first two matches at the 2004 edition of that tournament before bowing to
Agustín Calleri.) With the victory, Agassi became the youngest (19 years old) and oldest (32) winner of the Key Biscayne tournament. On April 28, 2003, he recaptured the World No. 1 ranking after a quarterfinal victory over
Xavier Malisse at the
Queen's Club Championships to become the oldest top ranked male player since the ATP rankings began at 33 years and 13 days. He held the World No. 1 ranking for two weeks when
Lleyton Hewitt took it back on May 12, 2003. Agassi then recaptured the World No. 1 ranking once again on June 16, 2003, which he held for 12 weeks until September 7, 2003. During his career, Agassi held the World No. 1 ranking for a total of 101 weeks.
[35] Agassi's ranking slipped when injuries forced him to withdraw from many events. He did manage to reach the US Open semifinals, where he lost to
Juan Carlos Ferrero and surrendered his World No. 1 ranking to Ferrero. At the year-ending Tennis Masters Cup, Agassi lost in the final to Federer and finished the year ranked World No. 4. At age 33, he was the oldest player to rank in the top five since Connors, at age 35, was World No. 4 in 1987.
[28][edit]2004–2006
In 2004, Agassi began the year with a five-set loss in the semifinals of the Australian Open to
Marat Safin; the loss ended Agassi's 26-match winning streak at the event, a record that still stands. Agassi won the
Masters series event in Cincinnati to bring his career total to 59 top-level singles titles and a record 17 ATP Masters Series titles, having already won seven of the nine ATP Masters tournament—all except the tournaments in
Monte Carlo and
Hamburg. At 34, he became the second-oldest singles champion in Cincinnati tournament history (the tournament began in 1899), surpassed only by
Ken Rosewall who won the title in 1970 at age 35. He finished the year ranked World No. 8, the oldest player to finish in the top 10 since the 36-year-old Connors was World No. 7 in 1988.
[28] Agassi also became only the sixth male player during the
open era to reach 800 career wins with his first round victory over
Alex Bogomolov in
Countrywide Classic in Los Angeles.
Agassi's 2005 began with a quarterfinal loss to Federer at the Australian Open. Agassi had several other deep runs at tournaments but had to withdraw from several events due to injury. He lost to
Jarkko Nieminen in the first round of the French Open. He won his fourth title in Los Angeles and reached the final of the
Rogers Cup before falling to World No. 2
Rafael Nadal. Agassi's 2005 was defined by an improbable run to the US Open final. After beating
Răzvan Sabău and
Ivo Karlović in straight sets and
Tomáš Berdych in four sets, Agassi won three consecutive five-set matches to advance to the final. The most notable of these matches was his quarterfinal victory over
James Blake, where he rallied from two sets down to win 3–6, 3–6, 6–3, 6–3, 7–6(6). His other five-set victims were
Xavier Malisse in the fourth round and
Robby Ginepri in the semifinals. In the final, Agassi faced Federer, who was seeking his second consecutive US Open title and his sixth Grand Slam title in two years. Federer defeated Agassi in four sets, although Agassi gave him a scare when Agassi was up a break in the third set after splitting the first two sets.
Before the 2005 Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, Agassi rolled his ankle in a
racquetball accident and tore several ligaments. He was unable to walk for weeks. He nevertheless committed to the tournament, in which he was seeded third, and played
Nikolay Davydenko in his first round robin match. Agassi's movement was noticeably hindered, particularly on his backhand return of serve, and he lost in straight sets. He then withdrew from the tournament.
Agassi finished 2005 ranked World No. 7, his 16th time in the year-end top 10 rankings, which tied Connors for the most times ranked in the top 10 at year's end. In 2005, Agassi left
Nike after 17 years and signed an endorsement deal with
Adidas.
[36] A major reason for Agassi leaving Nike was because Nike refused to donate to Agassi's charities and Adidas was more than happy to do so.
Agassi had a poor start to 2006. He was still recovering from an ankle injury and also suffering from back and leg pain and lack of match play. Agassi withdrew from the Australian Open because of the ankle injury, and his back injury and other pains forced him to withdraw from several other events, eventually skipping the entire clay court season, including the French Open. This caused his ranking to drop out of the top 10 for the last time.
Agassi returned for the grass court season, playing a tune-up and then
Wimbledon. He was defeated in the third round by World No. 2 (and eventual runner-up)
Rafael Nadal 7–6(5), 6–2, 6–4. Against conventions, Agassi, the losing player, was interviewed on court after the match.
[37] At Wimbledon, Agassi announced his plans to retire following the US Open.
Agassi played only two events during the summer hardcourt season, with his best result being a quarterfinal loss at the
Countrywide Classicin Los Angeles to
Fernando González of Chile 6–4, 3–6, 7–5. As a result, he was unseeded at the US Open.
Agassi had a short but dramatic run in his final US Open. Because of extreme back pain, Agassi was forced to receive anti-inflammatory injections after every match. After a tough four-set win against
Andrei Pavel, Agassi faced eighth-seeded
Marcos Baghdatis in the second round, who had earlier advanced to the
2006 Australian Open final and Wimbledon semifinals. Agassi won 6–4, 6–4, 3–6, 5–7, 7–5 as the younger Baghdatis succumbed to muscle cramping in the final set. In his last match, Agassi fell to 112th ranked big-serving
Benjamin Beckerof Germany in four sets. Agassi received an eight minute standing ovation from the crowd after the match and delivered a memorable retirement speech.
[edit]Earnings
Agassi earned more than US$ 30 million in prize-money during his career, fourth only to Federer, Sampras and Nadal to date. He also earned more than US $25 million a year through endorsements, during his career and fourth in all sports at the time.
[citation needed][edit]Post retirement
Since retiring after the
2006 US Open, Agassi has participated in a series of charity tournaments and continues his work with his own charity. On September 5, 2007, Agassi was a surprise guest commentator for the
Andy Roddick/
Roger Federer US Open quarter-final. He played an exhibition match at Wimbledon, teaming with his wife, Steffi Graf, to play with
Tim Henman and
Kim Clijsters. He played
World Team Tennisfor the
Philadelphia Freedoms in the summer of 2009
[38] and played at the
Outback Champions Series event for the first time. He played the
Cancer Treatment Centers of America Tennis Championships at
Surprise, Arizona where he reached the final before bowing to eventual champion
Todd Martin.
[39] On the way to the final, Agassi beat
Mikael Pernfors in the quarter-finals and
Wayne Ferreira in the semi-finals. He also announced that he will not be playing the tour on a full-time basis, and played the tournament as a favor to long-time friend
Jim Courier.
[40] Andre played a charity tournament with Sampras, Federer, and Nadal for Haitian earthquake relief. In early 2011, Agassi will play a series of exhibition matches
"Rise of Legends" in Taiwan with
Marat Safin at the
Taipei Arena on Jan. 6, 2011 and
Kaohsiung Arena on Jan. 8, 2011. On August 2010 he made an exhibition game in
Coliseo Cubierto El Campin in
Bogota,
Colombia with
Pete Sampras,
Anna Kournikova and other professional tennis players.
[edit]Playing style
Early in his career, Agassi would look to end points quickly, typically by inducing a weak return with a deep, hard shot, and then playing a winner at an extreme angle. His return of serve, baseline game, and keen sense of anticipation were among the best in the game, and helped him win the Wimbledon title in 1992. On the rare occasion that he charged the net, Agassi liked to take the ball in the air and hit a swinging volley for the winner.
Agassi continually put pressure on opponents with a preference to taking the ball early and was known for swinging deep angles like a powerful backhand up the line. His strength was in dictating play from the back of the court. While growing up his father and Nick Bollettieri trained him in this way.
[41] When in control of a point, Agassi would often pass up an opportunity to attempt a winner and hit a conservative shot to minimize his errors, and to make his opponent run more.
Agassi's serve was never the strength of his game, but it improved steadily over the course of his career to being above average. He often used his hard slice serve in the deuce service box to send his opponent off the court, followed by a shot to the opposite corner. Agassi's service speed when hitting a flat first serve would range between 110 and 125 mph (177 and 201 km/h). His second serve was usually heavy kick serve in the mid 80s.
[edit]Personal and family life
Agassi married actress
Brooke Shields on April 19, 1997. In February 1998, they filed suit against
The National Enquirer claiming it printed "false and fabricated" statements about the couple, but the case was dismissed. The couple later filed for divorce, which was granted on April 9, 1999.
At the 1999 French Open, Agassi and
Steffi Graf were the surprise champions, since he had not won a Grand Slam title since 1995 and she since 1996. At the winners' ball, they met each other for the second time. Shortly after, they started dating. Graf retired after they both reached the Wimbledon final in July. They were married on October 22, 2001.
[42] Their son, Jaden Gil, was born four days later, October 26. Their daughter, Jaz Elle, was born on October 3, 2003. The couple live in the Las Vegas area and own several vacation homes.
Agassi's older sister, Rita, was married to tennis player
Pancho Gonzales. In 1995, when Gonzales died in Las Vegas, Andre paid for the funeral. Andre's other sister, Tami, like their mother, Betty, is a breast cancer survivor.
Long-time trainer
Gil Reyes has been called one of Agassi's closest friends; some have described him as being a "father figure".
[43][44]In December 2008, Agassi's childhood friend and former business manager Perry Rogers sued Graf for $50,000 in management fees he claimed that she owed him.
[45][46]Agassi's autobiography,
Open (written with assistance from
J. R. Moehringer[47]), was published in November 2009. In it, Agassi admitted that his once distinctive bushy
mane was actually a
wig, and to using and testing positive for
methamphetamine in 1997,.
[26][48][49] In response to the latter revelation, Roger Federer declared himself shocked and disappointed,
[50] while
Sergej Bubka declared that Agassi should have been disqualified.
[51] In an exclusive interview to CBS Agassi justified himself and asked for understanding, saying that "It was a period in my life where I needed help."
[52] He also revealed that he had always hated tennis during his career because of the constant pressure it exerted on him. He also revealed he thought
Pete Sampras was "robotic".
[53][54] The book reached #1 on the
New York Times Best Seller list[55] and received favorable reviews.
[56][edit]Politics
Agassi has donated more than $100,000 to Democratic candidates.
[57] However, on September 1, 2010, when Agassi appeared on daily WNYC public radio program "The Brian Lehrer Show," Agassi stated that he is a registered Independent.
[58][edit]Philanthropy
Agassi founded the Andre Agassi Charitable Association in 1994, which assists Las Vegas' young people. Agassi was awarded the ATP Arthur Ashe Humanitarian award in 1995 for his efforts to help disadvantaged youth. He is regularly cited as the most charitable and socially involved player in professional tennis. It has also been claimed that he may be the most charitable athlete of his generation.
[59]Agassi's charities help in assisting children reach their athletic potential. His Boys & Girls Club sees 2,000 children throughout the year and boasts a world class junior tennis team. It also has a basketball program (the Agassi Stars) and a rigorous system that encourages a mix of academics and athletics.
In 2001, Agassi opened the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy
[60] in Las Vegas, a tuition-free charter school for at-risk children in the area. In 2009, the graduating class had 100 percent graduation rate and a 100 percent college acceptance rate
[citation needed]. Among other child-related programs that Agassi supports through his Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation is Clark County's only residential facility for abused and neglected children, Child Haven. In 1997, Agassi donated funding to Child Haven for a six-room classroom building now named the Agassi Center for Education. His foundation also provided $720,000 to assist in the building of the Andre Agassi Cottage for Medically Fragile Children. This 20 bed facility opened in December 2001 and accommodates developmentally delayed or handicapped children and children quarantined for infectious diseases.
[citation needed]
In 2007, Agassi,
Muhammad Ali,
Lance Armstrong,
Warrick Dunn,
Jeff Gordon,
Mia Hamm,
Tony Hawk,
Andrea Jaeger,
Jackie Joyner-Kersee,
Mario Lemieux,
Alonzo Mourning and
Cal Ripken, Jr. founded the charity
Athletes for Hope ,
[61] which helps professional athletes get involved in charitable causes and aims to inspire all people to volunteer and support their communities.
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