Biography
Early Years:
Born in Las Vegas, Nevada, to Iranian father Emmanuel " Mike" Agassi, and American mother Elizabeth Agassi, Andre
Kirk
Agassi played tennis from a young age. His father, who was half Armenian and half Assyrian had been a formidable athlete and
a Golden Gloves champ
for Iran. Mike Agassi participated in the 1948 and 1952 Olympic Games as a boxer for Iran.
Mike was a tennis fanatic and built a mini-training camp in his back yard for his three eldest children, Rita, Philip and Tami. Equipment included a full-size court, which Mike himself laid, and a tennis-serving machine rigged to fire balls faster than the usual speed.
Mike wanted to turn at least one of his four children into a world-class player. He hung tennis balls over Andre's crib and gave him a full-sized racket at the age of two.
Growing up, Andre and his siblings would hit some where around 3000 tennis balls a day, seven days a week. When he was 14, Andre was eventually enrolled in the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida. At the age of 16, he turned professional and within two years rose to No. 3 in the world.
The World's Best Tennis Player:
Over time Agassi developed a reputation as an athlete with exceptional fitness and conditioning, allowing him to outplay others over a long match. Strong performances flagged Agassi as a future Grand Slam champion. The young champ also had a bad boy reputation, plenty of endorsements, and no Grand Slams to back him up. He grew his hair to rock-star length, sported an earring, and wore colorful shirts that pushed tennis' rules.
But he began the 1990s with a series of near-misses and in 1990 he finally reached his first Grand Slam at the French Open, where he lost in four sets to the seasoned veteran player Andrés Gómez. Later that year he lost in the final of the US Open to Pete Sampras. In 1991, Agassi lost again, this time in the French Open to his former Bollettieri Academy-mate Jim Courier.
Agassi chose not to play at Wimbledon from 1988-90, and when he finally stepped on the grass court in 1991, he beat Goran Ivaniševic in a tight five-set final.
Life off the court was good for the tenni champ. In 1993, mutual friend Lyndie Benson, wife of saxophone player Kenny G, suggested he meet Brooke Shields. Agassi and Shields spoke on the phone and faxed each other messages for six weeks before they met. The same year, Andre and Nick Bollettieri parted ways. Agassi turned to fellow player Brad Gilbert to coach him.
Following a wrist surgery, Agassi came back in 1994 and captured the US Open, beating Michael Stich. That was followed by his first Australian Open title in 1995, where he beat rival Sampras in a four-set final.
In 1995, Andre won a career-high seven titles and he reached the World No. 1 ranking for the first time in April. He held it for 30 weeks on that occasion through to November and went on to a career-best 26-match winning streak. At the Atlanta Olympics, the following year, Agassi won the men's singles Gold Medal, beating Sergi Bruguera of Spain in straight sets in the final. He married Brooke in 1997 and within a year filed for divorce. His game also took a nose dive and he spent a lot of time getting back into shape. The following year, Agassi won five titles and lept from No. 122 on the rankings, to No. 6, making it the highest jump into the Top 10 made by any player in tennis. He won five titles in ten finals, and went on to finish runner-up at the Miami Masters.
Agassi made history books in 1999 when he beat Andrei Medvedev in a five-set French Open final to become only the fifth male player to have won all four Grand Slam singles titles. He also won the US Open, beating Todd Martin in five sets in the final, and finished the year ranked the World No. 1, again.
The year 2000 began with his second Australian Open title. Andre was the first male player to have reached four consecutive Grand Slam finals since Rod Laver in 1969. In 2001, Andre once again defended his Australian Open title with a straight-sets final win over Arnaud Clement. He also married Tennis Champion Steffi Graf.
In 2003, Agassi won the eighth Grand Slam title of his career at the Australian Open, where he beat Rainer Schüttler in straight sets. On May 11th of that year, Agassi won the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston, making him the oldest No. 1 ranked male tennis player in history at 33 years and 13 days. In 2004, the now 34-year-old tennis champion won the Tennis Masters Series in Cincinnati to bring his career total to 59 top-level singles titles. Andre finished the year ranked eighth in the world, making him the oldest player to finish the year in the Top 10 (at age 34) since Jimmy Connors finished seventh in 1988 when he was 36. Undoubtedly, a tennis legend, Andre is known for playing a baseline style of play, however he often makes contact with the ball inside the baseline. His serve is not the fastest, but has very good placement. His return-of-serve is his strongest weapon. Many observers agree that Agassi is the best service returner in the history of professional tennis. He was the target of one of the fastest serves on record – a 149-mph (240 km/h) blast from Andy Roddick – and returned it into play.
Image Gallery:
Notable Wins:
Year |
Championship |
Opponent in Final |
Score in Final |
1992 |
Wimbledon |
Goran Ivaniševic |
6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 |
1994 |
US Open |
Michael Stich |
6-1, 7-6, 7-5 |
1995 |
Australian Open |
Pete Sampras |
4-6, 6-1, 7-6, 6-4 |
1999 |
French Open |
Andrei Medvedev |
1-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 |
1999 |
US Open |
Todd Martin |
6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2 |
2000 |
Australian Open |
Yevgeny Kafelnikov |
3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 |
2001 |
Australian Open |
Arnaud Clement |
6-4, 6-2, 6-2 |
2003 |
Australian Open |
Rainer Schuettler |
6-2, 6-2, 6-1 |
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