Andre Kirk Agassi (born April 29, 1970) is a
former
World No.
1 professional
American
tennis player who won eight
Grand Slam singles tournaments and an
Olympic gold medal in singles. He is generally considered
by critics and fellow players to be among the greatest tennis
players of all time, and has been called the best service returner
in the history of tennis. Known for his unorthodox apparel and
attitude, Agassi is often cited as one of the most charismatic
players in the history of the game, and along with
Pete Sampras is credited for the revived
popularity of tennis in the U.S. during the 1990s. He is married to
fellow retired professional tennis player and multiple
Grand Slam champion
Steffi Graf.
Agassi is, with
Rod Laver,
Don Budge,
Fred Perry,
Roy Emerson, and
Roger Federer, one of only six men to have
achieved a
Career
Grand Slam, one of only three (with
Laver and
Federer)
since the beginning of the
Open Era, and the only male
player to have achieved a
Career
Golden Slam. In addition to his Grand Slam and Olympic singles
titles, he won the
Tennis Masters
Cup and was part of a winning
Davis
Cup team. He won 17
ATP Masters
Series tournaments, more than any other player.
Agassi's Grand Slam
composition is (4 Australian
Open
, 1 French
Open
, 1 Wimbledon
, 2 US Open
) for his
career. Tennis
magazine named him the 7th greatest male player—and 12th
greatest player overall—for the period 1965 through 2005.
After
suffering from sciatica caused by two
bulging discs in his back, a spondylolisthesis (vertebral displacement) and a bone spur that interferes with the nerve, Agassi retired from professional tennis on
September 3, 2006, after losing in the third round of the US
Open
. He is the founder of the Andre Agassi
Charitable Foundation, which has raised over $60 million for
at-risk children in Southern Nevada. In 2001, the Foundation opened
the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy in Las Vegas, a K-12
public
charter school for at-risk
children.
Early life
Agassi was
born in Las Vegas,
Nevada
, to Emmanuel "Mike"
Aghassian and Elizabeth "Betty" Agassi (née Dudley).
His father
is an Iranian of Armenian and
Assyrian ethnicity who represented
Iran
in boxing at the 1948 and 1952 Olympic Games before emigrating to the United
States. Andre Agassi's mother, Betty, is a
breast cancer survivor.
Mike Agassi was renowned for his domineering nature, reportedly
taking a hammer to matches and banging on the fences in disgust
when Andre lost a point. He sometimes screamed at officials and was
ejected more than once.
At age 13, Andre was sent to Nick Bollettieri's Tennis Academy in
Florida
. He was meant to stay for only eight weeks
because that was all his father could afford. However, after ten
minutes of watching Agassi rally, 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.
He turned professional at the age of 16.
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.
Playing style
Early on 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, still
in the era of the serve and volley players. 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 famously known for swinging deep
angles like a smoking backhand up the line. His strength was
dictating play from the back of the court while growing up his
father and Nick Bollettieri trained him in this way. He was never
known for a strong serve, net work or volleying. When in control of
a point, Agassi would often pass up an opportunity to attempt a
winner and hit a slightly more conservative shot, both to minimize
his errors and to make his opponent run more. His penchant for
running players around point after point has earned him the
nickname "The Punisher".
Agassi's serve was never the strength of his game, but it improved
steadily over the course of his career, and went from being a
liability to being above average. He often used his hard slice
serve in the deuce service box to seek to send his opponent off the
court, followed by a shot to the opponent's opposite corner.
Agassi's service speed when hitting a flat first serve would often
range between to . His second serve however was usually only in the
mid 80's. He relied on a heavy kick serve for his second
serve.
Tennis career
1986–1993
Agassi
turned professional in 1986 and won his first top-level singles
title in 1987 at the Sul American
Open in Itaparica
. He ended the year ranked World No. 25. 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), 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. 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.
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. 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. 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.
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.
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. 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. 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
loss on the windy conditions but later admitted in his biography
that he had tanked (lost on purpose) this match as he bore a grudge
against
Boris Becker whom he would have
faced in the 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. 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. 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. He quit the drug soon
after. He won no top-level titles and his ranking sank to World No.
141 on November 10, 1997.
1998–2003

Agassi serving
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 professional players ranked outside the
world's top 50). He played some classic matches in this period,
most notably against his rival
Pete
Sampras and popular Australian
Patrick Rafter.
In 1998, Agassi won five titles and leapt from World No. 122 at the
start of the year to World No. 6 at the end of it, making it the
highest jump into the top 10 made by any player during a single
calendar year. At Wimbledon that year, 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 of winning that tournament.
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, thereby 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)
to have won all four Grand Slam
singles titles during his career. This win also made him the
first (of only two, the second being Roger Federer) 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 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. 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). 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.
He was the first male player to have reached four consecutive Grand
Slam finals since
Rod Laver achieved the
Grand Slam in 1969. 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.
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 played at Wimbledon.
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 Kuerten
in 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. 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 with Sampras 6–7(7), 7–6(7), 7–6(2), 7–6(5), 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 (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.
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
proved to be 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.
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. 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.
2004–2006
In 2004,
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.
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. 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. 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 Classic in 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 Becker of Germany in four sets.
Agassi received an eight minute standing ovation from the crowd
after the match and delivered a memorable retirement speech.
Earnings
Agassi earned more than US$ 30 million in prize-money during his
career, third only to Sampras and Federer 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.
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 quarterfinal. He played an
exhibition match at Wimbledon, teamed with his wife, Steffi Graf,
to play with
Tim Henman and
Kim Clijsters. He will play
World Team Tennis for the
Philadelphia Freedoms in the summer of
2009 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 champions Todd Martin who
captured his fourth career Outback Champions Series win. On
the way to the finals, Agassi beat
Mikael Pernfors in the quarterfinals and
Wayne Ferreira in the semifinals.
However, he clarified that he will not be playing the tour on a
full-time basis as he only played the tournament as a favor to
long-time friend
Jim Courier.
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. Their son, Jaden Gil,
was born four days later, October 26. Their daughter, Jaz Elle, was
born on October 3, 2003. The couple lives 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, Agassi paid for the funeral. Long-time trainer
Gil Reyes has been called one of
Agassi's closest friends; some have described him as being a
"father figure" for Andre Agassi. Andre Agassi's other sister,
Tami, like their mother, Betty Agassi, is a
breast cancer survivor.
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.
Agassi's
autobiography, entitled
"
Open: An Autobiography," was
published in November 2009. In it, Agassi admitted to using and
testing positive for
methamphetamine
in 1997, and that his then-distinctive long hair was actually a
wig; in Agassi's opinion, his defeat in the
1990 French Open
final was partly due to issues with the wearing of the wig. The
book reached the number 1 position on the
New York Times Best Seller
list and received overwhelmingly favorable reviews.
Politics
Agassi is a registered
Democrat and has donated
more than $100,000 to Democratic candidates.
Philanthropy
Agassi has participated in many charity organizations and 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 surmised
that he may be the most charitable athlete of his generation, which
includes
Lance Armstrong.
Andre 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 up the
Andre Agassi College Prepatory Academy 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. 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 called 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 facility opened in
December 2001 and accommodates developmentally delayed or
handicapped children and children quarantined for infectious
diseases. It houses approximately 20 beds and gives children with
special needs the special attention needed to make them feel
comfortable in their new surroundings."
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, which helps professional athletes get
involved in charitable causes and inspires millions of non-athletes
to volunteer and support the community.
Quotations
- "Image is Everything." - coined by Canon and announced by a teenage Agassi in a
series of commercials, this quote was associated with Agassi and
long used as a criticism of his character. In his book, Agassi
writes, "They treat this ridiculous throwaway slogan as if it's my
Confession, which makes as much sense as arresting Marlon Brando for murder because of a line he
uttered in The Godfather."
- About Pete Sampras' retirement:
"You grow up with a guy, you compete against him for so long, he's
such a big part of your career, something that's pretty special, so
you do have that sense of personal regret that he's not around any
more. You miss having that around."
- During the 2005 US Open
: "I've been
motivated by overcoming challenge and overcoming the hurdles and
obstacles that face me. There still is plenty out there to
get motivated by." After defeating James
Blake in a quarterfinal, Agassi said, "First of all, let me
say, 1:15 in the morning, for 20,000 people to still be here, I
wasn't the winner, tennis was. That's awesome. I don't know if I've
ever felt so good here before."
- When Mats Wilander was asked in
2005 to name the top five tennis players of the previous thirty
years, he placed Agassi, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Björn Borg in the top four (in no order) and
tied John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl and Jimmy
Connors for fifth place. Concerning Agassi, Wilander said, "He
has some limitations, like he can't serve and volley, yet he has
won all four Slams. He has a very high energy level, quite like
Borg. He is on fifth gear from the very first point. There is some
abnormality in his eyes, otherwise he wouldn't have had such a
phenomenal return. He sees the ball like no one else and just
guides it wherever he wants to. He's just played a Grand Slam final
at 35, that tells me he wasted the first five years of his career,
otherwise, he couldn't have lasted this long. No one has done more
to tennis than Agassi and Borg."
- “When Andre’s on, forget it,” says Sampras. “He does
practically everything better than anybody else.”
Records
- These records were attained in Open Era
of tennis.
Other records:
Most ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (formerly ATP Masters Series)
titles: 17
Oldest top ranked male player in the ATP Entry Rankings: 33 years 4
months.
Career statistics
See also
References
- CBC Sports: "Tennis's love affair with Agassi comes
to an end"
- Telegraph.co.uk: "Grand-slammed"
- BBC: "Stars pay tribute to Agassi"
- LA Times: "Sampras, Agassi Have Just Begun to
Fight"
- The Independent: "Don't Walk Away, Andre"
- Los Angeles Times coverage
- Tennis.com: "40 Greatest Players of the Tennis
Era"
- [1]
-
http://books.google.com/books?id=5R1y1nvcWccC&pg=PA278&lpg=PA278&dq=andre+aghassi+Armenian+-wikipedia.org&source=bl&ots=MiSYlmHbHG&sig=wMd8xu9J8iOQyv_RuVwJvaJWiyc&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=48&ct=result
-
http://www.persianmirror.com/culture/famous/bios/andreagassi.cfm
-
http://www.zindamagazine.com/html/archives/1995/zn082895.html
-
http://www.peopleandprofiles.com/ProfilesDet-28/Andre+Agassi.html?profile_id=127
- Open: Andre Agassi HarpersCollins 2009
-
http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/news/story?id=4600027
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/8329193.stm
- Andre Agassi player profile
- Roger
Federer has since duplicated this feat, appearing in ten
consecutive Grand Slam finals from 2005–2007.
- Pete
Sampras held the 1993 Wimbledon, 1993 US Open,
and 1994 Australian Open titles
simultaneously. Jimmy Connors won all three of those events in
1974, although at the time all three were on grass
courts. Mats
Wilander won all but Wimbledon in 1988 during his similar rise
to be the year-end World No. 1. Federer has since duplicated this
feat, holding all Grand Slam titles except the French Open at the end of
2004 as well as throughout 2006 and 2007. Rafael Nadal won the 2008
French Open, 2008 Wimbledon, and 2009 Australian Open.
- Believe the hype
- Unbreakable
- [2]
- Weeks at Number One
- ESPN - Agassi signs Adidas deal after long-term
deal with Nike - Tennis
- Andre Agassi Will Play WTT SI.com, March 1,
2009
- [3]
- [4]
- Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf Wed
- Father Knew Best
- Peter Bodo Blog: Papa Gil
- Alliance Sports Management v. Stephanie
Graf Las Vegas Sun. Accessed 23 October 2009
- "Ex-manager for Agassi sues Graf" Las
Vegas Review-Journal 7 December 2008. Accessed 23 October
2009
-
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more_sports/2009/10/27/2009-10-27_agassi.html
-
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/sports/NATL-Andre-Agassi-Admits-to-Using-Crystal-Meth-66510482.html
- Andre Agassi admits long hairstyle was a wig,
www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved on 31 October 2009.
-
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/books/bestseller/besthardnonfiction.html?ref=bestseller
-
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2009/11/book-reviews-agassi-mayle-mourlevat-palin.html
- Hollywood, sports celebs not on same donation
page
- Andre Agassi's Federal Campaign Contribution
Report
- Sportsman/Person of the Year
- Agassi: The heart of tennis
- Andre Agassi quotes
- Tennis: Agassi sends a reminder to the younger
set
- Mats Wilander - Former world No. 1 picks his top
five of last three decades
Further reading
- Open Andre Agassi HarperCollins 2009
Video
- Wimbledon 2000 Semi-Final - Agassi vs. Rafter (2003)
Starring: Andre Agassi, Patrick Rafter; Standing Room Only, DVD
Release Date: August 16, 2005, Run Time: 213 minutes, ASIN:
B000A343QY.
- Charlie Rose with Andre Agassi (May 7, 2001) Charlie
Rose, Inc., DVD Release Date: August 15, 2006, Run Time: 57
minutes, ASIN: B000HBL6VO.
- Wimbledon Record Breakers (2005) Starring: Andre
Agassi, Boris Becker; Standing Room Only, DVD Release Date: August
16, 2005, Run Time: 52 minutes, ASIN: B000A3XYYQ.
Video games
External links