Tennisarchives.com

General First nameAndre Kirk
LastnameAgassi
GenderMale
CountryUnited States of America
Date of birth1970-04-29
Place of birthLas Vegas, Nevada, United States of America


About

is an American retired professional tennis player and former World No. 1, who was one of the game's most dominant players from the early 1990s to the mid-2000s.[2] Generally considered by critics and fellow players to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time,[3][4][5][6][7] Agassi had been called the greatest service returner in the history of the game.[5][8][9][10] Described by the BBC upon his retirement as "perhaps the biggest worldwide star in the sport's history",[7] Agassi compiled performances that, along with his unorthodox apparel and attitude, saw him cited as one of the most charismatic players in the history of the game. As a result, he is credited for helping to revive the popularity of tennis during the 1990s.[5][7][11]

In singles tennis, Agassi is an eight-time Grand Slam champion and a 1996 Olympic gold medalist, as well as finishing runner-up in seven other Grand Slam tournaments. During the Open Era, Agassi is the first male player to win 4 Australian Open titles and those were an Open Era record until Novak Djokovic won his 5th title on February 1, 2015. Agassi is one of five male singles players to achieve the Career Grand Slam in the Open Era and one of eight in history,[12][13] the first of two to achieve the Career Golden Slam (Career Grand Slam and Olympic Gold Medal), and the only man to win the Career Golden Slam and the ATP Tour World Championships (won in 1990): a distinction dubbed as a "Career Super Slam" by Sports Illustrated.[3]

Agassi was the first male player to win all four Grand Slam tournaments on three different surfaces (hard, clay and grass), and the last American male to win the French Open, in 1999[14] and the Australian Open (2003).[15] He also won 17 ATP Masters Series titles and was part of a winning Davis Cup team in 1990, 1992 and 1995.[4] Agassi reached the World No. 1 ranking for the first time in 1995 but was troubled by personal issues during the mid-to-late 1990s and sank to World No. 141 in 1997, prompting many to believe that his career was over.[16] Agassi returned to World No. 1 in 1999 and enjoyed the most successful run of his career over the next four years. During his 20-plus year tour career, Agassi was known by the nickname "The Punisher".[17][18][19][20]

After suffering from sciatica caused by two bulging discs in his back, a spondylolisthesis (vertebral displacement) and a bone spur that interfered with the nerve, Agassi retired from professional tennis on September 3, 2006, after losing in the third round of the US Open to Benjamin Becker. He is the founder of the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation,[21] which has raised over $60 million for at-risk children in Southern Nevada.[22] In 2001, the Foundation opened the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy in Las Vegas, a K-12 public charter school for at-risk children.[23] He has been married to fellow tennis player Steffi Graf since 2001.
Andre Agassi was born in Las Vegas, Nevada to Emmanuel "Mike" Agassi and Elizabeth "Betty" Agassi (née Dudley).[2][24] His father, a former Olympic boxer for Iran, stated he is from a mixed, mostly Armenian, heritage. He later elaborated that his grandfather was Assyrian[25][26][27][28][29] who "married an Armenian woman."[29] Andre Agassi's mother, Betty, is a breast cancer survivor. He has three older siblings ? Rita (last wife to Pancho Gonzales), Philip and Tami.[30][31] One of his ancestors changed his surname from Agassian to Agassi to avoid persecution.[32]

In a passage from the book Open, Agassi details how his father made him play a match for money with football legend Jim Brown, in 1979, when Agassi was 9 years old. Brown was at a Vegas tennis club complaining to the owner about a money match that was canceled. Agassi's father stepped in and told Brown that he could play his son and he would put up his house for the wager. Brown countered with a $10,000 bet, but after he was warned by the club owner not to take the bet because he would lose and be embarrassed, Brown agreed with Mike Agassi that they would set the amount after he and Andre played two sets. Brown lost those sets, 3?6, 3?6, declined the 10K wager, and offered to play the third set for $500. He lost 2?6.[33]

At age 13, Andre was sent to Nick Bollettieri's Tennis Academy in Florida.[16] He was meant to stay for only 3 months because that was all his father could afford. After thirty 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.[34] Agassi dropped out of school in the ninth grade.[35]
Agassi turned professional at the age of 16 and competed in his first tournament at La Quinta, California. He won his first match against John Austin, but then lost his second match to Mats Wilander. By the end of the year, Agassi was ranked world no. 91.[36] He won his first top-level singles title in 1987 at the Sul American Open in Itaparica[16] and ended the year ranked world no. 25.[16] 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),[16] and, by December of that year, he had surpassed US$1 million in career prize money after playing in just 43 tournaments?the fastest anyone in history had reached that level.[37] During the year, he set the open-era record for most consecutive victories by a male teenager, a record that stood for 17 years until Rafael Nadal broke it in 2005.[38] 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.[16]

In addition to not playing the Australian Open (which later became 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 semifinals of both the French Open and the US Open in 1988 and made the US Open semifinals in 1989. He began the 1990s 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, which he attributes to worrying about his wig falling off.[39] 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 crushed Sampras, 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 in three sets.[16] 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.[40] He reached the quarterfinals 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 Ivani?evi? in a five-set final.[16][41] Along the way, Agassi overcame two former Wimbledon champions: 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 no. 1 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.
With new coach Brad Gilbert on board, Agassi began to employ more of a tactical, consistent approach, which fueled his resurgence. He started slowly in 1994, losing in the first week at the French Open and Wimbledon. Nevertheless, he emerged during the hard-court season, winning the Canadian Open. His comeback culminated at the 1994 US Open with a five-set fourth-round victory against compatriot Michael Chang. He then became the first man to capture the US Open as an unseeded player, beating Michael Stich in the final.[16] Along the way, he beat 5 seeded players.

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.[16] 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.[16] He compiled a career-best 26-match winning streak during the summer hard-court circuit, with the last victory being in an intense late night four-set semifinal of the US Open against Boris Becker. The streak ended the next day when Agassi lost the 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. Agassi skipped most of the fall indoor season which allowed Sampras surpass him and finish ranked no. 1 at the year-ending ranking. In terms of win/loss record, 1995 was Agassi's best year. He won 73 matches while losing 9 and 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 said in his biography that he had lost the match on purpose, as he 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.[16] 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 later confessed that he started using crystal methamphetamine at that time, allegedly on the urging of a friend.[42] He failed an ATP drug test, but wrote a letter claiming the same friend had spiked a drink. The ATP dropped the failed drug test as a warning. In his autobiography, Agassi admitted that the letter was a lie.[43] He quit the drug soon after. At this time Agassi was also in a failing marriage with actress Brooke Shields and had lost interest in the game.[44] He won no top-level titles, and his ranking sank to world no. 141 on November 10, 1997, prompting many to believe that his run as one of the sport's premier competitors was over and that he would never again win any significant championships.[16]
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. After returning to top physical and mental shape, Agassi recorded the most successful period of his tennis career and also played classic matches in that period against Pete Sampras and Patrick Rafter.

In 1998, Agassi won five titles and leapt from world no. 110 to no. 6, the highest jump into the top 10 made by any player during a calendar year.[45] At Wimbledon, he had an early loss in the second round to 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. At the year end he was awarded the ATP Most Improved Player of the Year for the second time in his career (the first being 10 years earlier in 1988).

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 Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic) to win all four Grand Slam singles titles during his career. Only Laver, Agassi, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have achieved this feat during the open era. This win also made him the first (of only four, the next being Federer, Nadal and Djokovic respectively) male player 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 won their Grand Slam titles on clay and grass courts. Agassi also became the only male player to win the Career Super Slam, consisting of all four Grand Slam tournaments plus an Olympic gold medal in singles and a Year-End Championship.[3]

Agassi followed his 1999 French Open victory by reaching the Wimbledon final, where he lost to Sampras in straight sets.[16] He rebounded from his Wimbledon defeat by winning the US Open, beating Todd Martin in five sets (rallying from a two sets to one deficit) in the final. Overall during the year Agassi won 5 titles including two majors and the ATP Masters Series in Paris, where he beat Marat Safin. Agassi ended 1999 as the world no. 1, ending Sampras's record of six consecutive year-ending top rankings (1993?98).[16] This was the only time Agassi ended the year at no. 1.

He 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.[16] He was the first male player to have reached four consecutive Grand Slam finals since Rod Laver achieved the Grand Slam in 1969.[a] 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.[b]. 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.[46] At the inaugural Tennis Masters Cup in Lisbon, Agassi reached the final after defeating Marat Safin 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.[16] En route, he beat a cramping Rafter in five sets 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[47] with Sampras, 7?6, 6?7, 6?7, 6?7,[48] with no breaks of serve during the 52-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 3 in three different decades[49] (1980s, 1990s, 2000s). 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.[45]

2002 opened with disappointment for Agassi, as injury forced him to skip the Australian Open, where he was a two-time defending champion. Agassi recovered from the injury and later that year defended his Key Biscayne title beating then rising Roger Federer in a four-set final. 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.[45]

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 five-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?95. (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 had 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-end 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 5 since Connors, at age 35, was world no. 4 in 1987.[45]
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. He 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.[45] 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 R?zvan Sab?u and Ivo Karlovi? in straight sets and Tomá? 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 7?6 in the fifth set. 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. 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.

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. Against conventions, Agassi, the losing player, was interviewed on court after the match.[50] At Wimbledon, Agassi announced his plans to retire following the US Open. Agassi played only two events during the summer hard-court season, with his best result being a quarterfinal loss at the Countrywide Classic in Los Angeles to Fernando González of Chile. 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 in five tough sets 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 a four-minute standing ovation from the crowd after the match and delivered a retirement speech.

Media


Archive statistics Career1985 - 2005
Tournament wins15
Matches246
Match wins175


Tournament wins 2003 - Australian Open (Grandslam)
2002 - Italian International Championships ()
2001 - Australian Open (Grandslam)
2001 - Indian Wells (ATP)
2000 - Australian Open (Grandslam)
1999 - US Open (Grandslam)
1999 - Roland Garros (Grandslam)
1999 - Paris Masters (ATP)
1996 - Olympics, Olympic Games (Olympic Games)
1995 - Australian Open (Grandslam)
1994 - Paris Masters (ATP)
1994 - US Open (Grandslam)
1992 - Wimbledon (Grandslam)
1990 - ATP World Tour Finals (ATP)
1987 - Itaparica (Grand Prix Circuit)


Tournaments Australian Open - 2005 US Open - 2005 Canadian International Championships - 2005 Italian International Championships - 2005 Masters cup - 2005 Australian Open - 2004 US Open - 2004 Australian Open - 2003 Wimbledon - 2003 Roland Garros - 2003 US Open - 2003 Canadian International Championships - 2003 ATP World Tour Finals - 2003 Masters cup - 2003 Roland Garros - 2002 US Open - 2002 Italian International Championships - 2002 Paris Masters - 2002 Masters cup - 2002 Australian Open - 2001 Wimbledon - 2001 Roland Garros - 2001 US Open - 2001 Indian Wells - 2001 Masters cup - 2001 Australian Open - 2000 Wimbledon - 2000 US Open - 2000 Masters cup - 2000 Australian Open - 1999 Wimbledon - 1999 Roland Garros - 1999 US Open - 1999 Canadian International Championships - 1999 Paris Masters - 1999 ATP World Tour Finals - 1999 Australian Open - 1998 Wimbledon - 1998 US Open - 1998 Canadian International Championships - 1998 Paris Masters - 1998 Indian Wells - 1998 Grand slam cup - 1998 US Open - 1997 Australian Open - 1996 Wimbledon - 1996 US Open - 1996 Olympics, Olympic Games - 1996 Australian Open - 1995 Wimbledon - 1995 Roland Garros - 1995 US Open - 1995 Indian Wells - 1995 Wimbledon - 1994 US Open - 1994 Paris Masters - 1994 Wimbledon - 1993 US Open - 1993 Wimbledon - 1992 Roland Garros - 1992 US Open - 1992 Wimbledon - 1991 Roland Garros - 1991 US Open - 1991 Roland Garros - 1990 US Open - 1990 ATP World Tour Finals - 1990 Indian Wells - 1990 Roland Garros - 1989 US Open - 1989 Roland Garros - 1988 US Open - 1988 Wimbledon - 1987 Roland Garros - 1987 US Open - 1987 Itaparica - 1987 US Open - 1986 United States 3 Satellite - Leg 1 - 1985 United States 3 Satellite - Leg 2 - 1985 United States 3 Satellite - Leg 3 - 1985 United States 3 Satellite - Leg 4 - 1985 United States 3 Satellite - Masters - 1985 Las Vegas - Qualifying - 1985 United States 3 Satellite - Leg 2 - Qualifying - 1985