Background

Ethnicity: Andre's father is of Armenian and Assyrian heritage.

Andre Agassi was born on April 29, 1970 in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, to Emmanuel "Mike" Agassi and his wife, Elizabeth. His father was an Iranian immigrant and a former Olympic boxer who became infatuated with the game of tennis as a young man. Andre has three older siblings.

Education

As Andre's father's personal opportunities to pursue an athletic career dwindled, he turned his attention to raising his children to be sports champions, specifically tennis superstars. Because he was only marginally successful in training his three older children, he resorted to extreme measures by the time his youngest child was born. So determined was Mike Agassi to raise young Agassi to be a champion that he spared no effort in providing the newborn with a head start in the sport. The elder Agassi went so far as to hang a tennis ball over the infant's cradle in order to accustom the boy to watching the ball. The baby Agassi was encouraged to swat balloons with a Ping-Pong paddle and was given a full-size racket before he could walk so he could become accustomed to the weight. Agassi's father also established connections in professional tennis and arranged a practice match between his toddler son and Jimmy Connors. Agassi was barely of school age the first time he played against Ilie Nastase and still in grade school when he first practiced with Bjorn Borg.

Given his father's overwhelming influence, Agassi's career in tennis was an assumption rather than an option. In pursuit of this goal, Mike Agassi held down two casino jobs and donated much of his remaining time to working as a tennis coach for local children, including his own. When Agassi was six years old his father purchased a Las Vegas property with a large grounds and built a family home complete with tennis court. At his father's insistence, Agassi maintained a practice regimen in grade school that involved hitting about 3,000 balls daily. The balls were served to Agassi by means of three makeshift ball machines that operated simultaneously, pitching serves at speeds as high as 110 miles per hour. This practice setup was enhanced by powerful industrial fans rigged to send the balls on erratic trajectories.

Agassi competed in local amateur tournaments from the age of seven, winning nine events in the ten-and-under category during his first season of competition. After junior high, he enrolled in the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida (now IMG Academy). An above-average student, Agassi also spent his mornings in a traditional curriculum at the Bradenton Academy. This rigorous course of academic study and athletic training left young Agassi with an urgent need to succeed. While still competing at the junior level he won five national titles, including four doubles and one singles. In 1982 and 1984 Agassi was the fourth-ranked junior player in the United States and qualified for the United States Tennis Association (USTA) tour at the age of fifteen.

Career

Understandably bored with the junior leagues, Agassi turned pro two days after his 16th birthday. In fact, he'd already signed a contract with Nike, a sign of his appeal to fans and sponsors alike.

For Agassi, the early years were winning years. He won his first pro tournament in 1987 and rose from a 41 ranking to 24. The next year turned out even better. He won six tournaments in 1988, including four in a row. Overall, he garnered a very impressive 63-11 record that year and reached the semi-finals of both the French and U.S. Opens. He also helped carry the U.S. team to victory in the Davis Cup, crushing his Argentine opponent 6-2, 6-2, 6-1. That year he went to number three in the rankings. He also became the second youngest player (after Boris Becker) to pass the $1 million mark in career prize money.

The next year was a disappointment. Agassi won only one tournament and lost the semifinals at the U.S. Open. As in 1988, he refused to play Wimbledon, citing among other things critics' refusal to let him wear his brightly colored tennis outfits.

The next few years were not much better. He did win four tournaments in 1990 and made it to the finals of the French Open, the first time he had gotten that far in a Grand Slam tournament. And at the end of the year, he won the first ever Association of Tennis Professionals World Tour Championship, beating other top-seeded players. But in 1991, he won only two tournaments and once again lost the French Open, this time to an old rival from his days at the Bollettieri Academy, Jim Courier. What made it harder was that he was poised to win toward the end of their final match, but he lost both of the final sets.

Things began to change in 1992. Agassi had ended his boycott of Wimbledon in 1991 and he reportedly found the grass difficult to play on. In 1992, he began training with Wimbledon legend John McEnroe to overcome this handicap, and his hard work paid off when he beat Boris Becker and McEnroe himself to make it to the Wimbledon finals, against Goran Ivanisevic, a player famed for his hard serve. After losing the first match, Agassi came back to defeat Ivanisevic in the next two matches, but lost the next match. This time, Agassi did not choke. Instead, he went on to win in a hard-fought final match by a 6-4 score.

By winning Wimbledon, Agassi had put to rest the myth that he could not win the big ones. But it was not all smooth sailing. The next year, bronchitis and a sprained wrist caused him to skip the Australian and French Opens. Still bothered by his wrist injury, and out of shape, he lost his Wimbledon title to Pete Sampras in the quarterfinals.

In late 1993, Agassi's mentor and coach, Nick Bollettieri, announced that he was leaving to pursue other interests, a move that hurt him and may have contributed to his first-round loss in the U.S. Open a short time later. Agassi then missed the 1994 Australian Open, complaining of the same wrist injury that had troubled him at Wimbledon. Again, it seemed that he might be on his way out.

In the summer of 1994, Agassi hired former player Brad Gilbert to be his new coach, citing Gilbert's reputation for winning matches he was expected to lose. Gilbert convinced him to focus on winning smarter and outthinking his opponents. The new strategy paid off when he won the 1994 U.S. Open, his second Grand Slam win. Agassi was back in the top ranks, this time at number two in the rankings. Perhaps to mark this new seriousness, he shaved off his trademark long hair shortly before the Australian Open, where he reached the finals without losing a match and then defeated old rival Pete Sampras to take the title.

Agassi would not remain number one for long. He lost at Wimbledon to Boris Becker and then to Sampras at the U.S. Open. By November of 1995, Sampras was back at number one, and in 1996, Agassi lost early rounds at the Australian and French Opens and at Wimbledon. He did win a gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics, but there was not much to celebrate the next year.

The next few years were a rollercoaster. He won no tournaments in 1997, and by the end of that year he was ranked a dismal 122. In 1998 he won five tournaments, and reaching the finals in five others. He ended the year ranked number six.

In 1999 Agassi won the French Open to become the fifth men's player in history to win all four Grand Slam events, and the first to do it on three different surfaces. A title at the U.S. Open in September confirmed that he was back in top form, and he returned to the number one ranking at the end of 1999. Agassi won a second Australian Open in 2000 and a third in 2001. After recurring wrist problems limited his 2002 season, he captured his fourth Australian Open championship in 2003. He made a surprise run for the 2005 U.S. Open final (a four-set loss to Roger Federer) and retained a top 10 ranking through early 2006, but mounting injuries and advancing age led to his retirement after the 2006 U.S. Open. However, he remained involved in the sport, and from 2017 to 2018 he coached Novak Djokovic of Serbia.

Achievements

• 

  Tennis player Andre Agassi maintained the highest public profile of any tennis player in the 1990s - and he backed that profile up by playing some of the best tennis of the decade. In 1988 Agassi was ranked third in the world; by 1995 he was number one and, though he faltered thereafter, he remained among the top ten players in the world into the late 1990s. Through the end of 1998 Agassi had won three of the four major tournaments - Wimbledon, the Australian Open, and the U.S. Open, failing only at the French Open.
  
  Andre is credited for helping to revive the popularity of tennis during the 1990s. He is the recipient of the ITF World Champion, ATP Player of the Year and ATP Most Improved Player awards. In 1992, Agassi was named the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year. In 2010, Sports Illustrated named him the 7th greatest male player of all time. On July 9, 2011, Andre was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Newport.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Open

    (Agassi writes candidly about his early success and his un...)

    2009

• movie

  • Love Means Zero 2017

Religion

Agassi said: "I'm not religious, but I have my faith. Religion to me is one guy telling some other guy how and what and when and why. But faith certainly is very important to me."

Politics

Agassi stated that he is a registered Independent. He has also donated more than $100,000 to Democratic candidates and $2000 to Republicans.

Views

Agassi founded the Andre Agassi Charitable Association in 1994, which assists Las Vegas' young people. His charities help in assisting children reach their athletic potential. In 2001, Andre opened the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy in Las Vegas, a tuition-free charter school for at-risk children in the area. He donated $35 million to the school. Among other child-related programs that Agassi supports through the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation is Clark County's only residential facility for abused and neglected children, Child Haven. His foundation also provided $720,000 to assist in the building of the Andre Agassi Cottage for Medically Fragile Children. This 20-bed facility accommodates developmentally delayed or handicapped children and children quarantined for infectious diseases. In 2007, Andre Agassi co-founded the charity Athletes for Hope, which helps professional athletes get involved in charitable causes and aims to inspire all people to volunteer and support their communities. He also created the Canyon-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund (now Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund).

Quotations: "Nothing can substitute for just plain hard work. I had to put in the time to get back. And it was a grind. It meant training and sweating every day. But I was completely committed to working out to prove to myself that I still could do it."

"I question myself every day. That's what I still find motivating about this. I don't have the answers, I don't pretend that I do just because I won the match. Just keep fighting and maybe something good happens."

"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."

"I think one of the greatest joys I have now in my career and in my profession is to be playing at an age where I can appreciate it more than I used to... It's a whole different lens you look through the older you get."

"You know my dad pushed me to believe that I was going to be the best. I just never thought of life without tennis, even looking forward."

"Sometimes it's just harder to remind yourself about what you're doing and why you're doing it... Other times, you have a great desire for it, but physically you're not responding the way you want. That presents other challenges. Then sometimes it all comes together."

"You don't cheat anybody out of their experience, whatever it is."

Personality

Andre Agassi has a strong character. He is a master storyteller, clearly showing why family and his entourage mean so much to him.

Andre was always known for his aggressive playing style with brilliant hand-eye coordination, which usually put his opponents on the defensive.

Physical Characteristics: Andre Agassi is 179.7 cm (5 ft 10.7 in) tall and weighs 78 kg (172 lb). He is bald and has hazel eyes.

Interests

• Philanthropy

• Politicians

  Michelle Obama

• Writers

  J. R. Moehringer

• Sport & Clubs

  Champions Series Tennis, snowboarding

• Athletes

  Andy Murray, Dan O'Brien, Lance Armstrong, Muhammad Ali

• Music & Bands

  David Foster, The Tenors, Train, Martina McBride, Michael Bublé

Connections

In the early 1990s, Agassi dated Wendi Stewart and American singer and entertainer Barbra Streisand. From 1997 to 1999 he was married to Brooke Shields.

On October 22, 2001 Andre Agassi married Steffi Graf. The couple has two children - son Jaden Gil and daughter Jaz Elle.

Father:

Emmanuel Agassi

(born December 25, 1930)

Emmanuel Agassi (also known as Emanoul Aghassian) is a former Olympic boxer.

Mother:

Elizabeth Agassi

Spouse:

Steffi Graf

(born June 14, 1969)

Steffi Graf is a German former professional tennis player. She was ranked world No.1 for a record 377 weeks and won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, which ranks second since the introduction of the Open Era in 1968 and third all-time behind Margaret Court and Serena Williams.

ex-spouse:

Brooke Shields

(born May 31, 1965)

Brooke Shields is an American actress and model. She was initially a child model and gained critical acclaim at the age of 12 for her leading role in Louis Malle's film Pretty Baby, in which she played a child prostitute in New Orleans at the beginning of the 20th century.

Son:

Jaden Gil Agassi

(born October 26, 2001)

Daugher:

Jaz Elle Agassi

(born October 3, 2003)

ex-partner:

Barbra Streisand

ex-partner:

Wendi Stewart

Friend:

Gil Reyes

(born 1952)

Gil Reyes is an American fitness trainer.

References

• The Agassi Story The Agassi Story is a heartwarming look at one family's turbulent relationship and their ultimate reconciliation.
  2004
• Agassi's Instagram
• Agassi's Twitter
• Agassi's Facebook