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 one of only
five male players to have won all four Grand Slam
singles events during his career. He is the only
player in the open era to have won every Grand Slam
singles title, to have won the Tennis Masters Cup,
to have been part of a winning Davis Cup team, and
to have won an Olympic gold medal. He won 17 ATP
Masters Series tournaments, more than any other
player. TENNIS Magazine has named him the 7th
greatest male player from 1965 through 2005.
Because of 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 U.S. Open. Agassi is married to Steffi
Graf and has two children. 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.
Agassi was born in Las Vegas, Nevada to Emmanuel
"Mike" Aghassian and Elizabeth "Betty" Agassi
(maiden name Dudley). His father is an Iranian of
Armenian and Assyrian ancestry, and represented Iran
in boxing at the 1948 and 1952 Olympic Games before
emigrating to the United States. He was intent on
having a child win all four tennis Grand Slam
tournaments. He learned tennis by watching tapes of
champions and took a very systematic approach to the
game. He called Agassi's two older siblings "guinea
pigs" in the development of his coaching techniques.
He honed Andre's eye-coordination when he was an
infant by hanging tennis balls above his crib. He
gave Agassi paddles and balloons when he was still
in a high chair. When Agassi started playing tennis,
his ball collection filled 60 garbage cans with 300
balls per can, and Agassi would hit 3,000-5,000
balls every day. When Andre was five years old, he
was already practicing with pros such as Jimmy
Connors and Roscoe Tanner. Later, Mike began working
in one of the Las Vegas casinos that belonged to
Armenian American tycoon Kirk Kerkorian. Mike and
Kirk became good friends, and Andre's middle name
"Kirk" is actually after Kirk Kerkorian.
Mike Agassi was renowned for being very domineering
over Andre. He was known to take a hammer to matches
and bang on the fences in disgust when Andre lost a
point. He sometimes screamed at officials and was
asked to leave more than once. At the age of
thirteen, Andre was sent to teaching guru 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."
Agassi was unhappy at the academy and grew
rebellious. He drank beer, smashed racquets, and
grew a mohawk haircut. At a televised tournament, he
wore ripped denim jeans and, knowing his father's
homophobia, wore pink lipstick and grew out his
pinkie fingernail and painted it pink. After a year
at the academy, Agassi became emotionless and
depressed. Bollettieri eventually lost his temper
and told Agassi to leave. He saw Agassi's
indifference and then asked what he wanted. Agassi
replied, "leaving here and turning pro." 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 #91 in the world.
Agassi employed a baseline style of play, but unlike
most such players, he typically made contact with
the ball inside the baseline — exceptionally
difficult even for professionals as this requires
great reaction time. This was possible because of
his short backswing and his extraordinary hand-eye
coordination. These same attributes helped him
aggressively return serves. John McEnroe, Jim
Courier and others have called Agassi the best
service returner ever to play tennis. Many,
including Brad Gilbert, call him the best ball
striker in the history of tennis.
Agassi was known for his ability to hit sharply
angled winners from the baseline. 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. In 1995, he added a backhand drop shot to his
repertoire, which was one of the most effective drop
shots on tour (partly due to the fact that Agassi's
groundstrokes forced most opponents to play far
behind the baseline). 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.
This requires exceptional timing and reflexes, which
Agassi was famous for; he once entered a batting
cage and hit 90 mph fastballs with a bat while
running toward the machine.
After Agassi's rededication to tennis in 1998, he
focused more on physical conditioning than in the
past and became one of the fittest players on the
tour. He had remarkable endurance and rarely
appeared tired on court.
Because of his conditioning and groundstrokes, one
of Agassi's central strategies was to wear down his
opponents. Agassi tried to minimize time between
points, so that his opponents had as little recovery
time as possible. Agassi continually put pressure on
opponents by returning the ball early and at deep
angles, and attempted to dictate play from the
center of the baseline and make his opponent
scramble. 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."
In the last year of his career, various injuries,
most notably in his back, robbed Agassi of
consistent speed and court coverage. As a result,
players who were able to consistently hit at sharp
angles with pace, particularly those who could do
this on the run, gave him trouble. To make up for
this weakness, Agassi began playing more aggressive
shots, to keep his opponent on the defensive and
deny them opportunities to run Agassi around the
court. This both limited his options from the
baseline and increased his errors.
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 an
average serve. His most effective serve was a hard
slice, which he would use to ace opponents in the ad
court, and to send his opponent wide off the court
when serving on the deuce side, followed by a shot
to the opposite corner to send his opponent
scrambling. He relied on a heavy kick serve for his
second serve, particularly early in his career.
Since retiring after the 2006 U.S. 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 2007
U.S. Open quarterfinal.
Agassi dated famed American singer Barbra Streisand
in the early 1990s before marrying actress Brooke
Shields on April 19, 1997. That February, they had
filed suit against The National Enquirer claiming it
printed "false and fabricated" statements about the
couple. The case was dismissed. He later filed for
divorce from Shields, 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 danced the traditional champions
dance. After that evening they began 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 on October 26 of the
same year. 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 the late
former tennis legend Pancho Gonzales. In 1995, when
Gonzales died in Las Vegas, Agassi paid for the
funeral.
Agassi is also a staunch Democrat and has donated
over $100,000 to different Democratic candidates.
