Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former
world No. 1 tennis player.
He is an eight-time
major
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
champion and an
Olympic gold medalist, as well as a runner-up in seven other majors.
Agassi is the second of five men to achieve the
career Grand Slam in the
Open Era
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Birmingham, England now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today as a separate sp ...
and the fifth of eight overall to make the achievement. He is also the first of two men to achieve the career Golden Slam (career Grand Slam and
Olympic gold medal
Olympic or Olympics may refer to
Sports
Competitions
* Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896
** Summer Olympic Games
** Winter Olympic Games
* Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...
), as well as the only man to win a
career Super Slam (career Grand Slam, plus the Olympic gold medal and the
year-end championships).
Agassi was the first man to win all four singles majors on three different surfaces (
hard
Hard may refer to:
* Hardness, resistance of physical materials to deformation or fracture
* Hard water, water with high mineral content
Arts and entertainment
* ''Hard'' (TV series), a French TV series
* Hard (band), a Hungarian hard rock supe ...
,
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
and
grass
Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...
), and remains the most recent American man to win the
French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
(in
1999) and the
Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
(in
2003). He also won 17
Masters titles and was part of the winning
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...
teams in
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
,
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
and
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
.
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 No. 141 in 1997, prompting many to believe that his career was over.
Agassi returned to 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".
After suffering from
sciatica
Sciatica is pain going down the leg from the lower back. This pain may go down the back, outside, or front of the leg. Onset is often sudden following activities like heavy lifting, though gradual onset may also occur. The pain is often described ...
caused by two bulging discs in his back, a
spondylolisthesis
Spondylolisthesis is the displacement of one spinal vertebra compared to another. While some medical dictionaries define spondylolisthesis specifically as the forward or anterior displacement of a vertebra over the vertebra inferior to it (or t ...
(
vertebra
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...
l displacement) and a
bone spur
An exostosis, also known as bone spur, is the formation of new bone on the surface of a bone. Exostoses can cause chronic pain ranging from mild to debilitatingly severe, depending on the shape, size, and location of the lesion. It is most commonl ...
that interfered with the
nerve
A nerve is an enclosed, cable-like bundle of nerve fibers (called axons) in the peripheral nervous system.
A nerve transmits electrical impulses. It is the basic unit of the peripheral nervous system. A nerve provides a common pathway for the e ...
, 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. He has been married to fellow tennis player
Steffi Graf
Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 for a record 377 weeks and won 22 major singles titles, ...
since 2001.
Early life
Andre Agassi was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, to
Emmanuel "Mike" Agassi (Aghassian), a former Olympic boxer from Iran and American Elizabeth "Betty" Agassi (née Dudley).
His father is of
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
and
Assyrian
Assyrian may refer to:
* Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia.
* Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire.
** Early Assyrian Period
** Old Assyrian Period
** Middle Assyrian Empire
** Neo-Assyrian Empire
* Assyrian ...
heritage.
Andre Agassi's mother, Betty, is a breast cancer survivor. He has three older siblings – Rita (last wife of former number one
Pancho Gonzales
Ricardo Alonso "Pancho" González (May 9, 1928 – July 3, 1995), known sometimes as Richard Gonzales, was an American tennis player. He won 15 major singles titles, including two U.S. National Singles Championships in 1948 and 1949, and 13 P ...
), Philip and Tami. Andre was given the middle name Kirk after
Kirk Kerkorian
Kerkor Kerkorian ( hy, Գրիգոր Գրիգորեան; June 6, 1917 – June 15, 2015) was an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He was the president and CEO of Tracinda Corporation, his private holding company based in Beverl ...
, an Armenian American billionaire. Emmanuel Agassi, then a waiter at
Tropicana Las Vegas
The Tropicana Las Vegas is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Bally's Corporation, on land leased from Gaming and Leisure Properties. It offers 1,467 rooms, a gaming floor, and of convention ...
, had met Kerkorian in 1963.
At the age of 12, Agassi and his good friend and doubles partner, Roddy Parks, won the 1982 National Indoor Boys 14s Doubles Championship in Chicago. Agassi describes memorable experiences and juvenile pranks with Roddy in his book ''Open''.
When he was 13, Agassi was sent to
Nick Bollettieri
Nicholas James Bollettieri (July 31, 1931 – December 4, 2022) was an American tennis coach. He pioneered the concept of a tennis boarding school, and helped develop many leading tennis players during the past decades, including Andre Agassi, ...
's Tennis Academy in Florida.
He was meant to stay for only three months, because that was all his father could afford. After thirty minutes of watching Agassi play, Bollettieri, deeply impressed by his talent, called Mike and said: "Take your check back. He's here for free."
Agassi then dropped out of school in the ninth grade to pursue a full-time tennis career.
Professional career
1986–1993: Breakthrough and the first major title
![Agassi in argentina](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Agassi_in_argentina.jpg)
Agassi turned professional at the age of 16 and competed in his first tournament at
La Quinta, California
La Quinta ( Spanish for "The Fifth") is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States. Located between Indian Wells and Indio, it is one of the nine cities of the Coachella Valley. The population was 37,467 at the 2010 c ...
. He won his first match against
John Austin John Austin may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* John P. Austin (1906–1997), American set decorator
* Johnny Austin (1910–1983), American musician
* John Austin (author) (fl. 1940s), British novelist
Military
* John Austin (soldier) (180 ...
, but then lost his second match to
Mats Wilander
Mats Arne Olof Wilander (; born 22 August 1964) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. From 1982 to 1988, he won seven major singles titles (three at the French Open, three at the Australian Open, and one at the US Open), and one major ...
. By the end of 1986, Agassi was ranked No. 91.
He won his first top-level singles title in 1987 at the
Sul American Open in
Itaparica
Itaparica is an island located at the entrance of Todos os Santos Bay on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in the state of Bahia, Brazil. It is located about from the city of Salvador, Bahia and covers . There are two municipalities on the island ...
and ended the year ranked No. 25.
He won six additional tournaments in 1988 (Memphis,
U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships
The U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships is an annual ATP Tour tennis tournament that started in 1910. It is the last remaining ATP World Tour-level tournament in the United States to be played on clay courts.
The tournament began in 1910 when the ...
,
Forest Hills WCT, Stuttgart Outdoor,
Volvo International
The Volvo International, also known as the Pilot (pen company), Pilot Pen International, was a professional tennis tournament played on clay courts from 1973 to 1984 and on Hardcourt, outdoor hard courts from 1985 to 1998. It was first held at th ...
and
Livingston Open),
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. During 1988, he also set the open-era record for most consecutive victories by a male teenager (a record that stood for 17 years until
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis ...
broke it in 2005). His year-end ranking was No. 3, behind second-ranked
Ivan Lendl
Ivan Lendl (; born March 7, 1960) is a Czech–American former professional tennis player. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. Lendl was ranked world No. 1 in singles for 270 weeks and won 94 singles titles. ...
and top-ranked
Mats Wilander
Mats Arne Olof Wilander (; born 22 August 1964) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. From 1982 to 1988, he won seven major singles titles (three at the French Open, three at the Australian Open, and one at the US Open), and one major ...
. Both the
Association of Tennis Professionals
The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is the governing body of the men's professional tennis circuits – the ATP Tour, the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP Champions Tour. It was formed in September 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, an ...
and ''Tennis'' magazine named Agassi the Most Improved Player of the Year for 1988.
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
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
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 semi-finals 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
Andrés Gómez Santos (; born 27 February 1960) is an Ecuadorian former professional tennis player. He won the men's singles title at the French Open in 1990.
His son, Emilio Gómez, is a professional tennis player. His nephew Nicolás Lapent ...
, which he later attributed in his book to worrying about his wig falling off during the match. He reached his second Grand Slam final of the year at the US Open, defeating defending champion
Boris Becker in the semi-finals. His opponent in the final was
Pete Sampras
Petros "Pete" Sampras ( el, Πέτρος Σάμπρας; born August 12, 1971) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. His professional career began in 1988 and ended at the 2002 US Open, which he won, defeating longtime rival Andre ...
; a year earlier, Agassi had crushed Sampras, after which time 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.
The
Agassi-Sampras rivalry became the biggest one in tennis over the rest of the decade. Agassi ended 1990 on a high note as he helped the United States win its first
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...
in 8 years and won his only
Tennis Masters Cup
The ATP Finals is the season-ending championship of the ATP Tour. It is the most significant event in the annual ATP calendar after the four majors as it features the top-eight singles players and top-eight doubles teams based on their results th ...
, 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
James Spencer "Jim" Courier (born August 17, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He won four major singles titles, two at the French Open and two at the Australian Open. He was the youngest man to reach the singles finals ...
. 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 reached the quarterfinals on that occasion, losing in five sets to
David Wheaton
David Wheaton (born June 2, 1969) is an American author, radio host, columnist, and former professional tennis player.
Personal
Born in Minneapolis as the youngest of four children. In his tennis carrier, he dated tennis star Mary Joe Fernández ...
.
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
Goran Ivanišević (; born 13 September 1971) is a Croatian former professional tennis player and current coach. He is the only player to win a The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon singles title as a Wild card (sports)#Professional tennis, w ...
in a five-set final.
Along the way, Agassi overcame two former Wimbledon champions:
Boris Becker and
John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was known for his shot-making and volleying skills, his rivalries with Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors, and his confrontational on-court beha ...
. No other baseliner would triumph at Wimbledon until
Lleyton Hewitt
Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He is the most recent Australian man to win a major singles title, with two at the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon Championships. In November 200 ...
ten years later. Agassi was named the
BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year
The BBC World Sport Star of the Year (formerly known as the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year) is an award presented at the annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year award ceremony. The award is presented to a non-British sportsperson c ...
in 1992. Agassi once again played on the United States'
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...
winning team in 1992. It was their second Davis cup title in three years. Agassi famously played the game wearing
Oakley brand sunglasses, and a photo of him from the day appeared on the cover of
''Tennis'' magazine. In his memoir, he wrote that he was covering up bloodshot eyes from a
hangover
A hangover is the experience of various unpleasant physiological and psychological effects usually following the consumption of alcohol, such as wine, beer, and liquor. Hangovers can last for several hours or for more than 24 hours. Typical sympto ...
and claimed that the founder of Oakley,
Jim Jannard, had sent him a
Dodge Viper
The Dodge Viper is a sports car that was manufactured by Dodge (by SRT for 2013 and 2014), a division of American car manufacturer FCA US LLC from 1992 until 2017, having taken a brief hiatus in 2007 and from 2010 to 2012. Production of the two- ...
to thank him for the inadvertent publicity.
In 1993, Agassi won the only doubles title of his career, at the
Cincinnati Masters, partnered with
Petr Korda
Petr Korda (born 23 January 1968) is a Czech former professional tennis player. He won the 1998 Australian Open and was runner-up at the 1992 French Open, reaching a career-high ranking of No. 2 in February 1998. Korda tested positive for dopin ...
. He missed much of the early part of that year due to injuries. Although he made the quarterfinals in his Wimbledon title defense, he lost to eventual champion and No. 1 Pete Sampras in five sets. Agassi lost in the first round at the US Open to
Thomas Enqvist
Thomas Karl Johan Enqvist (born 13 March 1974) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He reached the final of the 1999 Australian Open and won a total of 19 singles titles, including three Masters titles. He has a career high ATP world ...
and required wrist surgery late in the year.
1994–1997: Rise to the top, Olympic Gold and the fall
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
Michael Chang
Michael Te-pei Chang (born February 22, 1972) is an American former professional tennis player and coach. He is the youngest man in history to win a singles major, winning the 1989 French Open at 17 years and 109 days old. Chang won a total of ...
. He then became the first man to capture the US Open as an
unseeded player, beating
Michael Stich
Michael Detlef Stich (, ; born 18 October 1968) is a German former professional tennis player. He won the men's singles title at Wimbledon in 1991, the men's doubles titles at both Wimbledon and the Olympic Games in 1992, and was a singles r ...
in the final.
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
The 1995 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Flinders Park in Melbourne in Victoria in Australia. It was the 83rd edition of the Australian Open and was held from 16 through 29 January 1995.
Seniors
Men's s ...
(his first appearance at the event) and won, beating defending champion Sampras in a four-set final.
Agassi and Sampras met in five tournament finals in 1995, all on
hardcourt
A hardcourt (or hard court) is a surface or floor on which a sport is played, most usually in reference to tennis courts. It is typically made of rigid materials such as asphalt or concrete, and covered with acrylic resins to seal the surface and ...
, with Agassi winning three. Agassi won three Masters Series events in 1995 (
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
,
Key Biscayne
Key Biscayne ( es, Cayo Vizcaíno, link=no) is an island located in Miami-Dade County, Florida, located between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay. It is the southernmost of the barrier islands along the Atlantic coast of Florida, and lies sou ...
, and the Canadian Open) and seven titles total.
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 semi-final of the
US Open against
Boris Becker. The streak ended the next day when Agassi lost the final to Sampras. Agassi admitted this loss, which gave Sampras a 9–8 lead in their head-to-head meetings, took two years for him to get over it mentally.
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 to surpass him and finish ranked No. 1 at the year-end ranking. In terms of win–loss record, 1995 was Agassi's best year. He won 73 and lost 9 matches, and was also once again a key player on the United States'
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...
winning team—the third and final Davis Cup title of his career.
1996 was a less successful year for Agassi, as he failed to reach any Grand Slam final. He suffered two early-round losses to
Chris Woodruff
Chris Woodruff (born January 3, 1973) is an American former professional tennis player and current head coach at the University of Tennessee. He won the 1997 Canada Masters, reached the quarterfinals of the 2000 Australian Open and attained a ...
and
Doug Flach
Doug Flach (born August 10, 1970) is a former tennis player from the United States.
Flach won two doubles titles during his career. The right-hander reached his highest individual ranking on the ATP Tour on March 21, 1994, when he reached Worl ...
at the French Open and Wimbledon, respectively, and lost to Chang in straight sets in the Australian and US Open semi-finals. 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
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
, beating
Sergi Bruguera
Sergi Bruguera i Torner (; born 16 January 1971) is a former professional tennis player from Spain. He won consecutive men's singles titles at the French Open in 1993 and 1994, a silver medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in men's singles and reache ...
of Spain in the final.
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
Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Metham ...
at that time, allegedly on the urging of a friend.
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. He quit the drug soon after. At this time Agassi was also in a failing marriage with actress, model, and socialite
Brooke Shields and had lost interest in the game. He won no top-level titles, and his ranking sank to No. 141 on November 10, 1997, prompting many to believe that his run as one of the sport's premier competitors was over and he would never again win any significant championships.
1998–2003: Return to glory and Career Super Slam
![Andre Agassi 1999](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Andre_Agassi_1999.jpg)
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
Petros "Pete" Sampras ( el, Πέτρος Σάμπρας; born August 12, 1971) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. His professional career began in 1988 and ended at the 2002 US Open, which he won, defeating longtime rival Andre ...
and
Patrick Rafter
Patrick Michael Rafter (born 28 December 1972) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He reached the top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking on 26 July 1999. His career highlights include consecutive US Open ...
.
In 1998, Agassi won five titles and leapt from No. 110 to No. 6, the highest jump into the top 10 made by any player during a calendar year.
At Wimbledon, he had an early loss in the second round to
Tommy Haas
Thomas Mario Haas (; born 3 April 1978) is a German former professional tennis player. He competed on the ATP Tour from 1996 to 2017. After breaking into the world top 100 in 1997, and reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2 in May ...
. He won five titles in ten finals and was runner-up at the
Masters Series tournament in Key Biscayne, losing to
Marcelo Ríos
Marcelo Andrés Ríos Mayorga (; born 26 December 1975) is a Chilean former world No. 1 tennis player. Nicknamed ''"El Chino"'' ("The Chinese") and ''"El zurdo de Vitacura"'' ("The Lefty from Vitacura"), he became the first Latin American play ...
, who became 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
Frederick John Perry (18 May 1909 – 2 February 1995) was a British tennis and table tennis player and former world No. 1 from England who won 10 Majors including eight Grand Slam tournaments and two Pro Slams single titles, as well ...
,
Roy Emerson
Roy Stanley Emerson (born 3 November 1936) is an Australian former tennis player who won 12 Grand Slam singles titles and 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, for a total of 28 Grand Slam titles. He is the only male player to have completed a caree ...
and
Don Budge
John Donald Budge (June 13, 1915 – January 26, 2000) was an American tennis player. He is most famous as the first tennis player — male or female, and still the only American male — to win the Grand Slam, and to win all four Grand Slam ev ...
—these have since been joined by
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...
,
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis ...
, and
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...
) 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
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Birmingham, England now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today as a separate sp ...
. 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). 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.
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
Todd Martin (born July 8, 1970) is an American retired tennis player. He reached the men's singles final at the 1994 Australian Open and the 1999 US Open and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4.
Playing career
Martin was born ...
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
Marat Mubinovich Safin ( rus, Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, , mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn, Ru-Marat-Safin.ogg; tt-Cyrl, Марат Мөбин улы Сафин; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian retired world No. 1 tennis player an ...
. Agassi ended 1999 as the No. 1, ending Sampras's record of six consecutive year-ending top rankings (1993–98).
This was the only time Agassi ended the year at No. 1. Agassi was runner-up to Sampras at the year-end
Tennis Masters Cup
The ATP Finals is the season-ending championship of the ATP Tour. It is the most significant event in the annual ATP calendar after the four majors as it features the top-eight singles players and top-eight doubles teams based on their results th ...
losing 1–6, 5–7, 4–6 despite beating Sampras in the round-robin 6–2, 6–2.
He began the next year 2000 by capturing his second Australian Open title, beating Sampras in a five-set semi-final and
Yevgeny Kafelnikov
Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Kafelnikov ( rus, Евгений Александрович Кафельников, , jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ˈkafʲɪlʲnʲɪkəf, a=Ru-Yevgeny-Kafelnikov.ogg; born 18 February 1974) is a Russian former world No. 1 tennis p ...
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 semi-finals 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. At the inaugural
Tennis Masters Cup
The ATP Finals is the season-ending championship of the ATP Tour. It is the most significant event in the annual ATP calendar after the four majors as it features the top-eight singles players and top-eight doubles teams based on their results th ...
in Lisbon, Agassi reached the final after defeating Marat Safin in the semi-finals to end the Russian's hopes to become the youngest No. 1 in the history of tennis. Agassi then lost to
Gustavo Kuerten
Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten (; born 10 September 1976) is a Brazilian former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the French Open singles title three times ( 1997, 2000, and 2001), and was the Tennis Masters Cup champion in 2000. During his career he ...
in the final, allowing Kuerten to be crowned year-end No. 1.
Agassi opened 2001 by successfully defending his Australian Open title with a straight-sets final win over
Arnaud Clément
Arnaud Clément (; born 17 December 1977) is a French former professional tennis player and Davis Cup captain. Clément reached the final of the 2001 Australian Open and achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 10 in April of that year. Part ...
.
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 semi-finals, 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, 7–6, 6–7, 6–7, 6–7, with no breaks of serve during the 52-game match. Despite the setback, Agassi finished 2001 ranked No. 3, becoming the only male tennis player to finish a year ranked in the top 3 in three different decades.
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
Key Biscayne ( es, Cayo Vizcaíno, link=no) is an island located in Miami-Dade County, Florida, located between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay. It is the southernmost of the barrier islands along the Atlantic coast of Florida, and lies sou ...
title beating then rising Roger Federer in a four-set final. At the US Open, Agassi overcame No.1 ranked and defending champion
Lleyton Hewitt
Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He is the most recent Australian man to win a major singles title, with two at the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon Championships. In November 200 ...
in the semi-finals. This led to what turned out to be the last duel between Agassi and Sampras in 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
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
and
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
, helped him finish 2002 as the oldest year-end 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
Rainer Schüttler (; born 25 April 1976) is a German former professional tennis player. Schüttler was the runner-up at the 2003 Australian Open and a semifinalist at the 2008 Wimbledon Championships. He won an Olympic silver medal in doubles ...
in straight sets in the final.
On April 28, 2003, he recaptured the No. 1 ranking to become the oldest top-ranked male player since the ATP rankings began at 33 years and 13 days. The record was later surpassed by
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...
in 2018. He had held the No. 1 ranking for two weeks, when
Lleyton Hewitt
Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He is the most recent Australian man to win a major singles title, with two at the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon Championships. In November 200 ...
took it back on May 12, 2003. Agassi then recaptured the No. 1 ranking once again on June 16, 2003, which he held for 12 weeks until September 7, 2003. There he managed to reach the US Open semi-finals, where he lost to
Juan Carlos Ferrero
Juan Carlos Ferrero Donat (; born 12 February 1980) is a Spanish former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the men's singles title at the 2003 French Open, and in September of that year became the 21st player to hold the top ranking, which he h ...
, surrendering his No. 1 ranking to him. During his career, Agassi held the ranking for a total of 101 weeks. Agassi's ranking slipped when injuries forced him to withdraw from a number of events. At the year-end Tennis Masters Cup, Agassi lost in the final to Federer, his third time to finish as runner-up in the event after losses in 1999 and 2000, and finished the year ranked No. 4. At age 33, he had been one of the oldest players to rank in the top 5 since Connors, at age 35, was No. 4 in 1987.
2004–2006: Final years
Agassi in 2006
In 2004, Agassi began the year with a five-set loss in the semi-finals of the Australian Open to
Marat Safin
Marat Mubinovich Safin ( rus, Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, , mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn, Ru-Marat-Safin.ogg; tt-Cyrl, Марат Мөбин улы Сафин; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian retired world No. 1 tennis player an ...
; the loss ended Agassi's 26-match winning streak at the event. 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
Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
and
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
. At 34, he became the second-oldest singles champion in Cincinnati tournament history (the tournament began in 1899), tied with Roger Federer and surpassed only by
Ken Rosewall
Kenneth Robert Rosewall (born 2 November 1934) is an Australian former world top-ranking amateur and professional tennis player. He won a record 23 Majors in singles, including eight Grand Slam singles titles and, before the Open Era, a record ...
, who won the title in 1970 at age 35. He finished the year ranked No. 8, one of the oldest players to finish in the top 10 since the 36-year-old Connors was No. 7 in 1988.
At the time, Agassi also became the sixth male player during the
open era
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Birmingham, England now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today as a separate sp ...
to reach 800 career wins with his first-round victory over
Alex Bogomolov
Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Bogomolov Jr. (russian: Александр Александрович «Алекс» Богомолов; born April 23, 1983), nicknamed Bogie, is a Russian-American retired professional tennis player.
Tennis caree ...
in
Countrywide Classic
The Los Angeles Open was a former tennis tournament held in Los Angeles, United States from 1927 until 2012. It included a women's draw until 1974 when Linda Lewis won the last ladies title. Subsequently, it became a men-only event and integrated ...
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
Jarkko Kalervo Nieminen (born 23 July 1981) is a Finnish former professional tennis player. His highest ranking of world No. 13, achieved in July 2006, is a Finnish record. He has won two Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP singles titles ...
in the first round of the French Open. He won his fourth title in Los Angeles and reached the final of the
Rogers Cup
The Canadian Open (french: Tournoi de tennis du Canada), also known as the Canada Masters, and currently branded as the National Bank Open presented by Rogers for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tennis tournament held in Ontario and Quebec. T ...
, before falling to No. 2
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis ...
.
Agassi's 2005 was defined by an improbable run to the US Open final. After beating
Răzvan Sabău
Răzvan Sabău (born 18 June 1977) is a Romanian retired professional tennis player. He reached the semifinals of Bucharest in 2003 and Gstaad in 2005, achieving a career-high singles ranking of World No. 74 in September 2005. He is the coach ...
and
Ivo Karlović
Ivo Karlović (; born 28 February 1979) is a former Croatian professional tennis player. His height of 211 cm (6 ft 11 in) makes him the joint tallest ranked tennis player in history, along with Reilly Opelka. He has won eight ATP sin ...
in straight sets and
Tomáš Berdych
Tomáš Berdych (; born 17 September 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His most notable achievement was reaching the final of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, causing consecutive upsets by defeating top seed and six-time champi ...
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 in the fifth set tie-breaker. His other five-set victories were on
Xavier Malisse
Xavier Malisse (born 19 July 1980) is a former Belgian professional tennis player. Born in the north-western Flemish city of Kortrijk and nicknamed ''X-Man'', he is one of only two Belgian men (the other being David Goffin) to have been ranked ...
in the fourth round and
Robby Ginepri
Robert Louis Ginepri ( ; born October 7, 1982) is a retired American professional tennis player. He won three ATP singles titles in his career and achieved a career-high ranking of World No. 15 in December 2005. Ginepri's best Grand Slam result ...
in the semi-finals. 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 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, as 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
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
. He was defeated in the third round by world No. 2 (and eventual runner-up)
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis ...
. 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 hard-court season with his best result being a quarterfinal loss at the
Countrywide Classic
The Los Angeles Open was a former tennis tournament held in Los Angeles, United States from 1927 until 2012. It included a women's draw until 1974 when Linda Lewis won the last ladies title. Subsequently, it became a men-only event and integrated ...
in Los Angeles to
Fernando González
Fernando Francisco González Ciuffardi (; born 29 July 1980) is a Chilean former professional tennis player. During his career he made it to at least the quarterfinals of all four Grand Slam tournaments. He played his only major final at the ...
of Chile, which resulted in him being 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
Andrei Pavel (born 27 January 1974) is a Romanian tennis coach and former professional tennis player.
Career
Andrei began playing tennis at age eight, and moved to Germany at age sixteen. Turned professional in 1995. He won three singles tit ...
, Agassi faced eighth-seeded
Marcos Baghdatis
Marcos Baghdatis ( el, Μάρκος Παγδατής, ar, ماركوس بغداتيس; ; born 17 June 1985) is a Cypriot former professional tennis player. He was the runner-up at the 2006 Australian Open and a semifinalist at the 2006 Wimbledo ...
in the second round who had earlier advanced to the
2006 Australian Open final and Wimbledon semi-finals. 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
Benjamin Becker (born 16 June 1981) is a German retired professional tennis player who is known for defeating former world No. 1 Andre Agassi in the third round at the 2006 US Open in what was Agassi's last match as a professional player.
Bec ...
of Germany in four sets. Agassi received a four-minute standing ovation from the crowd after the match and delivered a retirement speech.
Rivalries
Agassi vs. Sampras
The rivalry has been called the greatest of the generation of players competing in the 1990s, as
Sampras and Agassi were the most successful players of that decade. They also had very contrasting playing styles, with Sampras being considered the greatest
server
Server may refer to:
Computing
*Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provides functionality for other programs or devices, called clients
Role
* Waiting staff, those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending customers and su ...
and Agassi the greatest serve returner at the time. Agassi and Sampras met 34 times on the tour level with Agassi trailing 14–20.
The
1990 US Open was their first meeting in a Grand Slam tournament final. Agassi was favored as he was ranked No. 4 at the time, compared to the No. 12 ranking of Sampras and because Agassi had defeated Sampras in their only previously completed match. Agassi, however, lost the final to Sampras in straight sets. Their next meeting in a Grand Slam was at the
1992 French Open
The 1992 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament was held from 25 May until 7 June. It was the 96th staging of the French Open, and the second Grand ...
, where they met in the quarterfinals. Although Sampras was ranked higher, Agassi came out winning in straight sets. They met again on a Grand Slam level at the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 1993, where Agassi was the defending champion and Sampras was the newly minted world No. 1. Agassi dug himself out from a two-sets-to-love hole, levelling the match at two sets apiece; however, Sampras prevailed in five sets, and went on to win his first Wimbledon championship.
With both Sampras and Agassi participating, the
US won the Davis Cup in 1995. The year should be considered the peak of the rivalry as together they won three out of four major titles, meeting each other twice in the finals, and were occupying the top two spots in the rankings for the whole year. They met five times during the year, all in the title matches, including the
Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
, the
Newsweek Champions Cup (now Indian Wells), the
Lipton International Players Championships (now Miami Open), the
Canadian Open, and the
US Open. Agassi won three of the finals, including the Australian Open; however, Sampras took the US Open title, ending Agassi's 26-match winning streak. After Agassi had taken most of the fall season off, Sampras took over the No. 1 ranking for the end of the season. Agassi admitted this loss, which gave Sampras a 9–8 lead in their head-to-head meetings, took two years for him to get over it mentally.
In the following three years, while Sampras continued winning Grand Slam titles every season, Agassi slumped in the rankings and struggled in major competitions. The next time Sampras and Agassi met in a Grand Slam final was at Wimbledon in 1999, where Sampras won in straight sets. For both, it was considered a career rejuvenation, as Sampras had suffered a string of disappointments in the previous year while Agassi was regaining his status as a top-ranked player after winning the French Open. Sampras forfeited the No. 1 ranking to Agassi when injury forced him to withdraw from that year's US Open, which Agassi went on to win. They faced each other twice in the season-ending
ATP Tour World Championships, with Sampras losing the round-robin match, but winning the final.
In the 2000s, they met three more times on the Grand Slam level offering three memorable contests. In 2000, the top-ranked Agassi defeated No. 3 Sampras in the semi-finals of the
Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
in five sets, which was an important win for Agassi who had lost 4 of the previous five matches against Sampras. In arguably their most memorable match ever, Sampras defeated Agassi in the
2001 US Open quarterfinals in four sets. There were no breaks of serve during the entire match. Reruns of the match are frequently featured on television, especially during US Open rain delays, and the match is considered one of the best in history because of the level of play presented by both players.
Their last meeting was the final of the
2002 US Open, which was their third meeting in a US Open final, but the first since 1995. The match was also notable because they had defeated several up-and-coming players en route to the final. Sampras had defeated No. 3
Tommy Haas
Thomas Mario Haas (; born 3 April 1978) is a German former professional tennis player. He competed on the ATP Tour from 1996 to 2017. After breaking into the world top 100 in 1997, and reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2 in May ...
in the fourth round and future No. 1
Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals (Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Open ...
in the quarterfinals, while Agassi had defeated No. 1 and defending champion
Lleyton Hewitt
Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He is the most recent Australian man to win a major singles title, with two at the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon Championships. In November 200 ...
in the semi-finals. Sampras defeated Agassi in four sets. This was the final
ATP tour
The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women's organis ...
singles match of Sampras's career.
Agassi vs. Chang
Michael Chang
Michael Te-pei Chang (born February 22, 1972) is an American former professional tennis player and coach. He is the youngest man in history to win a singles major, winning the 1989 French Open at 17 years and 109 days old. Chang won a total of ...
was the opponent Agassi faced most frequently from all the players other than Sampras. They met 22 times on the tour level with Agassi leading 15–7. Chang, unlike most of Agassi's big rivals, had a playing style similar to his. Both players preferred to stay at the baseline with Chang being more defensive-minded. The outcome was that most of their meetings were built on long and entertaining rallies. The rivalry began late in the 1980s with both players being considered the prodigies of the next great generation of American tennis players and both being of foreign descent.
Agassi won the first four matches including a straight-set victory in round 16 of the 1988 US Open and defeating Chang, the defending champion, in the 1990 French Open in a four-set quarterfinal. Arguably their best match took place in the round of 16 of the 1994 US Open. While both players presented high-quality shot-making, the momentum changed from set to set with Agassi eventually prevailing in a five-set victory. It turned out to be the toughest contest on his way to his first US Open title. Their next two Grand Slam meetings came in 1996, with Chang recording easy straight-set victories in the semi-finals of both the Australian Open and the US Open. Years after, Agassi shockingly admitted in his book that he had lost the first of the matches on purpose as he did not want to face Boris Becker, who was awaiting the winner in the final. Agassi won the last four of their matches, with the last being in 2003 at the Miami Open with Chang being clearly past his prime.
Agassi vs. Becker
Boris Becker and Agassi played 14 times with Agassi leading 10–4. Becker won their first three matches in 1988 and 1989 before Agassi reversed the rivalry in 1990, and won 10 of their last 11 matches. They first played at Indian Wells in 1988, with Becker prevailing. Their most notable match was the 1989
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...
semi-final match, which Becker won in five sets after losing the first two in tiebreaks. Agassi, considered a baseliner with a playing style not suiting grass, shocked Becker, a three-time champion, in a five-set quarterfinal at Wimbledon in 1992 on his way to his first Grand Slam title. The intensity of the rivalry peaked in 1995. Becker won that year's Wimbledon semi-final after being down a set and two breaks, to eventually win in four sets. In a highly anticipated rematch in the US Open semi-final, this time it was Agassi who came out victorious in four tight sets. Their final match was played at Hong Kong in 1999, which Agassi won in three sets.
Agassi vs. Rafter
Agassi and
Pat Rafter
Patrick Michael Rafter (born 28 December 1972) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He reached the top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking on 26 July 1999. His career highlights include consecutive US Open ...
played fifteen times with Agassi leading 10–5. The rivalry has been considered special and delivered memorable encounters, because of the players' contrasting styles of play, with Rafter using traditional serve-&-volley methods against Agassi's variety of return of serves and passing shots as his main weapons. Agassi led 8–2 on hard courts, but Rafter surprisingly won their sole match on clay at the
1999 Rome Masters. They played four matches at
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
with both winning two matches each. Agassi won the first two in 1993 and 1999, while Rafter took their 2000 and 2001 encounters, the latter two matches being gruelling 5-setters often being presented on the lists of best matches ever played. Agassi also won both their meetings at the Australian Open, in 1995 and 2001, on his way to the title on both occasions. Rafter, however, took their only US Open encounter in 1997 and went on to win the title.
Agassi vs. Federer
Agassi and
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...
played 11 times, and Federer led their head-to-head series 8–3. With the retirement of Sampras, the rivalry against the 11-years-younger Federer, who was another great server like Sampras, became Agassi's main rivalry for the final years of his career. Agassi won their first three matches, but then went on to lose eight consecutive ones. They first met in just the third tournament of Federer's career at the 1998 Swiss Indoors in Federer's hometown, with Agassi prevailing over the 17-year-old. Agassi also defeated Federer at the
2001 US Open and the finals of the
Miami Open in 2002. Federer began to turn the tide at the Masters Cup in 2003, when he defeated Agassi in both the round-robin and the final. They played a memorable quarterfinal match at the
2004 US Open that spanned over two windy days, with Federer eventually prevailing in five sets. At the 2005 Dubai Championships, Federer and Agassi attracted worldwide headlines with a publicity stunt that saw the two tennis legends play on a helipad almost 220 meters above sea level at the hotel Burj al-Arab. Their final duel took place in the final of the
2005 US Open. In the historic clash of generations, Federer was victorious in four sets in front of a pro-Agassi crowd. The match was the last appearance by Agassi in any tournament final.
Agassi vs. Lendl
Agassi and
Ivan Lendl
Ivan Lendl (; born March 7, 1960) is a Czech–American former professional tennis player. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. Lendl was ranked world No. 1 in singles for 270 weeks and won 94 singles titles. ...
played eight times, and Lendl led their head-to-head series 6–2.
Agassi vs. Edberg
Agassi and
Stefan Edberg played nine times, and Agassi led their head-to-head series 6–3.
Earnings
Agassi earned more than $30 million in prize-money during his career, sixth only to Djokovic, Federer, Nadal, Sampras and Murray to date (May 2018). He also earned more than $25 million a year through endorsements during his career, which was ranked 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, he was a surprise guest commentator for the
Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals (Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Open ...
/
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...
US Open quarterfinal. He played an exhibition match at Wimbledon, teaming with his wife, Steffi Graf, to play with
Tim Henman
Timothy Henry Henman (born 6 September 1974) is a British former professional tennis player. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis. He was the first British man to reach the singles semifinals of Wimbledon since Roger Taylor in th ...
and
Kim Clijsters
Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters (; born 8 June 1983) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. Clijsters reached the world No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles, having held both rankings simultaneously in 2003. She won six major titles, ...
. He played
World Team Tennis
World TeamTennis (WTT) is a mixed-gender professional tennis league played with a team format in the United States, which was founded in 1973.
The league's season normally takes place in the summer months. Players from the ATP and WTA take a ...
for the
Philadelphia Freedoms
The Philadelphia Freedoms is a tennis team currently competing in World TeamTennis.
Overview
The team traces its origins to WTT's inaugural season, in 1974. The original team starred tennis legend and social pioneer Billie Jean King, who h ...
in the summer of 2009. At the
2009 French Open, Agassi was on hand to present Roger Federer, who completed his Career Grand Slam by winning the tournament and joined Agassi as one of six men to complete the Career Grand Slam, with the trophy.
Also in 2009, Agassi played at the
Outback Champions Series Since 2006, the Champions Series is a series of tennis tournaments designed for former champion members of the ATP Tour. The Champions Series consists of tournaments played in select markets where top players of the sport compete in one-night, four- ...
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 champion
Todd Martin
Todd Martin (born July 8, 1970) is an American retired tennis player. He reached the men's singles final at the 1994 Australian Open and the 1999 US Open and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4.
Playing career
Martin was born ...
. Agassi returned to the tour renamed for the PowerShares Series in 2011 and participated in a total of seven events while winning two. Agassi beat Courier in the final of the Staples Champions Cup in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and later defeated Sampras at the CTCA Championships at his hometown Las Vegas.
In 2012, Agassi took part in five tournaments, winning three of those. In November, at first he won BILT Champions Showdown in
San Jose, beating
John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was known for his shot-making and volleying skills, his rivalries with Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors, and his confrontational on-court beha ...
in the final. The following day, he defended his title of the CTCA Championships, while defeating Courier in the decisive match. In the series season finale, he beat
Michael Chang
Michael Te-pei Chang (born February 22, 1972) is an American former professional tennis player and coach. He is the youngest man in history to win a singles major, winning the 1989 French Open at 17 years and 109 days old. Chang won a total of ...
for the Acura Champions Cup. The series and Agassi came back to action in 2014. Agassi won both tournaments he participated in. At the Camden Wealth Advisors Cup's final in Houston, Agassi beat
James Blake for a rematch of their 2005 US Open quarterfinal. He defeated Blake again in
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
to win the title of the Cancer Treatment Centers of America Championships. In 2015, Agassi took part in just one event of the PowerShares Series, losing to
Mark Philippoussis
Mark Anthony Philippoussis ( ; born 7 November 1976) is an Australian former professional tennis player of Greek and Italian descent. Philippoussis' greatest achievements are winning two Davis Cup titles with Australia in 1999 and 2003, wi ...
in the final of the Champions Shootout. The following year he took part in two events, at first losing to Blake in Chicago, and the next day defeating Mardy Fish, but losing to Roddick in Charleston.
In 2009, in
Macau
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
Agassi and Sampras met for the first time on court since the 2002 US Open final. Sampras won the exhibition in three sets. The rivalry between the former champions headlined sports media again in March 2010 after the two participated in the "Hit for Haiti" charity event organized to raise money for the victims of the
earthquake
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...
. Partnered with Roger Federer and
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis ...
, the old rivals began making jokes at each other's expense, which ended up with Sampras intentionally striking a serve at Agassi's body. After the event, Agassi admitted that he had crossed the line with his jokes and publicly apologized to Sampras. Agassi and Sampras met again one year later for an exhibition match at
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...
in New York in front of 19 000 spectators as Sampras defeated Agassi in two sets. On March 3, 2014, Agassi and Sampras squared off for an exhibition in London for the annual
World Tennis Day. This time, it was Agassi who came out on top in two straight sets.
He returned to the tour in May 2017 in the position of coach to
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...
for the French Open. Agassi announced the end of the partnership on March 31, 2018, stating that there were too many disagreements in the relationship.
Playing style
Early in his career, Agassi would look to end points quickly by playing first-strike tennis, typically by inducing a weak return with a deep, hard shot, and then playing a winner at an extreme angle. On the rare occasion that he charged the net, Agassi liked to take the ball in the air and hit a swinging volley for a winner. His favored groundstroke was his flat, accurate two-handed backhand, hit well cross-court but especially down the line. His forehand was nearly as strong, especially his inside-out to the ad court.
Agassi's strength was in dictating play from the baseline, and he was able to consistently take the ball on the rise. While he was growing up, his father and Nick Bollettieri trained him in this way.
[Open: Andre Agassi HarpersCollins 2009] When in control of a point, Agassi would often pass up an opportunity to attempt a winner and hit a conservative shot to minimize his errors, and to make his opponent run more. This change to more methodical, less aggressive baseline play was largely initiated by his longtime coach, Brad Gilbert, in their first year together in 1994. Gilbert encouraged Agassi to wear out opponents with his deep, flat groundstrokes and to use his fitness to win attrition wars, and noted Agassi's two-handed backhand down the line as his very best shot.
A signature play later in his career was a change-up drop shot to the deuce court after deep penetrating groundstrokes. This would often be followed by a passing shot or lob if the opponent was fast enough to retrieve it.
Agassi was raised on hardcourts, but found much of his early major-tournament success on the red clay of Roland Garros, reaching two consecutive finals there early in his career. Despite grass being his worst surface, his first major win was at the slick grass of Wimbledon in 1992, a tournament that he professed to hating at the time.
His strongest surface over the course of his career, was indeed hardcourt, where he won six of his eight majors.
Business ventures
Agassi established a
limited liability company
A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...
named Andre Agassi Ventures (formerly named Agassi Enterprises). Agassi, along with five athlete partners (including
Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...
,
Joe Montana
Joseph Clifford Montana Jr. (born June 11, 1956) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. Nicknamed "Joe Cool" and "the Comeback Kid", ...
,
Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), known commonly as "Shaq" ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. O'Neal is regarded as one of the greates ...
,
Ken Griffey Jr., and
Monica Seles
Monica Seles (; hu, Széles Mónika, ; sr, Моника Селеш, Monika Seleš; born December 2, 1973) is a retired professional tennis player who represented Yugoslavia and the United States. A former world No. 1, she won nine Grand Sla ...
) opened a chain of sports-themed restaurant named
Official All Star Café
The Official All Star Cafe was a chain of sports themed restaurants developed by Planet Hollywood. Planet Hollywood recruited Wayne Gretzky, Joe Montana, Shaquille O'Neal, Ken Griffey Jr., Andre Agassi, and Monica Seles to invest in the concept. ...
in April 1996. The restaurant closed down in 2001.
In 1999, he paid $1 million for a 10 percent stake in Nevada First Bank and made a $10 million profit when it was sold to Western Alliance Bancorp in 2006.
In 2002, he joined the
Tennis Channel
Tennis Channel is an American sports-oriented digital cable and satellite television network owned by the Sinclair Television Group subsidiary of the Sinclair Broadcast Group. It is devoted to events and other programming related to the game of ...
to promote the channel to consumers and cable and satellite industry, and made an equity investment in the network. After meeting chef
Michael Mina
Michael Mina ( ar, مايكل مينا; born 1969) is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author. He is the founder of the Mina Group, a restaurant management company operating over 40 restaurants worldwide. He is the exec ...
at one of his restaurants in San Francisco, Agassi partnered with him in 2002 to start Mina Group Inc. and opened 18 concept restaurants in San Francisco,
San Jose,
Dana Point
Dana Point () is a city located in southern Orange County, California, United States. The population was 33,107 at the 2020 census. It has one of the few harbors along the Orange County coast, and with ready access via State Route 1, it is a po ...
,
Atlantic City
Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...
and Las Vegas. Agassi was an equity investor of a group that acquired
Golden Nugget Las Vegas
The Golden Nugget Las Vegas is a luxury hotel and casino located in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada on the Fremont Street Experience. The property is owned and operated by Landry's, Inc. It has 2,419 hotel rooms.
History
The Golden Nugget was origi ...
and
Golden Nugget Laughlin
The Golden Nugget Laughlin (formerly the Nevada Club) is a hotel and casino located on the banks of the Colorado River in Laughlin, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Landry's, Inc. It offers a number of restaurants, 300 guest rooms and suites, ...
from
MGM Mirage
MGM Resorts International is an American global hospitality and entertainment company operating destination resorts in Las Vegas, Massachusetts, Detroit, Mississippi, Maryland, and New Jersey, including Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, and Par ...
for $215 million in 2004.
One year later, the group sold the hotel-casino to
Landry's, Inc.
Landry's, Inc., is an American, privately owned, multi-brand dining, hospitality, entertainment and gaming corporation headquartered in Houston, Texas. Landry's, Inc. owns and operates more than 600 restaurants, hotels, casinos and entertainme ...
for $163 million in cash and $182 million in assumed debt.
In 2007, he sat on the board of Meadows Bank, an independent bank in Nevada. He has invested in start-up companies backed by
Allen & Company
Allen & Company LLC is an American privately held boutique investment bank based at 711 Fifth Avenue, New York. The firm specializes in real estate, technology, media and entertainment.
History
Founded in 1922 by Charles Robert Allen, Jr., h ...
.
Agassi and Graf formed a company called Agassi Graf Holdings. They invested in PURE, a nightclub at
Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The hotel is situated on the west side of the Las Vegas Strip between Bellagio and The Mirage. It is one of Las Vegas's largest and best known landmarks.
Caesars P ...
, which opened in 2004,
and sold it to Angel Management Group in 2010. In August 2006, Agassi and Graf developed a joint venture with high-end furniture maker
Kreiss Enterprises.
They launched a furniture line called Agassi Graf Collection. In September, Agassi and Graf, through their company Agassi Graf Development LLC, along with Bayview Financial LP, finalized an agreement to develop a condominium hotel, Fairmont Tamarack, at
Tamarack Resort
Tamarack Resort is a four-season destination resort in the western United States. Located in west central Idaho in Valley County, it is miles north of Boise on the west shore of Lake Cascade, southwest of the small town of Donnelly.
When i ...
in
Donnelly, Idaho.
Owing to difficult market conditions and delays, they withdrew from the project in 2009. The group still owns three small chunks of land. In September, they collaborated with
Steve Case's Exclusive Resorts to co-develop luxury resorts and design Agassi-Graf Tennis and Fitness Centers.
They also invested in online ticket reseller
viagogo
Viagogo, stylized by the company as viagogo, is a multinational ticket exchange and ticket resale brand. It is headquartered in the United States and owned by StubHub Holdings. It was founded in 2006 by Eric Baker, the co-founder of StubHub.
V ...
in 2009 and both serve as board members and advisors of the company.
In October 2012,
Village Roadshow
Village Roadshow Limited is an Australian company which operates cinemas and theme parks, and produces and distributes films. Before being acquired by private equity company BGH Capital, the company was listed on the Australian Securities Ex ...
and investors including Agassi and Graf announced plans to build a new water park called
Wet'n'Wild Las Vegas
Wet'n'Wild Las Vegas was a water park in Spring Valley, Nevada. The park was part of Village Roadshow Theme Parks' Wet'n'Wild chain of water parks located across the world. The park opened in May 2013 and is located at 7055 S. Fort Apache Ro ...
in Las Vegas. Village Roadshow has a 51% stake in the park while Agassi, Graf, and other private investors hold the remaining 49%. The park opened in May 2013.
IMG img or IMG is an abbreviation for image.
img or IMG may also refer to:
* IMG (company), global sports and media business headquartered in New York City but with its main offices in Cleveland, originally known as the "International Management Group ...
managed Agassi from the time he turned pro in 1986 through January 2000 before switching to SFX Sports Group. His business manager, lawyer and agent was childhood friend Perry Rogers, but they have been estranged since 2008. In 2009, he and Graf signed with
CAA
CAA may refer to:
Law
* Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 of India
** Citizenship Amendment Act protests, Protests regarding the Citizenship (Amendment) Act
* Copyright transfer agreement, Copyright assignment agreement, to transfer copyright to ...
.
Equipment and endorsements
Agassi used
Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...
Graphite
Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on large ...
rackets early in his career. He signed a $7 million endorsement contract with Belgian tennis racquet makers
Donnay.
He later switched to
Head Ti Radical racket and Head's LiquidMetal Radical racket, having signed a multimillion-dollar endorsement deal with Head in 1993.
He renewed his contract in 1999, and in November 2003 he signed a lifetime agreement with Head.
He also endorses Penn tennis balls. On July 25, 2005, Agassi left
Nike
Nike often refers to:
* Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory
* Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment
Nike may also refer to:
People
* Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...
after 17 years and signed an endorsement deal with
Adidas
Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...
. 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. On May 13, 2013, Agassi rejoined Nike.
Agassi was sponsored by
DuPont
DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...
,
Ebel
Ebel is a Swiss luxury watch company that was founded in 1911 at La Chaux-de-Fonds in the canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
History
Ebel was established in 1911 by Eugène Blum and his wife, Alice (née Lévy). The brand name originates from th ...
,
Mountain Dew in 1993,
Mazda
, commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan.
In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one m ...
in 1997,
Kia Motors
Kia Corporation, commonly known as Kia (, ; formerly known as Kyungsung Precision Industry and Kia Motors Corporation), is a South Korean multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It is South Korea's second lar ...
in 2002,
American Express
American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...
and
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...
in 2003. In 1990, he appeared in a television commercial for
Canon Inc.
is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optical, imaging, and industrial products, such as lenses, cameras, medical equipment, scanners, printers, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment.< ...
, promoting the
Canon EOS
Canon EOS (Electro-Optical System) is an autofocus single-lens reflex camera (SLR) and mirrorless camera series produced by Canon Inc. Introduced in 1987 with the Canon EOS 650, all EOS cameras used 135 film, 35 mm photographic film, film until ...
Rebel camera.
Between 1999 and 2000, he signed a multimillion-dollar, multiyear endorsement deal with
Schick and became the worldwide spokesman for the company. Agassi signed a multiyear contract with
Twinlab
Twinlab Consolidated Corporation is an American company which manufactures and markets vitamins, minerals, and bodybuilding supplements. Twinlab is based in Boca Raton, Florida.
Twinlab currently produces more than 500 different products. and promoted the company's nutritional supplements. In mid-2003, he was named the spokesman of Aramis Life, a fragrance by
Aramis
René d'Herblay, alias Aramis, is a fictional character in the novels ''The Three Musketeers'' (1844), '' Twenty Years After'' (1845), and '' The Vicomte de Bragelonne'' (1847-1850) by Alexandre Dumas, père. He and the other two musketeers, A ...
, and signed a five-year deal with the company. In March 2004, he signed a ten-year agreement worth $1.5 million a year with
24 Hour Fitness, which will open five Andre Agassi fitness centers by year-end.
Prior to the 2012 Australian Open, Agassi and Australian winemaker
Jacobs Creek announced a three-year partnership and created the Open Film Series to "
hare
Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The ge ...
personal stories about the life defining moments that shaped his character on and off the court." In 2007, watchmaker
Longines
Compagnie des Montres Longines, Francillon S.A., or simply Longines (), is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Saint-Imier, Switzerland. Founded by Auguste Agassiz in 1832, the company has been a subsidiary of the Swiss Swatch Group and its predec ...
named Agassi as their brand ambassador.
Agassi and his mother appeared in a
Got Milk?
Got Milk? (stylized as got milk?) is an American advertising campaign encouraging the consumption of milk and dairy products. Created by the advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners for the California Milk Processor Board in 1993, it ...
advertisement in 2002.
Agassi has appeared in many advertisements and television commercials with Graf. They both endorsed
Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...
in 2002,
Genworth Financial
Genworth Financial is an S&P 400 insurance company. The firm was founded as The Life Insurance Company of Virginia in 1871. In 1986, Life of Virginia was acquired by Combined Insurance, which became Aon plc in 1987. In 1996, Life of Virginia w ...
and
Canon Inc.
is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optical, imaging, and industrial products, such as lenses, cameras, medical equipment, scanners, printers, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment.< ...
in 2004,
LVMH in 2007, and
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
Wii
The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...
and
Wii Fit U
''Wii Fit U'' is an exergaming video game developed by Nintendo for the Wii U console, and is the successor to the Wii games ''Wii Fit'' and '' Wii Fit Plus''. ''Wii Fit U'' utilizes both the Wii Balance Board and the Wii U GamePad in gameplay, ...
and
Longines
Compagnie des Montres Longines, Francillon S.A., or simply Longines (), is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Saint-Imier, Switzerland. Founded by Auguste Agassiz in 1832, the company has been a subsidiary of the Swiss Swatch Group and its predec ...
in 2013.
Personal life
Relationships and family
In the early 1990s, after dating Wendi Stewart, Agassi dated American singer and entertainer
Barbra Streisand
Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List ...
. He wrote about the relationship in his 2009 autobiography, "We agree that we're good for each other, and so what if she's twenty-eight years older? We're sympatico, and the public outcry only adds spice to our connection. It makes our friendship feel forbidden, taboo – another piece of my overall rebellion. Dating Barbra Streisand is like wearing Hot Lava."
He was married to
Brooke Shields from 1997 to 1999.
He married
Steffi Graf
Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 for a record 377 weeks and won 22 major singles titles, ...
on October 22, 2001, at their
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
home; the only witnesses were their mothers. They have two children: son Jaden Gil (born 2001) and daughter Jaz Elle (born 2003). Agassi has said that he and Graf are not pushing their children toward becoming tennis players. The Graf-Agassi family resides in
Summerlin
Summerlin is a master-planned community in the Las Vegas Valley of Southern Nevada. It lies at the edge of the Spring Mountains and Red Rock Canyon to the west; it is partly within the official city limits of Las Vegas and partly within uni ...
, a community in the
Las Vegas Valley
The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the Southern Nevada, southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Stat ...
. Graf's mother and brother, Michael, with his four children, also live there.
Long-time trainer
Gil Reyes has been called one of Agassi's closest friends; some have described him as being a "father figure" to Agassi. In 2012, Agassi and Reyes introduced their own line of fitness equipment, BILT By Agassi and Reyes. 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.
Autobiography
Agassi's autobiography, ''
Open: An Autobiography'', (written with assistance from
J. R. Moehringer
John Joseph Moehringer (born December 7, 1964), known by his pen name J. R. Moehringer, is an American novelist, journalist, and ghostwriter. In 2000, he won the Pulitzer Prize for newspaper feature writing.
He collaborated on the 2021 film ...
), was published in November 2009. In it, Agassi talks about his childhood and his unconventional Armenian father, who came to the United States from Iran, where he was a professional boxer. Overly demanding and emotionally abusive to the whole family, his father groomed young Agassi for tennis greatness by building a tennis court in their backyard and sending Agassi to tennis boarding school under the supervision of Nick Bollettieri, who later coached and managed part of Agassi's professional career.
There is also mention in the book of using and testing positive for
methamphetamine
Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamph ...
in 1997.
In response to this revelation,
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...
declared himself shocked and disappointed, while
Marat Safin
Marat Mubinovich Safin ( rus, Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, , mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn, Ru-Marat-Safin.ogg; tt-Cyrl, Марат Мөбин улы Сафин; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian retired world No. 1 tennis player an ...
argued that Agassi should return his prize money and be stripped of his titles. In an interview with CBS, Agassi justified himself and asked for understanding, saying that "It was a period in my life where I needed help."
Agassi said that he had always hated tennis during his career because of the constant pressure it exerted on him. He also said he wore a hairpiece earlier in his career and thought
Pete Sampras
Petros "Pete" Sampras ( el, Πέτρος Σάμπρας; born August 12, 1971) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. His professional career began in 1988 and ended at the 2002 US Open, which he won, defeating longtime rival Andre ...
was "robotic".
The book reached No. 1 on the
''New York Times'' Best Seller list and received favorable reviews. It won the Autobiography category of the 2010
British Sports Book Awards. In 2018, the book was listed on ''
Esquire
Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title.
In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...
'' as one of "The 30 Best Sports Books Ever Written", and was also recommended by self-help author
Tim Ferriss
Timothy Ferriss (born July 20, 1977) is an American entrepreneur, investor, author, podcaster, and lifestyle guru. He became well-known through his ''4-Hour'' self-help book series—including ''The 4-Hour Work Week'', ''The 4-Hour Body'', and '' ...
who described it as "very candid, very amusing, and very instructional".
In media
In 2017, Agassi appeared in the documentary film ''
Love Means Zero
''Love Means Zero'' is a 2017 American documentary film directed by Jason Kohn about tennis coach Nick Bollettieri and his troubled relationship with Andre Agassi.
The film had its world premiere at the 42nd Toronto International Film Festival o ...
'', which highlighted the troubled relationship between his coach
Nick Bollettieri
Nicholas James Bollettieri (July 31, 1931 – December 4, 2022) was an American tennis coach. He pioneered the concept of a tennis boarding school, and helped develop many leading tennis players during the past decades, including Andre Agassi, ...
and him.
Politics
Agassi has donated more than $100,000 to Democratic candidates, and $2,000 to Republicans. On September 1, 2010, when he appeared on daily
WNYC
WNYC is the trademark and a set of call letters shared by WNYC (AM) and WNYC-FM, a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations located in New York City. WNYC is owned by New York Public Radio (NYPR), a nonprofit organization that di ...
public radio program ''
The Brian Lehrer Show
Brian Lehrer (born October 5, 1952) is an American radio talk show host on New York City's public radio station WNYC. His daily two-hour 2007 Peabody Award-winning program, '', he stated that he is registered as Independent.
Philanthropy
Agassi founded the
Andre Agassi Charitable Association in 1994, which assists Las Vegas' young people. He was awarded the
ATP Arthur Ashe Humanitarian award in 1995 for his efforts to help disadvantaged youth. He has been cited as the most charitable and socially involved player in professional tennis. It has also been claimed that he may be the most charitable athlete of his generation.
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 the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy
in Las Vegas, a tuition-free charter school for at-risk children in the area. He personally donated $35 million to the school. In 2009, the graduating class had a 100 percent graduation rate and expected 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, 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 20-bed facility opened in December 2001, and accommodates developmentally delayed or handicapped children and children quarantined for infectious diseases.
In 2007, along with several other athletes, Agassi founded the charity
Athletes for Hope Athletes for Hope is a nonprofit organization that works to educate professional athletes about philanthropy, connect them with charitable causes, recognize these efforts and inspire others to get involved in the community. AFH emphasizes that its f ...
, which helps professional athletes get involved in charitable causes and aims to inspire all people to volunteer and support their communities. He created the Canyon-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund, now known as the Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund. The Fund is an investment initiative for social change, focusing on the "nationwide effort to move charters from stopgap buildings into permanent campuses."
In September 2013, the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education formed a partnership with V20 Foods to launch Box Budd!es, a line of kids' healthy snacks. All proceeds go to the Foundation.
In February 2014, Agassi remodeled the vacant
University of Phoenix
University of Phoenix (UoPX) is a private for-profit university headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1976, the university confers certificates and degrees at the certificate, associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree level ...
building in Las Vegas as a new school, called the Doral Academy West through the Canyon-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund. Doral Academy opened in August 2014. The Fund purchased a 4.6-acre plot in
Henderson, Nevada
Henderson is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, about southeast of downtown Las Vegas. It is the second largest city in Nevada, after Las Vegas, with an estimated population of 320,189 in 2019. The city is part of the Las Vegas Vall ...
to house the Somerset Academy of Las Vegas, which will relocate from its campus inside a church.
Career statistics
Singles performance timeline
Grand Slam finals (8 titles, 7 runners-up)
By winning the
1999 French Open, Agassi completed a men's singles Career Grand Slam. He is the 5th of 8 male players in history (after
Budge,
Perry
Perry, also known as pear cider, is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally the perry pear. It has been common for centuries in England, particularly in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire. It is also mad ...
,
Laver and
Emerson, and before
Federer,
Nadal and
Djokovic) to achieve this.
Open Era records
* These records were attained in the
Open Era
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Birmingham, England now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today as a separate sp ...
of tennis and in
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
The ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (previously known as ATP Masters Series) is an annual series of nine tennis tournaments featuring the top-ranked players on the ATP Tour. The series' events have been held in Europe and North America since the ...
series since 1990.
* Records in bold indicate peer-less achievements.
Legacy
Considered by numerous sources to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time,
["Stars pay tribute to Agassi"](_blank)
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. Retrieved May 15, 2010. Agassi has also been called one of the greatest service returners ever to play the game, and was described by the
...