Andre Agassi He is considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time. He is the only player in the history of tennis to win seven of the most prestigious tournaments on tour such as: Four Grand Slams (Australian Open, Roland Garros, US Open and Wimbledon), D masters cup, Olympic gold medal And Davis Cup.
A tennis ball in his pocket
son of mike And Betty AgassiAndre came into the world on April 29, 1970. His father, a former boxing champion and Iranian Olympic athlete, settled in Las Vegas where he began a new life working as a tennis coach, and as soon as his son started walking, Mike began “training” him. He taped a racket to his hand and hung a tennis ball above his cage. Thus, at only two years old, Andre was able to execute a perfect serve and move around the court with great agility.
By the age of ten, Andre was beating other very promising American players, viz Pete Sampras, Jim Courier And Michael Chang. However, when he turned 13, his father no longer knew they could teach him anything and sent his son to a tennis academy in Bradenton, Florida, run by Nick Bollettieriwho later became his coach.
His deformed appearance as a hallmark
He left this training center in 1986 and Become a professional Just 16 years old. Agassi won his first professional tournament in 1987, his success increased significantly the following year, he achieved six victories and his powerful forehand as well as his deformed appearance began to attract the attention of both professionals and sponsors.
Agassi’s charisma, flashy on-court wardrobe, and good looks made him a media sensation, and one of his promotional products carried the slogan: “Image is everything.” However, although he was considered the fourth best player in the world, Agassi had yet to win a Grand Slam, although that was about to change.
Won her first Grand Slam at Wimbledon
In 1992, he flew to Wimbledon at the last minute after almost canceling his participation in the Championships. He silenced his doubters and defeated the Croatian in the final Goran Ivanisevic Doing so with his first Grand Slam. After elimination in 1994 Bollettieri And being out of the top 30 in the rankings, Andre returned with a new coach, Brad Gilbert. At his behest he entered and won the 1994 United States Open unseeded.
After Agassi sported long hair and shaved his head, he defeated Sampras in the 1995 Australian Open final to win his third Grand Slam title. Then his gold medal will come Atlanta Olympic Games And no one will doubt his professionalism anymore.
Agassi’s steep fall
However, the following years were not easy for Andre, to put it mildly, and he dropped to 141st place in the ranking while enjoying the Hollywood life with the actress. Brooke Shields with whom she is married.
But suddenly something ‘clicked’ in his head and some roses rose from the ashes as he was called the “son of Las Vegas”. In 1999, Agassi won French Open and the fifth male player in history to win four Grand Slam events, and the first to do so on three different surfaces. A title in US Open In September he confirmed his return to top form and returned to number one in the rankings at the end of 1999. Agassi won for the second time. Australian Open After overcoming some problems with his wrist in 2000 and a third time in 2001, Andre won the Australian Open for the fourth time in 2003.
From Brooke Shields to Steffi Graf
As we mentioned earlier, in 1993, he started dating Brooke ShieldsIts stars Suddenly SusanAnd the two were married on April 19, 1997 in California “I played a lot of golf, went out a lot and enjoyed Brooke’s world,” Andre said “It was amazing… It was nice not to have the responsibility I’ve known since I was a kid.” However, the Hollywood charms soon wore thin and the couple amicably divorced just ten days before their second wedding anniversary.
Father of two children
But love knocked on his door again and this time Agassi succumbed to the charms of his track partner Steffi Graf, who, like him, knew what it was like to win four Grand Slams and an Olympic gold medal. They soon began dating and on October 22, 2001, they married in a private ceremony in Las Vegas. Steffy gave birth to a baby, Jaden GillJust four days later. In October 2003, the happy couple announced the birth of their second child, a girl Jazz comes.
your leisure
In 2004, Andre, then 34 years old, became the second biggest singles champion Cincinnati MastersAs a result, the number of individual titles won in his entire career increased to 59.
Andre announced his retirement US Open in 2006 and received an eight-minute standing ovation from the crowd. Since then, he has devoted his time to charity work and co-founded in 2007 ‘Athletes for Hope’An organization to encourage professional athletes to get involved in fundraising
