Andre Agassi Biography

Andre Kirk Agassi was born April 29, 1970, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Agassi's father, Emmanuel Mike Agassi, was an Armenian who represented Iran in the 1948 and 1952 Olympics in boxing. He was intent on having one of his children find superstardom through tennis. Agassi's two siblings, Phillip and Tami, were considered Mike's test subjects as he honed his coaching abilities. With Agassi, training started immediately. Mike attempted to improve Agassi's hand-eye coordination by hanging tennis balls in his crib, and a few years later he was handing Agassi paddles with which to hit balloons. By the young age of five, Agassi was training with tennis greats Jimmy Connors and Roscoe Tanner. By fourteen, Agassi was training with tennis guru Nick Bollettieri at his Tennis Academy located in Florida. Just two short years later, at the age of sisxteen, Agassi went professional.One year later in 1987, Agassi won his first singles title. By 1988, Agassi had won an additional six tournaments. In December of that year, his prize winnings had reached over 2 million dollars after just forty-three tournaments. It was the fastest anyone had ever achieved that feat in tennis history.From early on, Agassi played upon his rebel image. He even endorsed the Canon Rebel camera with the advertising tagline image is everything. He could often be seen on the court with long hair, earrings, and intensely colored shirts. All of this pushed the envelope of the notoriously conservative tennis community. Agassi's first Wimbledon was in 1991. Weeks of media speculation ensued concerning whether Agassi would conform to the strict dress-code of the tournament. After all the fuss and rumors, Agassi emerged wearing the traditional all white uniform. He made it to the quarter finals. The next year Agassi returned and won in a heated set against Goran Ivani ević.Agassi underwent wrist surgery in 1993 but still managed to make it to the quarter finals once again. Fully healthy, he returned in 1994 to take the U.S. Open, the only unseeded player in the history of the sport to do so. In 1995, Agassi won an astounding seven singles titles and enjoyed his most successful year in terms of wins and losses. He competed in eighty-two matches and won seventy of them. Following this wildly successful year, Agassi competed in the Olympics in 1996. He won the Gold Medal for men's singles, beating Spanish player Sergi Bruguera.After so much success, Agassi suffered a terrible professional and personal year in 1997. He didn t win any top-level titles, and his world ranking plummeted to 141. Perhaps the stumble could be attributed to the intense media coverage of his often rocky relationship with actress Brooke Shields. The two were married in 1997 and divorced just two short years later in 1999. Shields requested for the marriage to be formally annulled so she could remarry in the Catholic Church to writer Chris Henchy. Agassi complied with her request.The year 1998 brought Agassi back into the tennis limelight. He returned a new man in many ways he had a renewed dedication to his sport, a shaved head, and an aura of humility not before seen. It was common now to see him bowing and blowing kisses to the audience in recognition of their support. In 1999, Agassi became only the fifth male in tennis history to win all four Grand Slam singles titles, thereby fulfilling the wish of his father Mike.Agassi continued winning titles and advancing as far as the finals in big name tournaments such as Wimbledon. However, nagging pains and surgeries were starting to catch up with the thirty-six year old player. On June 24, 2006, Agassi announced his intention to retire after the U.S. Open.Agassi and fellow tennis star Steffi Graf were married in October of 2001. The couple has two children together, a boy and a girl. Agassi's dedication to his children is made all the more apparent by his 1997 opening of the Boys Girls Club.

• AskMen.com - Andre Agassi