Andre Agassi biography
Andre Agassi, in full Andre Kirk Agassi, (born April 29, 1970, Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.), American skilled tennis participant who gained eight Grand Slam titles in addition to the “career Grand Slam” for profitable every of the 4 main tennis tournaments—Wimbledon, the Australian Open, the French Open, and the U.S. Open—a minimum of as soon as.
By age 2 he may serve a tennis ball on a full courtroom. At 13 he was despatched to a tennis academy in Bradenton, Florida, run by Nick Bolletieri, who later turned his coach. In 1987 Agassi gained his first skilled event. With six event wins in 1988, the shaggy-haired right-hander with the highly effective forehand started attracting consideration. Agassi’s charisma, flashy on-court wardrobe, and attractiveness made him a media sensation, and the tagline of one of many merchandise he endorsed—“Image is everything”—got here to face as shorthand for the notion of Agassi amongst some tennis followers. He additional aggravated tennis traditionalists by refusing to play at Wimbledon due to the occasion’s costume code and the grass surfaces of its courts.
Agassi managed to achieve three Grand Slam finals between 1990 and 1991 however misplaced every time (together with a defeat by the hands of his rival Pete Sampras on the 1990 U.S. Open), leaving some to query whether or not he had the tenacity to win an enormous match. In 1992 he quieted his doubters when he triumphed over Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia at Wimbledon (he had ended his boycott of the event the earlier 12 months) to take his first Grand Slam title. In 1994, after being dropped by Bolletieri—who questioned Agassi’s dedication to the game—and falling out of the highest 30 within the rankings, he returned with a brand new coach, Brad Gilbert, and a brand new, extra targeted recreation. He entered the 1994 U.S. Open unseeded; when he gained there, it was the primary time that an unseeded participant had taken the event since 1966. Agassi, sporting a shaved head, claimed his third Grand Slam title in 1995 by beating Sampras within the Australian Open last in Agassi’s first participation in that occasion.
A gold medal within the males’s singles occasion on the Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, marked Agassi’s solely notable victory in 1996. In 1997 Agassi made headlines together with his marriage to actress Brooke Shields, although his tennis continued to endure due to a recurring wrist harm, and he noticed his rating plummet to 141. The disappointing losses continued by way of 1998 and early 1999, however they—together with a broadly publicized cut up with Shields in April 1999—did not shake Agassi’s concentrate on a comeback as he slowly labored his manner again right into a prime 10 world rating.
In 1999 Agassi gained the French Open to grow to be the fifth males’s participant in historical past to win all 4 Grand Slam occasions, and the primary to do it on three totally different surfaces. A title on the U.S. Open in September confirmed that he was again in prime type, and he returned to the primary rating on the finish of 1999. Agassi gained a second Australian Open in 2000 and a 3rd in 2001. Later that 12 months, he married fellow tennis star Steffi Graf. After recurring wrist issues restricted his 2002 season, he captured his fourth Australian Open championship in 2003. He made a shock run for the 2005 U.S. Open last (a four-set loss to Roger Federer) and retained a prime 10 rating by way of early 2006, however mounting accidents and advancing age led to his retirement after the 2006 U.S. Open. However, he remained concerned within the sport, and from 2017 to 2018 he coached Novak Djokovic of Serbia. In 2011 Agassi was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.