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Born: Las Vegas, Nevada,
USA
Birthdate: April 29, 1970
Pro Career: 1986 - |
Background
Andre Kirk Agassi (born April 29, 1970, Las Vegas, Nevada,
USA) is a American professional tennis player (1986-). As
of 2004, he has won over $25 million in prize money and achieved
a number 1 ranking on the ATP tour.
Agassi, an ethnic Armenian & Assyrian, was born and raised
in Las Vegas, and lives there when not on tour. His father,
Emmanuel "Mike" Agassian, was a boxer for Iran in
the 1948 and 1952 Olympics before emigrating to the U.S.
Career
Mike Agassi was a tennis fanatic, to put it nicely, determined
to turn at least one of his four children into a world-class
player. He hung tennis balls over Andre's crib, and gave him
a full-sized racket at age 2. Growing up, Andre and his siblings
had to hit 3,000 balls every day, seven days a week. Mike
had Andre practice with Ilie
Nastase and Jimmy
Connors. Andre's sister, Rita, finally had enough, and
moved in with Pancho
Gonzalez (their son, Skylar, played on Bishop-Gorman High
School's tennis team).
When he was 14, Andre was shipped off to teaching guru Nick
Bollettieri's Tennis Academy in Florida, and turned pro when
he was 16. He surpassed $1 million in career prize money in
December 1988 after just 43 tournaments -- the quickest player
in history to do so.
Few athletes have so completely overhauled their public persona.
As a youngster, Agassi embraced a rebel image. He grew his
hair to rock-star length, sported an earring, and wore colorful
shirts that pushed tennis' still-strict sartorial boundaries.
He boasted of a cheeseburger-heavy diet and endorsed the Canon
Rebel camera. "Image is everything" was the ads's
tag line, and it became Agassi's as well, but by November
1997, his ranking had plunged to 141.
Agassi rededicated himself to tennis: he shaved his balding
head, began a rigorous conditioning program, and worked his
way back to the ATP by playing Challenger Tournaments, a circuit
for pros ranked 50th and lower. Perhaps most remarkably, he
has emerged as a gracious and thoughtful athlete, something
of an elder statesman. After winning a match, he bows and
blows a two-handed kiss to the spectators on each side of
the court, a gesture most take as a rather humble acknowledgment
of their support for him and for tennis.
Agassi keeps in exceptional shape and can outlast many players
over the course of a long match. He typically employs a baseline
style of play, rarely serving-and-volleying. His serve is
average at best among the top players on the men's tour, but
his return-of-serve is his claim to fame. Most agree that
Agassi is the best serve returner in the history of professional
tennis. He was the target of one of the fastest serves recorded,
a 149-mph (240 km/h) blast from Andy
Roddick—and returned it into play.
Agassi is one of only five male players to have won all the
Grand Slam tournaments in a career, along with Don Budge,
Roy Emerson,
Rod Laver and
Fred Perry.
He has also won the Olympic gold medal in singles at Atlanta
in 1996. Agassi has represented the USA in Davis
Cup play many times, compiling a lifetime record of 30-6
in 22 tries.
In 1992, Andre was awarded the BBC Sports Personality of
the Year Overseas Personality Award.
Personal Life
After a four-year courtship, Agassi married Brooke Shields
in a lavish ceremony on April 19, 1997. That February, they
had filed suit against The National Enquirer claiming it printed
"false and fabricated" statements: Brooke was undergoing
counseling, binge-eating and taking pills; Agassi "lashed
into" Brooke and he and Brooke's mother "tangled
like wildcats" when she demanded a prenup. The case was
dismissed, but the headlines were indicative of the union.
Agassi filed for divorce, which was granted on April 9, 1999.
By the time the divorce was final, Agassi was dating Steffi
Graf. With only their mothers as witnesses, they were
married at his home on October 22, 2001. Their son, Jaden
Gil, was born 6 weeks prematurely on October 26. Their daughter,
Jaz Elle, was born on October 3, 2003.
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