| Andre Agassi the only tennis player in the open era to have
won every Grand Slam singles title, to have won the
Tennis Masters Cup, to have been part of the Davis Cup
winning team, and to have won an Olympic
gold medal
Andre Kirk Agassi was born in Las
Vegas, Nevada, on April 29, 1970. His father was a member
of the Iranian boxing team at the 1948 and 1952 Olympic
Games before immigrating to the United States. He honed
Andre's hand-eye coordination by hanging tennis balls
above his crib, and gave him paddles and balloons when he
was still in a high chair. When he was five years old
Andre was already practicing with such pros as Jimmy
Connors and Roscoe Tanner. At the age of 14, Andre was
sent to Nick Bollettieri's Tennis Academy in Florida. He
turned professional at the age of 16, and won his first
top-level singles title in 1987, at Itaparica. He won six
more tournaments in 1988, and, by December of that year,
had accumulated more than $2 million in prize money --
the fastest rise through the professional ranks in tennis
history.
By the time he ended his career, Agassi
had become one of only five players in the world to have
won all four Grand Slam singles events during his career.
He is the only player in the open era to have won every
Grand Slam singles title, to have won the Tennis Masters
Cup, to have been part of the Davis Cup winning team
(1990, 1992, and 1995), and to have won
an Olympic gold medal. He is also the only male tennis
player to have been ranked in the Top 10 in three
different decades.
Chronology of His
Professional Career
| 1990 |
Lost in the final
round of the French Open, to Andrés Gómez. Lost
in the final round of the U.S. Open, to Pete
Sampras. |
| 1991 |
Lost in the final
round of the French Open, to Jim Courier. Made it
to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. |
| 1992 |
Won Wimbledon by
defeating Goran Ivanisevic in five sets. |
| 1993 |
Sidelined by
wrist surgery. |
| 1994 |
Came back to
become the first man to win the U.S. Open as an
unseeded player, beating Michael Stich in the
final round. |
| 1995 |
Won a career-high
seven singles titles, and was ranked Number 1 in
the world by April.
Won the Australian Open by defeating
Pete Sampras.
Also won the Cincinnati Masters, the Miami
Master, and the Canada Masters.
Held the Number 1 ranking for a total of 30
weeks, during which period he won 26 matches in a
row.
The streak was ended by a loss to Sampras in the
U.S. Open finals.
Win-loss record for the year was 72-10. |
| 1996 |
Won the gold
medal at the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta by
defeating Sergi Bruguera of Spain. |
| 1997 |
His wrist injury
resurfaced, and he was only able to play 24
matches that year.
He won no top-level titles and fell to 141st in
the rankings.
Married actress Brooke Shields on April 19,
1997. |
| 1998 |
Played in
Challenger Series tournaments (a circuit for
professional players ranked outside the world's
top 50).
By the end of the year he had won five titles and
jumped up to Number 6 in the rankings -- the
highest jump into the Top 10 ever made. |
| 1999 |
Won the French
Open by defeating Andrei Medvedev.
Lost the Wimbledon final to Pete Sampras.
Won the U.S. Open final by defeating Todd Martin.
Was once again ranked Number 1 in the world by
year's end.
Obtained a divorce from Brooke Shields on
April 9, 1999. |
| 2000 |
Captured his
second Australian Open title by defeating Yevgeny
Kafelnikov. Became the first male player to
have reached four consecutive Grand Slam finals
since Rod Laver did so in 1969. He also became
only the third player since Laver to be the
reigning champion of three of four Grand Slam
events, missing only the Wimbledon title.
Lost the semifinals at Wimbledon to Patrick
Rafter.
Defeated in the final of the Tennis Masters Cup
in Lisbon by Gustavo Kuerten in three straight
sets.
Fell to 6th in the world. |
| 2001 |
Won the
Australian Open title with a straight sets final
win over Arnaud Clement.
Lost to Pat Rafter in the semifinals at
Wimbledon.
Lost to Pete Sampras in the quarterfinals of the
U.S. Open.
Married retired tennis star Stefi Graf on
October 22, 2001. Their son, Jaden Gil, was born
on October 26, 2001, and their daughter, Jaz
Elle, was born on October 3, 2003. |
| 2002 |
Lost to Pete
Sampras in the finals of the U.S. Open.
Won the Miami Masters, the Rome Masters, and the
Madrid Masters.
Finished the year at Number 2, making him the
oldest man to achieve that ranking (32 years and
8 months). |
| 2003 |
Won the eighth
Grand Slam title of his career at the Australian
Open, by defeating Rainier Schattler in straight
sets.
Won his 6th Miami Masters title, breaking Steffi
Graf's record of five Miami wins. With that
victory Agassi also became both the youngest (19
years old) and oldest (32 years old) winner of
the tournament.
Recaptured his Number 1 status by defeating
Savier Malisse in the quarterfinal match of the
Stella Artois Tennis Championships at Queens. At
33 years and 13 days, he also became the oldest
Number 1 ranked male tennis player in history.
Held the Number 1 ranking for fourteen weeks
before losing to Roger Federer in the final match
of the Tennis Masters Cup.
Finished the year ranked Number 4. |
| 2004 |
The 34-year-old
Agassi became the second-oldest man to win the
Cincinnati Masters (Ken Rosewall was 35 years old
when he won the title in 1970). The win brought
Agassi's career total to 59 top-level singles
titles and a record 17 ATP Masters Series titles. |
| 2005 |
Lost to Roger
Federer in the quarterfinals of the Australian
Open, the semifinals at Dubai, and the semifinals
at Miami.
Forced to withdraw from competition at Indian
Wells due to a swollen big toe.
Lost to Guillermo Coria in the semifinals at
Rome.
Endured severe back pain en route to a
first-round loss to Jarkko Nieminen at the French
Open.
Won his fourth Mercedes Benz Cup at Los Angeles,
becoming the fourth player to win the tournament
four times. It was also the 60th win of his
career, making him only the seventh player in the
open era to win at least 60 singles titles.
Won in Los Angeles and made the final at Montreal
before falling to Number 2-ranked Rafael Nadal.
Lost the U.S. Open to Roger Federer.
Forced to withdraw from the Tennis Masters Cup in
Shanghai due to an aggravated ankle injury.
Ended the year ranked Number 7 in the world. |
| 2006 |
Forced to
withdraw from the Australian Open due to
continuing back problems.
Lost in the quarterfinals of Delray Beach.
Withdrew from the SAP Open.
Lost in the second round of the Dubai Open.
Lost in the third round of the Pacific Life Open
at Indian Wells.
Withdrew from the NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami just
two hours before his first match was scheduled to
begin.
Seeded 25th at Wimbledon; defeated in the third
round by Number 2-ranked Rafael Nadal in straight
sets.
Seeded 5th at the Countrywide Classic in Los
Angeles; lost in the quarterfinals to
third-seeded Fernando Gonzalez.
Unseeded at the U.S. Open for the first time
since 1997; managed to survive serious back pain
to make it to the third round, but was defeated
by 112th-ranked Benjamin Becker.
On September 3, during the press conference
following his U.S. Open loss to Becker, Agassi
formally announced his retirement from
professional tennis. |
Andre Agassi 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.
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