Andre Kirk Agassi is a retired American professional tennis player of the 1990’s. Agassi was born in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1970 he is one of four children. His father Mike was a former Olympic boxer for Iran and his mother Betty is a breast cancer survivor. Agassi discovered tennis at 9 years old when his father made a bet for $10,000 that Andre could beat football legend Jim Brown. Brown lost to Agassi and declined the 10,000 wager. Shortly after this when Andre was 13 years old he was sent to Nick Bollettieri’s Tennis Academy in Florida. Nick saw an instant talent in Agassi telling his father he could attend the school for free.
At the age of 14 Agassi dropped out of school to begin training professionally, he became a professional tennis player at the age of 16 after winning his first tournament in California. He became ranked at number 91 by the end of that same year. By December of 1987 Agassi had won 43 tournaments winning over $1 million in prize money and setting a record for the most consecutive victories by a male teenager at that time. By 1988 his ranked moved up to number 3 just behind Ivan Lendl and Mats Wilander. 1988 marked the first appearance of Andre Agassi at a Grand Slam tournament.He reached the semi finals at the French and Us Open, having previously chosen not to play at the Australian Open or Wimbledon citing that the event was to traditional in particular the dress code rule(players had to wear mostly white clothing.
In 1990 Agassi reached his first final at the US Open against future rival and legendary tennis player Pete Sampras. Sampras was victorious over Agassi winning over three sets. After reaching the finals at both the French open and Wimbledon in 1992 he was finally victorious winning the Grand Slam tournament at Wimbledon against Goran Ivansevic after five sets. In 1993 Agassi won his second career doubles title at the Cincinnati Masters tournament alongside Petr Korda.
In 1995 Agassi teamed up with new coach Brad Gilbert making a comeback into the game after a slow beginning year. He won the US Open against Michael Stich, the Australian Open against Pete Sampras, and 3 Masters Tournaments all before breaking his winning streak by once again facing off against Sampras losing the US Open final. The following years after that Agassi was unlucky at winning any Grand Slam finals while also suffering from a wrist injury and failing an ATP drug test because of drug usage (crystal methamphetamine).
In 2006 Agassi played the toughest and last match of his career at the US Open against Benjamin Becker. Facing extreme back pains he received anti inflammatory injections after every match to lessen the pain. Becker triumphed over Agassi wining four sets, Agassi gave a heartfelt speech at the end of the match and received a standing ovation as he walked off the court.
Championships:
Grand Slam Championships
1992 – Wimbledon
1994 – US Open
1995 – Australian Open
1999 – French Open / US Open
2000 – Australian Open
2003 – Australian Open
Singles Championships
1990 – Frankfurt
Masters Series Championships (Single)
1990- Miami
1992- Canada
1994 – Canada / Paris
1995 – Miami / Canada / Cincinnati
1996 – Miami / Cincinnati
1999 – Paris
2001 – Indian Wells / Miami
2002 – Miami / Madrid
2003 – Miami / Cincinnati
Olympic Finals
1996 – Atlanta Olympics
Source: www.bookofcool.com