Agassi, Andre

▪ 2000

      For the first 10 years of his professional career, American tennis player Andre Agassi was the rock star of his sport. Besides racking up three Grand Slam titles and capturing the number one player ranking on several occasions, he charmed audiences with his flashy style and unusual antics, such as grabbing a fan's umbrella during a match in the rain. By 1997, however, a recurring wrist injury had begun to hamper his performances, and he saw his ranking plummet to 141. He set his sights on a comeback, and in 1999 he capped it in stirring fashion. He won the French Open in June after being down two sets to none against Andrey Medvedev of Ukraine in the final. He roared back to upend Medvedev 1–6, 2–6, 6–4, 6–3, 6–4 to become only the fifth men's player in history to win all four Grand Slam events—(Fred Perry of the U.K., Don Budge of the U.S., Rod Laver of Australia, and Roy Emerson, also of Australia, were the others) and the first to do it on three different surfaces. A strong showing at Wimbledon later in the year—Agassi made it to the finals, where he lost to arch rival Pete Sampras—and a title at the U.S. Open confirmed that he was indeed back in top form. His number one ranking at the end of the year provided conclusive proof. Agassi also topped the list of money winners. He earned $4,269,265 during the 1999 tour.

      Agassi was born on April 29, 1970, in Las Vegas, Nev. By the age of two, he could serve a tennis ball on a full court. At 13 he was sent to a tennis academy in Bradenton, Fla., run by Nick Bolletieri, who later became his coach. In 1987 Agassi won his first professional tournament. With six tournament wins in 1988, the shaggy-haired right-hander with the powerful forehand began attracting attention.

      In 1992 he triumphed over Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia at Wimbledon to take his first Grand Slam title. In 1994, after being dropped by Bolletieri—who questioned Agassi's dedication to the sport—and falling out of the top 30 in the rankings, he returned with a new coach, Brad Gilbert, and a new, more focussed, game. He entered the 1994 U.S. Open unseeded; when he won there, it was the first time that an unseeded player had taken the U.S. Open since 1966. In January 1995 he claimed his third Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in his first participation in that event and held the number one ranking for 30 consecutive weeks later that year.

      A gold medal at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ga., marked Agassi's only notable victory in 1996. In 1997 Agassi, now sporting a shaved head, made headlines with his marriage to actress Brooke Shields, though his tennis continued to suffer. His attempt at a return to the top got a giant boost when he beat Sampras in February 1998 at a tournament in San Jose, Calif. Disappointing losses early in 1999—and a widely publicized split with Shields—failed to shake Agassi's concentration, and a win over Boris Becker in Hong Kong shortly before the French Open set the stage for his return to glory. By the end of 1999, Agassi—slim, fit, and still not yet 30—had amassed more than $16 million in career prize money and had won more than 40 professional titles.

Anthony G. Craine

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