Andre Kirk Agassi, (born April 29, 1970, in Las Vegas, Nevada) is a professional male former World No. 1 tennis player from the United States. He has won eight Grand Slam singles titles, and is one of only five players to have won all four Grand Slam events. He is considered among the all-time great tennis players.

Agassi was married to the actress Brooke Shields from 1997 to 1999. Since 2001, he has been married to the former World No. 1 woman tennis player Steffi Graf and had two children.

Early life
Agassi's father, (from Iran) Emmanuel "Mike" Agassian (who represented Iran in boxing at the 1948 and 1952 Olympic Games before emigrating to the United States), was intent on having a child win all four tennis Grand Slams. He called Agassi's two older siblings "guinea pigs" in the development of his coaching techniques. He honed Andre's eye-coordination when he was an infant by hanging tennis balls above his crib. He gave Agassi paddles and balloons when he was still in a high chair. When Agassi started playing tennis, his ball collection filled 60 garbage cans with 300 balls per can, and Agassi would hit 3,000-5,000 balls every day. When Andre was five years old, he was already practicing with pros such as Jimmy Connors and Roscoe Tanner.

Mike Agassi learned tennis by watching tapes of champions. Mike Agassi took a very systematic approach to the physics and psychology of tennis, and still remains active in the sport. (More information can be found in Mike Agassi's book, The Agassi Story.)

At age of 14, Andre was shipped off to teaching guru Nick Bollettieri's Tennis Academy in Florida. He turned professional when he was 16.

Tennis career

1986-1997
Agassi turned professional in 1986, and won his first top-level singles title in 1987 at Itaparica. He won six further tournaments in 1988, and by December that year he had surpassed US$2 million in career prize money after playing in just 43 tournaments – the quickest player in history to do so.

As a young up-and-coming player, Agassi embraced a rebel image. He grew his hair to rock-star length, sported an ear-ring, 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 ad's tag line, and it became Andre's as well.

Strong performances on the tour meant that Agassi was quickly tipped as a future Grand Slam champion. But he began the 1990s with a series of near-misses. He reached his first Grand Slam final in 1990 at the French Open, where he lost in four sets to the seasoned veteran player Andrés Gómez. Later that year he lost in the final of the US Open to another up-and-coming teenaged star, Pete Sampras. The rivalry between these two American players was to become the dominant rivalry in tennis over the rest the of the decade. In 1991, Agassi reached his second consecutive French Open final where he faced his former Bollettieri Academy-mate Jim Courier. Courier emerged the victor in a dramatic rain-interrupted five-set final.

Agassi chose not to play at Wimbledon from 1988-90, and publicly stated that he did not wish to play there because of the event's traditionalism, particularly its "predominantly-white" dress code which players at the event are required to conform to. Many observers at the time speculated that Agassi's real motivation was that his strong baseline game would not be well suited to Wimbledon's grass court surface. Agassi decided to play at Wimbledon in 1991, leading to weeks of speculation in the media about what he would wear – he eventually emerged for the first round in a completely white outfit. He reached the quarter-finals on that occasion.

To the surprise of many, Agassi's Grand Slam breakthrough came at Wimbledon in 1992, when he beat Goran Ivanišević in a tight five-set final.

Following wrist surgery in 1993, an unranked Agassi came back strongly in 1994 and shocked the world by capturing the US Open, beating Michael Stich in the final after a stirring quarter-final performance against Michael Chang. He then captured his first Australian Open title in 1995, beating Sampras in a four-set final. He won a career-high seven titles that year and he reached the World No. 1 ranking for the first time that April. He held it for 30 weeks on that occasion through to November. He compiled a career-best 26-match winning streak during the summer hardcourt circuit, which ended when he lost in the US Open final to Sampras.

In 1995, Agassi won seven singles titles, the biggest being the Australian Open, the Cincinnati Masters, the Miami Masters, and the Canada Masters. In terms of win/loss record, 1995 was Agassi's best year (72/10) (includes Davis Cup). This is slightly short of Sampras's best season, 1994, in which he (Sampras) won 77 matches and lost 12. In 1996, Agassi won the men's singles Gold Medal at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, beating Sergi Bruguera of Spain in straight sets in the final. He also repeated at the Cincinnati Masters and the Miami Masters.

1997 was a poor year for Agassi. He won no top-level titles and his ranking sank to World No. 141 in November. His form was perhaps affected by the intense publicity surrounding his high-profile and turbulent relationship and marriage to actress Brooke Shields.

1998-2004
In 1998, Agassi rededicated himself to tennis. He shaved his balding head, began a rigorous conditioning program, and worked his way back up the rankings by playing in Challenger Series tournaments (a circuit for professional players ranked outside the world's top 50). Perhaps most remarkably, the one-time rebel emerged as a gracious and thoughtful athlete, looked up to by younger players. After winning matches, he took to bowing and blowing a two-handed kisses to spectators on each side of the court, a gesture seen as a rather humble acknowledgment of their support for him and for tennis.

In 1998, Agassi won five titles and leapt from No. 122 on the rankings at the start of the year, to No. 6 at the end of it, making it the highest jump into the Top 10 made by any player in tennis. He won five titles in ten finals, and finished runner-up at the Miami Masters.

Agassi entered the history books in 1999 when he beat Andrei Medvedev in a five-set French Open final to become only the fifth male player to have won all four Grand Slam singles titles (a feat last achieved in the 1960s by Rod Laver). He followed this up by reaching the Wimbledon final, where he lost to Sampras. He then won the US Open, beating Todd Martin in five sets in the final, and finished the year ranked the World No. 1.

Agassi began 2000 by capturing his second Australian Open title, beating Yevgeny Kafelnikov in a four-set final. He was the first male player to have reached four consecutive Grand Slam finals since Rod Laver achieved the Grand Slam in 1969. 2000 also saw Agassi reach the semi-finals at Wimbledon, where he lost in five sets to Patrick Rafter in a very high quality battle considered by many to be one of the best matches ever played at Wimbledon [1]. At the inaugural Tennis Masters Cup in Lisbon, Agassi made it all the way to the final after defeating Marat Safin 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals to end the Russian's hopes to become the youngest World No. 1 in the history of tennis. Agassi eventually lost to Gustavo Kuerten 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. This loss allowed Kuerten to be crowned year end World No. 1. 2000 is considered by many of his fans to be a disappointing season for Agassi, as he managed to win only one tournament (2000 Australian Open).

Agassi opened 2001 by successfully defending his Australian Open title with a straight-sets final win over Arnaud Clement. At Wimbledon, he battled Rafter again in the semi-finals and lost 8-6 in the fifth set. At the US Open he lost in the quarter-finals to Sampras in what is considered to be one of tournament's all-time greatest matches. Sampras won 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 in a match with no breaks of serve.

Agassi and Sampras' last duel came in the final of the US Open in 2002. The battle between the two veterans saw Sampras emerge victorious in four sets, and left Sampras with a 20-14 edge in their 34 career meetings. (The match in fact proved to be the last of Sampras' career. He did not play in an event on the professional tour again, and officially announced his retirement in 2003.) Agassi's US Open finish, along with his victories at the Miami Masters, Rome Masters, and Madrid Masters, helped him finish 2002 as the oldest year-end No. 2 at 32 years and 8 months.

In 2003, Agassi won the eighth Grand Slam title of his career at the Australian Open, where he beat Rainer Schüttler in straight sets in the final. In May that year, he recaptured the World No.1 ranking to become the oldest No. 1 ranked male tennis player in history at 33 years and 13 days. This victory was largely attributed to his now famous conditioning, a far cry from the cheeseburger-gobbling teen seen early in Agassi's career. He held the No. 1 ranking on that occasion for 13 weeks. At the year-end Tennis Masters Cup, he lost in the final to Roger Federer and finished the year ranked World No. 4.

In 2004, the 34-year-old Agassi won the Cincinnati Masters to bring his career total to 59 top-level singles titles and a record 17 ATP Masters Series titles. He became the second-oldest singles champion in Cincinnati's storied history (the tournament began in 1899), surpassed only by Ken Rosewall who won the title in 1970 at age 35.

Agassi has also won one doubles title (at the Cincinnati Masters in 1993, partnering Petr Korda). He is one of only five male players to have won all the Grand Slams – along with legends Don Budge, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver and Fred Perry. He is in fact the first male tennis player to win the four Grand Slams on four different surfaces. The previous players won the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open on grass courts and the French Open on clay courts; whereas Agassi won the Australian Open on Rebound Ace, the French Open on clay, Wimbledon on grass, and the US Open on hardcourts.

After winning French Open in 1999, Agassi became the first male tennis player to win the Career Golden Slam. Agassi also helped the United States win the Davis Cup in 1990 and 1992. He was named the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year in 1992. Agassi has earned more than US$30 million in prize-money throughout his career, second only to Sampras. In addition to this, he also earns over US$25 million a year through endorsements, the most by any tennis player and fourth in all sports (first place is Tiger Woods at US$70 million a year).

2005
Agassi started off 2005 with strong runs, most of which were cut short by Roger Federer. He lost to Federer in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and the semifinals at Dubai. He reached the quarterfinals at Indian Wells after a dominant victory over Guillermo Coria, but withdrew from his match with Lleyton Hewitt with a swollen big toe. Agassi lost in the semifinals at Miami to Federer in a tight match. Although the claycourt season is the toughest on the body, Agassi played in Rome and reached the semifinals which he lost to Coria in a tough battle. At the 2005 French Open, Agassi lost to Jarkko Nieminen, in their first-round match after enduring back pain related to a pinched sciatic nerve. He lost in five sets with 6-0 in the fifth.

After much media speculation about retirement, the 35-year-old Agassi won in Los Angeles and made the final at Montreal before falling to world No. 2 Rafael Nadal in three long sets that he might have won if a few points had gone differently. His coach Darren Cahill and close friend and personal trainer Gil Reyes worked with Agassi throughout the summer to prepare for the 2005 US Open. Agassi made a spectacular run at the Open, beating Razvan Sabau 6-3, 6-3, 6-1, Ivo Karlovic in the second round 7-6(7-4), 7-6(7-5), 7-6(7-4); Tomáš Berdych 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6(7-2); and Xavier Malisse 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(5-7), 4-6, 6-2. His quarterfinal match against fellow American James Blake has been called one of the best matches in US Open history. After dropping the first two sets, 3-6, 3-6, Agassi took the next two, 6-3, 6-3. In the fifth set, Blake served for the match at 5-4, but Agassi broke his serve, then won the tiebreak 8-6 to secure the victory at 1:15 a.m.

He defeated Robby Ginepri, another rising, talented American with a consistent baseline game, in his third consecutive five-set match to earn a spot in the final against World No. 1 Roger Federer. After losing the first set 6-3, Agassi broke Federer twice to win the second, 6-2. He broke Federer again and at this point looked to be the better player. Agassi had a 30-love lead but with a few costly errors was broken to force a tiebreak, which Federer took, 7-1. Andre ran out of gas which allowed Federer to reel off five straight games. Being down 5-0 in the fourth set, Agassi held to make it 5-1 before Federer closed it out to win the championship. After the match, Agassi thanked New York for the 20 years of memories, hinting at potential retirement.

However, Agassi has made clear that he will only retire on his terms, when he feels that he cannot perform at his best on the court. He will likely continue for another year, as he has qualified for the 2005 Masters Cup (which is limited to the eight best players in the world) and is scheduled to play the lead-in tournament to the 2006 Australian Open.

Coming into the 2005 Masters Cup, Agassi is 29-5 on hard courts (with his only losses coming to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal), and is 5-4 on clay (wins over Gasquet, Ljubicic, and Hrbaty, losses to Coria and Lopez).

In 2005, Agassi left Nike after 17 years and signed an endorsement deal with Adidas (see [2]).

Hampered by a third degree ankle injury caused by several torn ligaments, Agassi lost his opening match against Nikolay Davydenko in the Masters Cup and was forced to withdraw. The withdrawal list also included Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt, and Marat Safin.

2006
Agassi withdrew from the Australian Open because of an ankle injury. Once he withdrew, he immediately requested a wildcard to enter the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, where he eventually finished as a quarterfinalist losing to Guillermo García Lopez 4-6, 2-6.

He was then forced to retire from SAP Open because of a lower back injury causing him severe pain in his lower back and down his legs.

He then played in the Dubai Open where he won in straight sets over Greg Rusedski in the first round before losing in straights to German Bjorn Phau in second round.

He then played in the Pacific Life Open, Indian Wells and had a first round bye. In second round he defeated Paul Goldstein in three sets before losing in straight sets to German Tommy Haas in third round.

Because of back-pain Agassi withdrew just two hours before his second round match against Christophe Rochus at the NASDAQ-100 Open, Miami (in which he was the tenth seed) after having recieved a bye in the first round.

Agassi has officially said that he is skipping the entire clay season, since it burdens his body, and he doesn't feel that he can compete with the best players on clay any longer.

He will do his best to be ready for Wimbledon. However, Agassi's top priority in 2006 will once again be making yet another run at the US Open in August. Expect all scheduling decisons to be made with that goal in mind.