Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Andre Agassi

Andre Kirk Agassi (born April 29, 1970) is a retired American professional tennis player and former World No. 1. Generally considered by critics and fellow players to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Agassi has been called the best service returner in the history of the game.
Described by the BBC upon his retirement as "perhaps the biggest worldwide star in the sport's history", Agassi's performances, along with his unorthodox apparel and attitude, have seen him cited as one of the most charismatic players in the history of the game, and credited for helping revive the popularity of tennis during the 1990s.
Agassi is an eight-time Grand Slam singles champion who competed in fifteen Grand Slam finals, and an Olympic gold medalist. A multi-surface specialist, he is the first of two male players in history to have achieved a singles Career Golden Slam, and one of four male players to have achieved a singles Career Grand Slam in the Open Era (one of seven in history).
He was the first male player to win all four Grand Slams on three different surfaces (hard, clay and grass), and is the last American male to win the French Open (1999) and the Australian Open (2003).Agassi also won seventeen ATP Masters Series titles, won the 1990 ATP Tour World Championships and was part of a winning Davis Cup team in 1990 and 1992.
He is the only male singles player in history to have won all four Grand Slam tournaments, the Olympic gold medal and the ATP Tour World Championships: a distinction dubbed as a "Career Super Slam" by Sports Illustrated.
After suffering from sciatica caused by two bulging discs in his back, a spondylolisthesis (vertebral displacement) and a bone spur that interfered with the nerve, Agassi retired from professional tennis on September 3, 2006, after losing in the third round of the US Open.
He 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.

Agassi resides in Las Vegas, Nevada with his wife, retired professional tennis player Steffi Graf, and their two children.

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