Biographie en anglais de Andre Agassi

ANDRE AGASSI

Andre Agassi was a legend and prodigy tennis player. Agassi was the first male player to win all four Grand Slams on three different surfaces (hard, clay and grass), and the last American male to win the French Open (1999) and the Australian Open (2003). He also won 17 ATP Masters Series titles and was part of a winning Davis Cup team in 1990 and 1992. Agassi was known by the nickname "The Punisher" or « The Kid of Las Vegas ».

He was born in 29 April 1970 in Las Vegas, Nevada, to Emmanuel « Mike » Agassi and Elizabeth "Betty" Agassi (née Dudley).His father, a former Olympic boxer for Iran, is of Armenian descent and changed the family name to Agassi after his migration to the United States. Andre Agassi's mother, Betty, is a breast cancer survivor. He has three older brother and sister : Rita, Philip and Tami.

At age 13, Andre was sent to Nick Bollettieri's Tennis Academy in Florida. He was meant to stay for only 3 months because that was all his father could afford. After thirty minutes of watching Agassi play, Bollettieri called Mike and said: "Take your check back. He's here for free," claiming that Agassi had more natural talent than anyone else he had seen. Agassi dropped out of school in the ninth grade.

Andre excelled and turned pro when he was only 16 years old. Six championship wins in 1988 saw him quickly rise to number 4 in the mondial rankings. However, Agassi attracted a press attention for his fashion sense and bad boy image.

Andre had to wait until 1992 for his first big win.

Andre met Brooke Shields in 1993 and, after a four-years in couple, the two married in Carmel, California in 1997. However, while the couple became media darlings, Andre’s career took a turn for the worse. November 1997, Agassi was a lot of injuries, he took the 141 world ranking.

In april 1999, Shields asked a divorce with Agassi because this bad period had impact on his marriage.

After divorce Andre did a strict exercise regime.

A return to form Andre won two straight Australian Open championships in 2000 and 2001. During 2001, he won 49 career singles championships and $23,502,790 in prize money. He had a record of 689 wins and 220 losses in singles matches.

Agassi married with champion tennis player Steffi Graf in 2001 and the couple have two children. While continuing to play, off the court he was devote much time to the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation.

After twenty years in professional tennis, on 24 June 2004 Agassi announced he would be retiring from tennis following the 2006 US Open. His final match was against Benjamin Becker on 3 September 2006 and Agassi lost in four sets, in the third round. He said at public an emotional goodbye words: “I lost today, but what the scoreboard doesn’t say is what it is I have found. Over the last twenty-one years, I have found loyalty: you have pulled for me on the court and also in life. I have found inspiration: you have willed me to succeed, sometimes even in my lowest moments. And I’ve found generosity: you have given me your shoulders to stand on to reach for my dreams, dreams I could never have reached without you. Over the last twenty-one years, I have found

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