Andre Agassi: Tennis Champion, former Drug User and Philanthropist
Andre Agassi has had an amazing life; he was forced into tennis at a very early age by his father who wanted to make him a champion. He started winning matches and won three grand slams. His career then started to spiral and he fell seriously low in the rankings and became addicted to drugs. He then made a fantastic turnaround in his life and won five more grand slams after his comeback. He has recently set up a school for underprivileged children in his hometown of Las Vegas and plans to open many more. His life is a fascinating yet controversial one and he will still be making headlines for years to come.
Andre Agassi was born to an Iranian father and an American mother in America and led a humble life until his father decided that one of his children would become a champion. He chose the youngest, Andre, and enrolled him in Nick Bollettieri's tennis academy at the age of thirteen. It was there that the young Agassi really started to shine and he joined the professional tour at the age of 16 after ditching high school. He started to make a name for himself in the late 80s with his wild hair and crazy outfits. It was this rebellious streak in him that brought him droves of fans. Even though he had the fans, the money and the endorsements, he did not have any major wins. That all changed when he decided to go to Wimbledon in 1992. Agassi ended up winning the tournament that year after defeating Goran Ivanisevic.
Next he really excelled, winning the US Open in 1994, the Australian Open in 1995 and then an Olympic gold medal in 1996, (Cable News Network LP, 2001). It was then that his career started to go downhill. He dabbled in drugs according to his autobiography and lied to tennis officials about it, his marriage to actress Brooke Shields broke down and he sank to the lowest ranking of his career, 141.
It was at the age of 27 when most people think about giving up, that Agassi decided to turn his life around and get back into the game, literally. He wanted his return to tennis to be on his terms this time and it would be nobody else’s decision. He gave up the drugs, got back in shape and started to play tennis again. He slowly rose up the ranks until 1999 when he won the French Open and was on the comeback trail in a big way. He then went on to win four more grand slams and cemented his place in tennis history, (Associated Newspapers Ltd, 2009).
He also met Steffi Graf along the way, another former tennis champion and the two are happily married with two children. He calls her his rock and the love of his life and it was Steffi to whom he revealed his drug taking past to the first time. It was a harrowing time for the tennis great, and he had sunk to such a low point in his career that he needed something to relieve his stress. He found it in the highly addictive crystal meth and it almost ruined his life. By giving up and getting his life back on track he managed to become one of the greatest comeback kids in the sport but it also caused a lot of controversy recently.
Even though at the time, he lied to tennis officials that he had taken the drugs and he was allowed to play, his recent revelation in his autobiography has stunned the tennis world. A lot of people such as past tennis great Martina Navratilova and current champion Rafael Nadal have both been critical of Agassi and say he was a role model at the time and he ended up deceiving his fans and the sport of tennis, (Martyn Herman, 2009).
The criticism did not seem to bother the one time great tennis star too much; he has bigger things to worry about. He is on a mission to improve the state of education for America’s poorest children. He has set up a school in one of Las Vegas’ poorest districts through money he has been able to raise through fundraising in America and around the world. He set up the Andre Agassi Foundation and through it he plans to open up many more schools and help the poorest children get a head start in life, (Stephen Sackur, 2010).
This amazing tennis player and great humanitarian has also courted controversy in his life. But he seems to have matured into a responsible person and is looking forward to continuing with his charitable work and his school projects. Andre Agassi is one of the most interesting characters to come out of the world of tennis and it looks like he will continue to be in the spotlight for many years to come.
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