The Four Men to achieve Grand Slams in the Open Era Part II: Andre Agassi
A career Grand Slam consists of victory at all four Majors, not necessarily within the same calendar year. These Majors are the Australian Open, the French Open, the Wimbledon Championship and the US Open.
The seven men to achieve this feat are known as the Magnificent Seven. These men are Fred Perry, Don Budge, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Of these seven men, the three players from the Open Era are Australian Rod Laver,
American Andre Agassi, Swiss Roger Federer and Spanish Rafael Nadal. In part two of this feature, Andre Agassi’s career and his achievements will be discussed.
Andre Agassi is universally acknowledged by fellow athletes and critics alike to be one of the best tennis players to ever grace the court. He is a former World Number 1 player, and is often called the best service returner to ever play tennis. He is also
the only player in the history of tennis to score a Career Super Slam, managing to secure all four Grand Slams, ATP World Tour Finals, the Olympic Singles Gold Medal and the year end Number 1 ranking in 1999.
Agassi began playing tennis from a very early age, almost since the cradle. His father, Emmanuel “Mike” Aghassian pushed him into the game, sending him to Nick Bollettieri’s Tennis Academy at the age of 13. Although Agassi was only supposed to stay for three
months due to financial restraints, Bollettieri took him on as a pro bono case, saying he had “more natural talent than anyone else I have seen.”
Agassi turned pro in 1986, at the age of 16. He is a right handed player with a two handed backhand. Agassi’s singles career record is a 76.05% win record, with 870 successes to 274 losses. He has a total of 68 career titles. His doubles history is 40 wins
to 42 losses, with one career title and his highest ranking being World Number 123.
Agassi’s Grand Slam breakthrough came in the year 1992, after numerous failures. At the Wimbledon Championships in that year, Agassi defeated former champions such as Boris Becker and John McEnroe to upset Goran Ivanisevic in the five set final. In 1994,
Agassi scored his second Majors title, beating Michael Stich along the way, before defeating Michael Chang in the final. It was the first time an unseeded player won the title match at the US Open. In 1995, after shaving his head, Agassi participated in the
1995 Australian Open with a final match against Pete Sampras (a rivalry which would continue throughout their respective careers). In 1999, Agassi completed his career Grand Slam, beating Andrei Medvedev at the French Open final, becoming the fifth male player
to score wins in all four Majors. He ended the year as World Number 1.
Agassi won four more Grand Slam titles, three more at the Australian Open (in 2000, 2001 and 2003) and one more at the US Open in 1999. He married tennis professional Steffi Graf in the year 2001, and retired from tennis himself in 2006 at the age of 33.
He also published an autobiography in 2009, detailing his career and personal life; he admitted to drug abuse, duping the ATP and the use of a wig during some of his tennis years. He also discusses his actual dislike of tennis and his father’s coercive role
in making him play the game. The book climbed to Number 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list and was favourably received. Andre Agassi now lives with his wife and children in Las Vegas, Nevada, US.
Tags: