The best of the decade: Top male tennis players – Part 7
Number 4 – Andre Agassi
When we talk about the tennis greats, a few names immediately jump to mind; Roger Federer, Pete Sampras and yes of course Andre Agassi. To be very honest, the world has seen a number of great players, but the impact that these players have had on the minds
and hearts of critics and fans alike has been beyond anything we have ever seen before. Their names will be the carved in the tennis folklore long after they are gone.
It has been almost four years now since Andre Agassi left the world of professional tennis but the image of him flying across the courts is still etched in our minds like it all happened just yesterday. Anyone who knows anything about tennis knows Agassi’s
name. With a whopping 8 Grand Slam title wins to his credit, Andre Agassi graces the number 4 spot on our list.
Although Agassi entered the tennis arena in the early nineties, he achieved the status of 'rock star' in 1999 when he won, not one but two majors. Not only did he win both the French Open and the US Open but he also finished the year as the World Number
1.
The dawn of the new millennium only brought him more luck and he went on to win his second Australian Open title. However, it seemed like his luck had come to a full stop after that. The American legend failed to win any more titles during the season. He
did come close to winning at one point during the inaugural Masters Cup event in Lisbon. Playing an exceptional game throughout and beating the likes of Marat Safin to get into the finals, he then suddenly lost all steam and tempo, losing the title. His semi-final
finish at the Wimbledon was his best on court performance, for this season at least.
2001 saw him successfully defending his Aussie Open title. He also dominated the US hard-court season with back to back Masters Series wins. But as the year progressed, Agassi began to struggle once again with his performance and was able to add just one
more title in Washington to his win count. He featured again in the Semi-finals at Wimbledon but without any success. His three hour thirty three minute match against arch nemesis Pete Sampras at the US Open quarter-finals became an instant classic as neither
man lost a single serve in it. Sampras eventually won the game 6-7(7), 7-6(7), 7-6(2), 7-6(5).
The year that followed brought even more disappointments for the American and he withdrew from the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam event of the season. He did manage to recover in time for the US hard-court and European clay-court seasons and captured
two Masters Series events, in Miami and Rome. Later the same year he earned his third masters series title, accompanied by two tier-I titles which helped him grab the Number 2 spot on the rankings. Thus he officially became the oldest player to have ever held
the spot, at 32 years and 8 months.
Perhaps the highlight of the year was his US Open final appearance, where despite fighting valiantly he once again had to swallow down the bitter taste of defeat at the hands of Pete Sampras.
In 2003 the American tennis star won his eighth and final Grand Slam title. He retained his superior form and set a record by winning his 6th Miami title and also for his third consecutive win at a Masters Series event. A fun fact about this win
is that Agassi now held the record for being both the youngest player (19) and the oldest player (32) to have won the tournament. The year seemed to be a year of records for the player, as he set yet another record by being the oldest player to ever have held
the Number 1 spot on the rankings; he was 33 at the time. In 2004 he won his record seventeenth Masters Series tournament. He ended the year with a surprise US Open semi-final finish, eventually losing out to Roger Federer.
2006, which was to be his last year as a professional player, saw a great slump in his form due to a number of injuries and he mostly stayed out of the main circuit. He said his final goodbyes to the game and fans in his short yet extremely significant run
in the US Open that year. The tennis great was sent off amid tears and an 8 minute long standing ovation.
Andre Agassi earned a number of titles including the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award for his charitable work with under privileged children. Our personal favourite title for the player is the “Champion of the Champions”.
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