Andre Agassi

My definition of a hero is someone who can accomplish whatever they want, no matter what obstacle gets in their way. Someone who fights through their pain and never quits. This is why Andre Agassi is my hero.

Agassi has achieved so many things in his tennis career and has helped many underprivileged children and junior tennis players across the nation. His biggest achievement was opening a College Preparatory School for many underprivileged children. He himself never finished his high school education until after his school was open.

He was the best player in his time in my favorite sport, which makes him a role model to me as well as someone who I look up to and want to be like. He won an Olympic gold medal in the summer Olympics of 1996 in Atlanta Georgia. It must have been a great honor representing his country.

Picture taken in 1992 by Nigel French. (http://www.sporting-heroes.net/tennis-heroes/displayhero.asp?HeroID=2688)

Some people say Andre had a pretty messed up life. He overcame poverty, depression, failure, and drugs. He basically went from nothing to everything. Andre and his brother Philly, together, went through a few years of hard times before they ever started to succeed in their tennis careers and life. Eating potatoes and Lentil Soup three times a day was not unusual. His tennis career was slow to start. He was winning tournaments but not making money. He was still an amateur. Turning professional would mean giving up on everything else like getting an education. It also would bring endorsements and lots of traveling and training. Andre was 16 years old when he turned professional. It was a scary but gutsy move on his part.

One thing that I can really relate to about Andre is that he hated tennis! I think at some point we all go through a disliking of what we do in life. For most of us though that feeling passes. The only reason he kept on playing was because it was the only thing he knew how to do. His father had a lot to do with his hating tennis. He pushed Andre so hard from the time he was a little boy that his resentment turned to hatred for his father and the sport. Andre found a way, years later, to make the sport have meaning for him and do something good with it. Building a school for the underprivileged children in his hometown gave him that meaning. He continued playing professional tennis until his back could no longer handle the stress required of a professional athlete.