Andre Kirk Agassi

Andre Kirk Agassi is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from the United States of America. Although he has citizenship from the United States, his parents are Armenian-Iranian, and are of Assyrian ancestry. He is the only player in the open era to have won all four Grand Slam singles titles, to have won the Tennis Masters Cup, to have been part of a winning Davis Cup team, and to have won an Olympic gold medal. He is generally considered to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time. Agassi is married to Steffi Graf, a tennis star, and has two children. After winning many matches during his entire tennis life, his career prize money was summed up to a total of $31,152,975.

It is almost impossible to find a person that has not heard of the famous name, Andre Agassi. He has inspired millions of people all over the world. From having a racquet named after him, to having his own clothing line, he has inspired everyone. Agassi has participated in many charity organizations. He is the founder of the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation, which has raised over $70 million for at-risk children in Southern Nevada. He has been awarded the ATP Arthur Ashe Humanitarian award in 1995 for his efforts to help disadvantaged youth. In 2001, Agassi opened up the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy in Las Vegas, a tuition-free charter school for at-risk children in the area. Not only has he inspired people outside of the tennis world but also in it, as many professional players such as Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal. “Agassi was a reference point in world tennis. He’s someone who, by changing style and image, left his mark on the game.”

Although Andre Agassi is Armenian, he was born in Nevada Las Vegas. He has lived in the United States all his life. He has never finished school because of his wanting to turn professional. It was 16 years after his birth when he turned professional. After winning his first Grand Slam title (Wimbledon) in 1992, he gradually improved his ranking to become No. 1 in 1995. His last Grand Slam title that he won was the Australian Open in 2003. After that, he slowly lost his ranking and fell in the 30’s. It was a sad day to many people, but on September 3, 2006 he finally announced his retirement speech. It was soon found out that his wife and kids went back to his home town Las Vegas, to live again.

As it was mentioned before, Agassi was born on April 29, 1970 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. He retired his 21 years of great tennis experience on September 3, 2006 leaving everyone with a sad but hopeful speech. Because of sciatica caused by two bulging discs in his back, a Spondyloisthesis (shifting vertebrae), and bone spur that interferes with the nerve, he ended his professional tennis career. It was found out that his current residence was back at his home town in Las Vegas. When Agassi and Steffi Graf were married on October 22, 2001 they had two children, their son, Jaden Gil, and their daughter Jaz Elle. The couple live in Las Vegas and own several vacation homes. They paid $23 million to purchase a six-bedroom, eight-bathroom house in Tiburon, California. Agassi used to own a 10-seat Lockheed JetStar 731 jet with call letters on the tail representing his first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon.

There was really one major reason why I chose Andre Agassi as my hero. I've been playing tennis for about five years, and I thought that I might do a story on something that I enjoy. Out of all the famous and important tennis players in the past, I felt that Andre Agassi was the only one that really inspired young children and adults about the true meaning of tennis. I had never heard of Andre Agassi until I started playing tennis five years ago. I kept on hearing people talking about him winning matches and being one of the best. I finally realized later on that he was No. 1 before. I also thought that he was like any other professional tennis player being one of the best, doing what he does. But after further research in his career life, I found out that Agassi was in many charitable foundations, shortly after being founder of his own charitable foundation. That is why he is one of my most important heroes.