Andre Agassi had a rebellious streak like most young people and he took exception to the
traditionalism of Wimbledon early in his playing career. He boycotted the All England Club
between 1987 and 1991. "I didn't have any desire to be on the grass," he explained. "I didn't feel
it was tennis. I remember feeling it was inconvenient in my schedule. A lot of things that really
had nothing to do with the reality of what it was. I just didn't have the desire to come over and
play on a surface I was convinced that I couldn't really do well on." When he returned, the media
was in a frenzy of speculation about what the young rebel would wear and about how his baseline
game would fare on the grass. He confounded them by emerging in a pristine all-white strip and
progressing to the quarter-finals. A year later, he confounded himself by beating Goran Ivanisevic
to register the first of his eight Grand Slam titles. "I didn't think that I would get my first
slam there on the Wimbledon grass, and I wasn't favourite," he said. "Maybe some people thought
that I would go and win again at Wimbledon after that, but I was surprised to win that one."
This year, if he has not been too discouraged by his hapless performance at the Queen's Club where he
fell at the first hurdle, Agassi will probably perform his swan song against the backdrop of the
hallowed turf that he eventually learned to respect so much. "It's the first one I ever won so it's
a special place to me for sure," the 36-year-old told reporters at Queen's, reflecting on his
change of attitude towards Wimbledon. "As I got older I became aware of what place Wimbledon
has in the sport of tennis. To miss out on that was my loss. That's why I didn't play the clay
this year, just to give me a chance to be here again." As one of only five men to have captured
all four majors, Agassi has little left to prove in the sport, but, if his sciatic nerve relents
and the rest of his body holds together well enough, he will feel he is still a contender for the
sport's biggest prize.
Agassi's father, Emmanuel "Mike" Agassian, a boxer who represented Iran at the 1948 and 1952 Olympic
Games before emigrating to the United States, honed his infant son's hand-eye coordination by
hanging tennis balls above his crib. Andre quickly progressed to paddles and balloons and was already
a prodigious talent by the age of five, when he started practising with the likes of Jimmy Connors
and Roscoe Tanner. When Andre reached 14, Dad passed the reins to Nick Bolletieri and two years later
he emerged on the tour as a 16-year-old phenomenon.
Considered by many to be among the all-time great tennis players, Agassi is the only male player
in the Open Era to have won every Grand Slam singles title, the Masters, the Davis Cup and the
Olympic Gold medal. He has been described by his peers as the best service returner and the best
ball striker in the history of the game.
Agassi has worked tirelessly for the cause of disadvanted youth in Las Vegas throughout
his career. His Charitable Foundation funds organisations providing educational and recreational
programs for abandoned, abused and at-risk children. He won the ATP's Arthur Ashe Humanitarian
Award in 1995 and again in 2001. He was married to the actress Brooke Shields between 1997 and
1999. Since 2001, he has been married to former world number one Steffi Graf, with whom he has
two children, Jaden Gil and Jaz Elle.
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