Andre Agassi

Andre Kirk Agassi was born on April 29, 1970 in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is the youngest of three children born to Emmanuel and Elizabeth Agassi. As an infant Andre had tennis balls hanging above his crib to help his eye coordination. His father believed this was the first step leading his son to becoming the best tennis player. When Andre was big enough to sit in a highchair his father gave him paddles and balloons to play with. Once he was big enough to practice his father had him hitting over 3,000 tennis balls a day.

In 1986 at the age of 16 Andre started playing professional tennis. It would take one year for him to get his first win but by the end of his second season Andre was already ranked #25. In 1988 he won a total of 6 tournaments and had earned over $2 million in winnings. This was the quickest that any tennis player had made that type of money. Andre soon became known as the tennis rebel. Where your average male tennis player wore white outfits and had short hair cuts Andre had long hair, wore bright clothing along with facial hair and an earring. He became so popular with the fans that companies were offering him many endorsements.

Andres toughest rival threw the years was Pete Sampras. They played some of the best matches against each other. On July 22, 1996 Andrea won a gold medal at the Atlanta Olympic games. His overall career record is 870 wins and 274 losses.

On September 3, 2006 Andre decided to retire from the pro tennis circuit. He was dealing with daily back pain from injuries he had acquired over the years and it was making it unbearable for Andre to continue to play. He is currently married to former women's tennis champ Steffi Graf and they share two children together. In 2001 Andre and his charitable foundation opened a charter school for children at risk in Southern Nevada.