Andre Agassi : biography
Agassi’s strength was in dictating play from the back of the court. While he was growing up, his father and Nick Bollettieri trained him in this way.Open: Andre Agassi HarpersCollins 2009 When in control of a point, Agassi would often pass up an opportunity to attempt a winner and hit a conservative shot to minimize his errors, and to make his opponent run more. This change to more methodical, less aggressive baseline play was largely initiated by his longtime coach, Brad Gilbert, in their first year together in 1994. Gilbert encouraged Agassi to wear out opponents with his deep, flat groundstrokes and to use his fitness to win attrition wars, and noted Agassi’s two-handed backhand down the line as his very best shot. Open: Andre Agassi HarpersCollins 2009
Agassi’s serve was never the strength of his game, but it improved steadily over the course of his career to being above average. He often used his hard slice serve to the deuce service box to send his opponent off the court, followed by a shot to the opposite corner. Agassi’s service speed when hitting a flat first serve would range between 110 and 125 mph (177 and 201 km/h). His second serve usually was a heavy "kick" serve in the mid-80s range.
Agassi was raised on hardcourts, but found much of his early major-tournament success on the red clay of Roland Garros, reaching two consecutive finals there early in his career. His first major win, however, was at the slick grass of Wimbledon in 1992, a tournament that he professed to hating at the time. Open: Andre Agassi HarpersCollins 2009 His strongest surface over the course of his career, however, was indeed hardcourt, where he won six of his eight majors.
Career statistics
Records
- Runner-up 1990 French Open Clay Andrés Gómez 6–3, 2–6, 6–4, 6–4
- Runner-up 1990 US Open Hard Pete Sampras 4–6, 3–6, 2–6
Time span | Selected Grand Slam tournament records | Players matched |
---|---|---|
Abbreviation for "Year-End Championship".|group=lower-alpha}} — 1999 French Open | A "Career Super Slam" entails winning all 4 Majors, the Year-End Championship and the Olympic gold medal in singles.|group=lower-alpha}} | Stands alone |
1992 Wimbledon — 1999 French Open | url=http://www.tsn.ca/tennis/story/?id=333700|title=Nadal Captures U.S. Open To Complete Career Grand Slam|publisher=The Sports Network (TSN)|date=14 September 2010|accessdate=12 June 2012|quote=Nadal…also owns an Olympic gold medal, which makes him one of only two men to corral the career Golden Slam, with the great Agassi being the other.}} | Rafael Nadal |
1992 Wimbledon — 1999 French Open | url=http://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/07/sports/tennis-agassi-revival-reaches-a-peak-in-french-open.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|title=Agassi Revival Reaches a Peak In French Open|first=Robin|last=Finn|newspaper=The New York Times|date=7 June 1999|accessdate=9 July 2012}} | Rod LaverRoger FedererRafael Nadal |
1996 Olympics — 1999 US Open | Simultaneous holder of Olympic singles gold medal and Majors on clay & hard court | Rafael Nadal |
1996 Olympics — 2000 Australian Open | Simultaneous holder of Olympic singles gold medal and 3 Majors | Rafael Nadal |
Grand Slam tournaments | Time Span | Records at each Grand Slam tournament | Players matched |
---|---|---|---|
Australian Open | 1995–2003 | 4 titles overall | Roger FedererNovak Djokovic |
Australian Open | 2000–2004 |