Andre Agassi-Showman from Las Vegas

He's father was an Olympic athlete who competed for his native country Iran.
He was once married to famous actress Brooke Shields but is now married to women's tennis great Steffi Graff.
He is one of only two men(the other being Rod Laver) who won all four grand slams in their careers.

Andre Agassi was always one of the greatest talents the game of tennis have ever the seen. The question was only whether he was going to do that talent justice. And it looked like he was going to waste that talent judging by the early part of his career. He made two French Open finals and a US Open final in the early part of his career and people were starting to say that he doesn't have big match temperament.

He finally proved them wrong when he won Wimbledon in 1992. This was probably the grand slam that he was least likely to make a breakthrough at because of his game style. Agassi had the best groudstrokes in the history of tennis in my opinion and Wimbledon was serve-and-volley paradise. By winning Wimbledon he became part of a unique club of players who could win on the fast grass of Wimbledon from the base line.

But another thing that helped him to win at Wimbledon was his return of serve, which was also the best in the history of the game. Agassi had unheard of hand eye coordination, unlike anyone in the history of tennis. He could stand on the base line or inside it and take the ball on the rise at will, taking away time from his opponents and putting them under constant pressure.

After he won Wimbledon it took more then a year for him to have title success at grand slam level again and it came at the 1994 US Open. He followed that right up by winning the next grand slam at the 1995 Australian Open, beating long time rival Pete Sampras in the final. After this Agassi slowly started the road towards seemingly early burn out. He seemed to have lost interest in tennis and life in general.



It took some serious soul searching before he would get his act together again after having slipped to number 141 in the ATP rankings. But this time he was going all out, he was going to hold nothing back. Agassi came of age when he won that elusive French Open title in 1999 after having been two sets to none and a break down and on the brink of another crushing defeat that would threaten to prematurely end his comeback.

However he dug deep and somehow found the strength to finally break the French Open curse, thereby winning the career grand slam, the only man apart for Rod Laver to do so. Agassi was back at the top of the tennis world and this time he was there to stay. He would go on to win the US Open for the second time later that year and in 2000 he won the Australian Open for the second time as well. In 2001 he won Down Under for the third time, bringing his grand slam tally to 7.

He won one more grand slam after that at the the Australian Open for the foruth time in his career at the age of 32, which is very old for winning a grand slam title these days. Agassi had fulfilled the undeniable potential he always posessed and fought off his demons. He had carved out a place for himself in the history books of tennis.

Andre Agassi was a charasmatic champion. He was loved and adored by crowds around the world. People could indentify with his highs and lows and therefor he was the people's champion. He was the best thing that happened to tennis since John Mcenroe. He was a great crowd puller because he was the ultimate showman. In his early days he was known as a rebel and he sported long hair and colourful clothing which included ski-pants.

After he matured he cut off his hair and opted for a more conservative look on the court, yet the showman in him was still untouched. After matches he would do his characteristic bow to every corner of the crowd send them a kiss. His personality was in stark contrast to that of his arch rival Pete Sampras who was often labeled as boring and emotionless. The Agassi/Sampras rivalry was one of the best in history and caried tennis for a long time, as the Federer/Nadal rivalry is currently doing.



And likewise it was a rivalry of contrasts. Sampras may have gotten the best of the rivalry but Agassi was the one who made tennis interesting and pulled the crowds. Off court Agassi was of course popular with the women and he was married to star actress Brooke Shields at one point. But eventually Agassi found his real soul mate in female tennis legend Steffi Graff. Shields was part of the old Agassi that was immature and superficial. In Graff he found something deeper and lasting.

Not only did Agassi succeed as a tennis player but he succeeded in winning over public admiration and will always be remembered as a very popular champion.