Armenians

THEIR GROUNDBREAKING CONTRIBUTIONS REFLECT A LEGACY OF INNOVATION THAT CONTINUES TO INSPIRE FUTURE GENERATIONS

Andre Agassi

athlete redefining success beyond the game

World Number I Tennis Player, Philanthropist

Bio


Andre Agassi (born 1970 in Las Vegas) is considered to be one of the greatest and most charismatic tennis players of all time, and credited for helping revive the popularity of tennis during the 1990s.


In singles tennis, Agassi is an eight-time Grand Slam champion and a 1996 Olympic gold medalist. His four Australian Open titles are an Open Era record (shared with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer). He is one of four male singles players to achieve the Career Grand Slam (all four Grand Slam championships) in the Open Era and one of seven in history, the first of two to achieve the Career Golden Slam (Career Grand Slam and Olympic gold medal), and the only man to win the Career Golden Slam and the ATP Tour World Championships (won in 1990).


Agassi won 17 ATP Masters Series titles and was part of a winning Davis Cup team in 1990 and 1992. After sinking to World Number 141 in 1997 due to personal issues, Agassi returned to World Number 1 in 1999 and enjoyed the most successful run of his career over the next four years. During his 20-plus year tour career, Agassi was known by the nickname “The Punisher.” He retired from professional tennis in 2006.


Agassi is also a visionary philanthropist. In 1994, he founded the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation, which has raised over $60 million for at-risk children in Southern Nevada. In 2001, he established the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy, in Las Vegas, a K-12 public charter school for at-risk children.


Among other child-related programs that Agassi supports through his Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation is Clark County’s only residential facility for abused and neglected children, Child Haven. Agassi’s foundation also provided over $700,000 for the construction of the Andre Agassi Cottage for Medically Fragile Children. This facility, which opened in 2001, accommodates developmentally delayed or handicapped children and children quarantined for infectious diseases.


In 2007, Agassi, Muhammad Ali, Andrea Jaeger, and others founded the charity Athletes for Hope, which helps professional athletes get involved in charitable causes and aims to inspire all people to volunteer and support their communities.


Agassi was awarded the ATP Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award in 1995 for his efforts to help disadvantaged youths. He is regularly cited as the most altruistic and socially involved player in professional tennis. It has also been claimed that he may be the most charitable athlete of his generation.

Andre Agassi