Showing posts with label Agassi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Agassi. Show all posts

Friday, July 15, 2011

Agassi inducted into Hall of Fame

Posted July 10, 2011 14:23:00

Andre Agassi was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday, almost five years after he retired from the game.

A former world number one who captured eight grand slam singles titles, Agassi was enshrined at a ceremony in Newport, Rhode Island, along with Fern Lee 'Peachy' Kellmeyer, a trailblazing administrator in women's professional tennis.

Agassi's achievements on the court ensured he would be remembered as one of the sport's greats but he tarnished his legacy with an admission in his autobiography that he used recreational drugs and once lied to escape a positive test.

Now 41, the American was in a reflective mood at his induction, admitting he made mistakes but was grateful for everything the sport gave him.

"I fell in love with tennis far too late in my life. But the reason I have everything I hold dear is because tennis has loved me back," he said.

"If we're lucky in life, we get a few moments where we don't have to wonder if we made our parents proud. I want to thank tennis for giving me those moments."

Agassi won his first grand slam title at Wimbledon in 1992 and his last in Australia in 2003.

He won the Australian Open four times, the US Open twice and Wimbledon and the French Open once, and is one of just seven men to complete the full set of grand slam events. He also won an Olympic gold medal at Atlanta in 1996.

In a long career in which his ranking and form fluctuated, Agassi won more than 60 ATP titles, including 17 Masters events, and held the number one ranking six times between 1995 and 2003 for a total of 101 weeks.

In 2001, he married fellow tennis Hall of Famer Steffi Graf of Germany. The couple have two children and live in Las Vegas.

- Reuters

Tags: sport, tennis, united-states


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Saturday, July 9, 2011

Agassi gets Hall of Fame nod

Posted July 8, 2011 06:32:00

Eight-time grand slam singles champion Andre Agassi will be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame this weekend.

Agassi, among only seven men to achieve a career singles Grand Slam, spent 101 weeks ranked number one in the world during a 20-year career that also included a 1996 Atlanta Olympic singles title.

The 41-year-old American is the husband of another Hall of Famer, 2004 inductee Steffi Graf.

"I'm truly honoured to be recognised alongside the greatest players of tennis," Agassi said.

"Tennis has given me everything in my life. It has given me my wife. My tennis career afforded me the opportunity to make a difference in other people's lives."

The induction will come in a ceremony during the semi-finals of the ATP Hall of Fame Championships grasscourt event.

"We are looking forward to a great weekend at the International Tennis Hall of Fame as we celebrate the induction of one of the most exciting athletes of our sport," Hall of Fame chief executive Mark Stenning said.

Agassi won 60 career titles, including the 1995, 2000, 2002 and 2003 Australian Opens, the 1994 and 1999 US Opens, the 1992 Wimbledon and 1999 French Open crowns.

Agassi's 1999 French Open triumph made him the first man to have won a career Grand Slam on three different surfaces - grass, clay and hardcourt.

Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Don Budge, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver and Fred Perry are the other men to complete the career Grand Slam.

Agassi, who played for Davis Cup-winning US teams in 1990 and 1992, turned professional at age 16 in 1986, won his first ATP crown the following year and retired in 2006 after a third-round loss at the US Open.

-AFP

Tags: sport, tennis, united-states


View the original article here