Bow Out

On June 24, 2006, Agassi announced that he will retire from tennis after the 2006 U.S. Open, bringing an end to his 21-year professional tennis career and on Sunday, he lost in the third round of the US Open, a defeat that brought down the curtain on one of the greatest careers in tennis. The 36-year-old Agassi went down 7-5, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 7-5 to unsung Benjamin Becker of Germany. Once the final service winner had flashed past him, Agassi slumped into his chair and cried as he got a standing ovation from the 23,000 crowd that had packed into the Arthur Ashe Stadium court to will him on one last time.

The surprise defeat brought an end to a 20-year-long career that brought the Las Vegan eight Grand Slam titles and worldwide acclaim as one of the greatest-ever in the sport. He notably in 1999 became just the fifth player to win on all four Grand Slam title surfaces when he came from two sets down against Andrei Medvedev to lift the French Open crown.

In all he won four Australian Opens (1995, 2000, 2001 and 2003), two US Opens (1994 and 1999), one Wimbledon (1992) and one French Open (1999). He was also World No.1 on several occasions and played in three winning Davis Cup squads for the United States. But he had been increasingly crippled by a bulging disc in his lower back in the last 18 months and announced on June 24 that he would retire after this year's US Open. Agassi won his two opening ties raising hopes of another magic run at Flushing Meadows similar to last year when he reached the final and lost in four tough sets to Roger Federer.

Agassi's retirement also brings down the final curtain on a golden era for men's tennis in the United States as he, Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and Michael Chang dominated the sport for a decade and more from 1990.

Born as Andre Kirk Agassi in April 29, 1970, in Las Vegas, Nevada) is considered by many tennis fans to be one of the most complete and natural talents tennis has ever seen. Agassi is the only player in the open era to have won every Grand Slam singles title, the Masters, the Davis Cup, and an Olympic gold medal.

Agassi was married to the actress Brooke Shields from 1997 to 1999. Since 2001, he has been married to Steffi Graf, with whom he has two children, Jaden Gil, and a daughter, Jaz Elle. Agassi is of Armenian-Iranian, Assyrian, and western European ancestry. Agassi's father, Emmanuel "Mike" Agassi (an ethnic Armenian who represented Iran in boxing at the 1948 and 1952 Olympic Games before emigrating to the United States), was intent on having a child win all four tennis Grand Slams. He called Agassi's two older siblings "guinea pigs" in the development of his coaching techniques. He honed Andre's eye-coordination when he was an infant by hanging tennis balls above his crib. He gave Agassi paddles and balloons when he was still in a high chair. When Agassi started playing tennis, his ball collection filled 60 garbage cans with 300 balls per can, and Agassi would hit 3,000-5,000 balls every day. When Andre was five years old, he was already practicing with pros such as Jimmy Connors and Roscoe Tanner.

Mike Agassi learned tennis by watching tapes of champions. Mike Agassi took a very systematic approach to the physics and psychology of tennis and is still active in the sport.

At the age of 14, Andre was sent to teaching guru Nick Bollettieri's Tennis Academy in Florida. He turned professional at the age of 16.

And the rest, they say, is a history.