Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf

Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf have been big tennis sensations. Their relationship began in 1999 after their combined surprise-win at French Open. It was a surprise because neither one had won a Grand Slam since 1995. At that time, Graf had a breakup with her boyfriend, a German car racer, after a seven year relationship and Agassi divorced his wife Brook Shields after two years of marriage.

Graf is one year older than Agassi. The couple married on October 22, 2001 in Las Vegas. The ceremony was attended by the couple’s mothers only. Not even Graf’s father and sister attended the ceremony. The vows were exchanged in front of Agassi’s family friend, a district judge, Michael Cherry.

Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf
Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf
Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf
Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf
Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf
The wedding was a surprise even to the other family members. However, they did not show any bad feelings for not being invited to it. The reason behind such a private ceremony was Graf’s pregnancy and the couple wanted to be married before having the baby. Graf was nine months pregnant when they both married. They had their honeymoon after the arrival of their baby boy. After four days of marriage, Jaden Gil, their son, was born. After two years, Steffi gave birth to a baby girl. Those close to them can feel the couple’s extreme love for each other and for those around them.

Graf had already retired before her wedding after the 1999 Grand Slam award, but Agassi continued his career until 2006 after which he retired because of sciatica.

Andre Agassi Young

With Andy Roddick's loss at the French Open on Monday, American men have now failed to take the title in 22 straight Grand Slam tournaments, extending the longest dry spell in U.S. tennis history. This stretch of futility, coupled with a dearth of young talent on the women's side, prompted the United States Tennis Association to overhaul its player development system last year, introducing a host of initiatives such as regional residential training centers, a new roster of national coaches to scout and train prospects, and an increased budget (upward of $100 million over the next 10 years). The plan is comprehensive and ambitious, intended to produce the next Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, and Venus Williams. Unfortunately for the USTA, national organizations with comprehensive mission statements don't produce tennis champions. Crazy tennis parents do.

Andre Agassi Young
Andre Agassi Young
Andre Agassi YoungConsider the Williams sisters. As the story goes, their father, Richard, upon learning of the lucre that women's tennis offered, decided to make his next two kids into tennis pros. That his wife, Oracene, didn't want any more children was a minor obstacle—he simply hid her birth-control pills. He taught himself the game, coaching his protégés on rotten courts where their sessions were sometimes interrupted by gunfire before shipping them to a Florida tennis academy for refinement. While his girls racked up Grand Slams (17 singles titles and counting), he made headlines with his histrionic antics at tournaments, erratic ramblings, and general weirdness—he insisted on meeting his daughters' first hitting coach at a public carwash because he believed the FBI had bugged his car and house.
Andre Agassi Young
Andre Agassi Young
Andre Agassi Young
Andre Agassi Young
Obsessive, overbearing, and downright insane parents are not a new phenomenon in tennis, nor are they uniquely American. Frenchwoman Suzanne Lenglen was the product of a taskmaster father who withheld jam for her bread if she practiced badly. Under Daddy Lenglen's tutelage, and occasionally fortified with the cognac-soaked sugar pieces he provided during matches, Lenglen won 31 Grand Slam titles between 1914 and 1926. In 2000, Jelena Dokic's father and coach, Damir, who has admitted to hitting Jelena ("for her sake"), achieved three legs of an ignominious Grand Slam, getting ejected from the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open. Since Jelena cut ties with him, he's threatened to kidnap her and drop a nuclear bomb on Australia, where his daughter now lives. Maria Sharapova's father, Yuri Sharapov, is currently so reviled for his cheating (blatant coaching during matches) and belligerence (making a throat-slitting gesture from the stands) that Anastasia Myskina refused to play in the Federation Cup if her countrywoman was named to the Russian team.

Andre Agassi

Have you ever wondered what American Andre Agassi and Argentine David Nalbandian have in common? Both famous tennis players are of Armenian origin. Nalbandian began playing tennis at age five when his Armenian grandfather built a cement court in his backyard in Cardoba, Argentine. Agassi’s father is also Armenian who immigrated to the U.S. from Iran. Agassi’s middle name, Kirk, is after Armenian American tycoon Kirk Kirkorian, who hired Agassi’s father Mike to work in one of his casinos. Later they became good friends.

David Nalbandian plans to visit his ancestrial homeland Armenia in early October, where he will give a master class and play an exhibition match with Armenia’s top tennis player Harutyun Sofyan.

Andre Agassi
Andre Agassi
Andre Agassi
Andre Agassi
Andre Agassi
Andre Agassi
Andre Agassi