1970–1985: Early Life
Agassi was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, to Emmanuel "Mike" Aghassian and Elizabeth "Betty" Agassi (née Dudley). His father, a former Olympic boxer for Iran, is of Armenian and Assyrian descent and changed the family name to Agassi after his migration to the United States. Andre Agassi's mother, Betty, is a breast cancer survivor. He has three older siblings – Rita (last wife to Pancho Gonzales), Philip and Tami.
In a passage from the book Open, Agassi details how his father made him play a match for money with football legend Jim Brown, in 1979, when Agassi was 9 years old. Brown was at a Vegas tennis club complaining to the owner about a money match that was canceled. Agassi's father stepped in and told Brown that he could play his son and he would put up his house for the wager. Brown countered with a $10,000 bet, but after he was warned by the club owner not to take the bet because he would lose and be embarrassed, Brown agreed with Mike Agassi that they would set the amount after he and Andre played two sets. Brown lost those sets, 3–6, 3–6, declined the 10K wager, and offered to play the third set for $500. He lost 2–6.
At age 13, Andre was sent to Nick Bollettieri's Tennis Academy in Florida. He was meant to stay for only 3 months because that was all his father could afford. After thirty minutes of watching Agassi play, Bollettieri called Mike and said: "Take your check back. He's here for free," claiming that Agassi had more natural talent than anyone else he had seen. Agassi dropped out of school in the ninth grade.
Read more about this topic: Andre Agassi
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