AFTER BECOMING THE NO. 1 TENNIS PLAYER IN the world in 1995, Andre Agassi injured his wrist. He slipped to No. 141 by 1997, but with a renewed dedication to training, especially weightlifting, he started the long climb back up the rankings. He appeared in “challenger” tennis events (akin to the minor leagues). This was a very, very long way
for the former world No. 1 to fall, but Agassi took it in stride, carrying his own bags, working, sweating, competing, just like hundreds of younger tennis hopefuls. He was not “too big” to have to earn his way back.
for the former world No. 1 to fall, but Agassi took it in stride, carrying his own bags, working, sweating, competing, just like hundreds of younger tennis hopefuls. He was not “too big” to have to earn his way back.
And earn his way back he did. By 1999, he was the old Agassi again and won the French Open championship. Agassi became only the fifth player in tennis history to win all four Grand Slam events (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, U.S. Open). He next reached the finals of Wimbledon, and then won his second U.S. Open in a thrilling five-set win over Todd Martin. The win brought him back to a No. 1 ranking and a total of five major titles. He added a sixth just a few months later at the Australian Open.
It took seventeen months for Agassi to make one of the greatest comebacks in tennis history, which set the stage for more momentous tennis in the years to follow, to his retirement in 2006. Because of his humility, his willingness to train harder than ever before, and his love of the game, you might say his greatest comeback had a still longer arc: from a brash, callow youth to whom image was “everything” to a mature, soft-spoken, charity minded senior statesman of sport. His secret? He has said each day he strives to get one day better, no more and no less.
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