Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Andre Agassi
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==Rivalries== {{BLP sources section|date=September 2019}} ===Agassi vs. Sampras=== {{Main|AgassiβSampras rivalry}} The rivalry has been called the greatest of the generation of players competing in the 1990s, as [[Pete Sampras|Sampras]] and Agassi were the most successful players of that decade. They also had very contrasting playing styles, with Sampras being considered the greatest [[serve (tennis)|server]] and Agassi the greatest serve returner at the time. Agassi and Sampras met 34 times on the tour level with Agassi trailing 14β20.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.atptour.com/en/players/atp-head-2-head/andre-agassi-vs-pete-sampras/A092/S402 |title=Sampras-Agassi Head-to-Head Matches |work=Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) |access-date=April 13, 2021 |archive-date=April 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413102528/https://www.atptour.com/en/players/atp-head-2-head/andre-agassi-vs-pete-sampras/A092/S402 |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[1990 U.S. Open (tennis)|1990 US Open]] was their first meeting in a Grand Slam tournament final. Agassi was favored as he was ranked No. 4 at the time, compared to the No. 12 ranking of Sampras and because Agassi had defeated Sampras in their only previously completed match. Agassi, however, lost the final to Sampras in straight sets. Their next meeting in a Grand Slam was at the [[1992 French Open]], where they met in the quarterfinals. Although Sampras was ranked higher, Agassi came out winning in straight sets. They met again on a Grand Slam level at the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 1993, where Agassi was the defending champion and Sampras was the newly minted world No. 1. Agassi dug himself out from a two-sets-to-love hole, levelling the match at two sets apiece; however, Sampras prevailed in five sets, and went on to win his first Wimbledon championship. With both Sampras and Agassi participating, the [[USA Davis Cup team|US]] won the Davis Cup in 1995. The year should be considered the peak of the rivalry as together they won three out of four major titles, meeting each other twice in the finals, and were occupying the top two spots in the rankings for the whole year. They met five times during the year, all in the title matches, including the [[1995 Australian Open|Australian Open]], the [[Indian Wells Masters|Newsweek Champions Cup]] (now Indian Wells), the [[Lipton International Players Championships]] (now Miami Open), the [[Canada Masters|Canadian Open]], and the [[1995 US Open (tennis)|US Open]]. Agassi won three of the finals, including the Australian Open; however, Sampras took the US Open title, ending Agassi's 26-match winning streak. After Agassi had taken most of the fall season off, Sampras took over the No. 1 ranking for the end of the season. Agassi admitted this loss, which gave Sampras a 9β8 lead in their head-to-head meetings, took two years for him to get over it mentally.<ref name="tennis-buzz1995"/> In the following three years, while Sampras continued winning Grand Slam titles every season, Agassi slumped in the rankings and struggled in major competitions. The next time Sampras and Agassi met in a Grand Slam final was at Wimbledon in 1999, where Sampras won in straight sets. For both, it was considered a career rejuvenation, as Sampras had suffered a string of disappointments in the previous year while Agassi was regaining his status as a top-ranked player after winning the French Open. Sampras forfeited the No. 1 ranking to Agassi when injury forced him to withdraw from that year's US Open, which Agassi went on to win. They faced each other twice in the season-ending [[Tennis Masters Cup|ATP Tour World Championships]], with Sampras losing the round-robin match, but winning the final. In the 2000s, they met three more times on the Grand Slam level offering three memorable contests. In 2000, the top-ranked Agassi defeated No. 3 Sampras in the semi-finals of the [[2000 Australian Open|Australian Open]] in five sets, which was an important win for Agassi who had lost 4 of the previous five matches against Sampras. In arguably their most memorable match ever, Sampras defeated Agassi in the [[2001 U.S. Open (tennis)|2001 US Open]] quarterfinals in four sets. There were no breaks of serve during the entire match. Reruns of the match are frequently featured on television, especially during US Open rain delays, and the match is considered one of the best in history because of the level of play presented by both players. Their last meeting was the final of the [[2002 U.S. Open (tennis)|2002 US Open]], which was their third meeting in a US Open final, but the first since 1995. The match was also notable because they had defeated several up-and-coming players en route to the final. Sampras had defeated No. 3 [[Tommy Haas]] in the fourth round and future No. 1 [[Andy Roddick]] in the quarterfinals, while Agassi had defeated No. 1 and defending champion [[Lleyton Hewitt]] in the semi-finals. Sampras defeated Agassi in four sets. This was the final [[ATP tour]] singles match of Sampras's career.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Muir |first=Allan |url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/tennis/2002/us_open/news/2002/09/07/agassi_hewitt/ |title=Breaking news, real-time scores and daily analysis from Sports Illustrated β SI.com |magazine=Sports Illustrated |access-date=August 3, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021101220644/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/tennis/2002/us_open/news/2002/09/07/agassi_hewitt/ |archive-date=November 1, 2002 }}</ref> ===Agassi vs. Chang=== [[Michael Chang]] was the opponent Agassi faced most frequently from all the players other than Sampras. They met 22 times on the tour level with Agassi leading 15β7. Chang, unlike most of Agassi's big rivals, had a playing style similar to his. Both players preferred to stay at the baseline with Chang being more defensive-minded. The outcome was that most of their meetings were built on long and entertaining rallies. The rivalry began late in the 1980s with both players being considered the prodigies of the next great generation of American tennis players and both being of foreign descent. Agassi won the first four matches including a straight-set victory in round 16 of the 1988 US Open and defeating Chang, the defending champion, in the 1990 French Open in a four-set quarterfinal. Arguably their best match took place in the round of 16 of the 1994 US Open. While both players presented high-quality shot-making, the momentum changed from set to set with Agassi eventually prevailing in a five-set victory. It turned out to be the toughest contest on his way to his first US Open title. Their next two Grand Slam meetings came in 1996, with Chang recording easy straight-set victories in the semi-finals of both the Australian Open and the US Open. Years after, Agassi shockingly admitted in his book that he had lost the first of the matches on purpose as he did not want to face Boris Becker, who was awaiting the winner in the final. Agassi won the last four of their matches, with the last being in 2003 at the Miami Open with Chang being clearly past his prime. ===Agassi vs. Becker=== [[Boris Becker]] and Agassi played 14 times with Agassi leading 10β4. Becker won their first three matches in 1988 and 1989 before Agassi reversed the rivalry in 1990, and won 10 of their last 11 matches. One contributing factor is that after their third match, Agassi picked up a tell regarding Becker's serve and knew where his serves would be directed.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://money.yahoo.com/tennis-legend-andre-agassi-revealed-195432658.html | title=Tennis legend Andre Agassi revealed that he learned how to beat a rival by watching his tongue on serves | date=April 29, 2021 | access-date=June 18, 2023 | archive-date=June 18, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230618044131/https://money.yahoo.com/tennis-legend-andre-agassi-revealed-195432658.html | url-status=live }}</ref> They first played at Indian Wells in 1988, with Becker prevailing. Their most notable match was the 1989 [[Davis Cup]] semi-final match, which Becker won in five sets after losing the first two in tiebreaks. Agassi, considered a baseliner with a playing style not suiting grass, shocked Becker, a three-time champion, in a five-set quarterfinal at Wimbledon in 1992 on his way to his first Grand Slam title. The intensity of the rivalry peaked in 1995. Becker won that year's Wimbledon semi-final after being down a set and two breaks, to eventually win in four sets. In a highly anticipated rematch in the US Open semi-final, this time it was Agassi who came out victorious in four tight sets. Their final match was played at Hong Kong in 1999, which Agassi won in three sets. ===Agassi vs. Rafter=== Agassi and [[Pat Rafter]] played fifteen times with Agassi leading 10β5. The rivalry has been considered special and delivered memorable encounters, because of the players' contrasting styles of play, with Rafter using traditional serve-&-volley methods against Agassi's variety of return of serves and passing shots as his main weapons. Agassi led 8β2 on hard courts, but Rafter surprisingly won their sole match on clay at the [[1999 Italian Open (tennis)|1999 Rome Masters]]. They played four matches at [[The Championships, Wimbledon|Wimbledon]] with both winning two matches each. Agassi won the first two in 1993 and 1999, while Rafter took their 2000 and 2001 encounters, the latter two matches being gruelling 5-setters often being presented on the lists of best matches ever played. Agassi also won both their meetings at the Australian Open, in 1995 and 2001, on his way to the title on both occasions. Rafter, however, took their only US Open encounter in 1997 and went on to win the title. ===Agassi vs. Federer=== Agassi and [[Roger Federer]] played 11 times, and Federer led their head-to-head series 8β3. With the retirement of Sampras, the rivalry against the 11-years-younger Federer, who was another great server like Sampras, became Agassi's main rivalry for the final years of his career. Agassi won their first three matches, but then went on to lose eight consecutive ones. They first met in just the third tournament of Federer's career at the 1998 Swiss Indoors in Federer's hometown, with Agassi prevailing over the 17-year-old. Agassi also defeated Federer at the [[2001 US Open (tennis)|2001 US Open]] and the finals of the [[Miami Open (tennis)|Miami Open]] in 2002. Federer began to turn the tide at the Masters Cup in 2003, when he defeated Agassi in both the round-robin and the final. They played a quarterfinal match at the [[2004 US Open (tennis)|2004 US Open]] that spanned over two windy days, with Federer eventually prevailing in five sets. At the 2005 Dubai Championships, Federer and Agassi attracted worldwide headlines with a publicity stunt that saw the two tennis legends play on a helipad almost 220 meters above sea level at the hotel Burj al-Arab. Their final duel took place in the final of the [[2005 US Open (tennis)|2005 US Open]]. Federer was victorious in four sets in front of a pro-Agassi crowd. The match was the last appearance by Agassi in a Grand Slam final. ===Agassi vs. Lendl=== Agassi and [[Ivan Lendl]] played eight times, and Lendl led their head-to-head series 6β2.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.atptour.com/en/players/fedex-head-2-head/ivan-lendl-vs-andre-agassi/L018/A092|title=Ivan Lendl VS Andre Agassi | Tennis|website=ATP Tour|access-date=September 26, 2019|archive-date=September 26, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190926063819/https://www.atptour.com/en/players/fedex-head-2-head/ivan-lendl-vs-andre-agassi/L018/A092|url-status=live}}</ref> ===Agassi vs. Edberg=== Agassi and [[Stefan Edberg]] played nine times, and Agassi led their head-to-head series 6β3.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.atptour.com/en/players/fedex-head-2-head/stefan-edberg-vs-andre-agassi/E004/A092|title=Stefan Edberg VS Andre Agassi | Tennis|website=ATP Tour|access-date=September 26, 2019|archive-date=July 13, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713023905/https://www.atptour.com/en/players/atp-head-2-head/stefan-edberg-vs-andre-agassi/E004/A092|url-status=live}}</ref>
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)