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Andre Agassi’s departure from professional tennis will leave a void at the top slot. Everything else at the US OPEN has taken a back seat, and the celebrations at the center court are all reserved for the eight time major champion who retires post US Open.



His first major tournament was in New York at the age of 16 in 1986. He won the US Open in 1994 and 1999, 4 Australian Open titles and the 1999 French Open title, making him one of five men to win all four majors. The 36 year old legendary star, who now relies on cortisone injections owing to his back injury and to deal with the pain and allow freedom of movement, now wishes to bid farewell to his professional career and other players want Agassi to go out on a high.



Agassi had long blond hair, his face unshaven; his accessories included a dangling earring and a chain necklace, all gold. The getup said “rebel”, and that was certainly his reputation for the first decade or so of his blistering career. Agassi will play in his last US Open, he looks quite different, with his head bald and not so aggressive in nature now, he has transformed in appearance and reputation both. However, his professional career was full of many difficulties, his personal life with wife and tennis sensation Steffi Graf has been great. Agassi says he is not sure what his future holds, other than more family time with Graf and their two children.



Agassi said:

There’s a lot of great feelings associated with what I’m going through. There’s real excitement. There’s sadness in knowing that a big chapter of your life that you’ve poured yourself into is coming to a close, and there’s excitement for the future, for the next stage, the next adventure.





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Via: NDTV