From heaven to hell: Tennis legend Andre Agassi

For the best part of two decades, tennis fans have been spoiled by the dominance, and rivalries of arguably the three greatest men's players of all time in Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic. Before them, came Andre Agassi.

There is no doubting Agassi's place as one of the greatest players in history despite his career featuring many ups and downs, and almost coming to an abrupt, and premature end.

Agassi arrived at the professional circuit at a very young age, 16 to be precise, in 1986, and was already one of the top 100 players in the world.

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Winning his first title at 17, the young American exploded onto the scene at the age of 18, when he reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros and moved into the world's top 3.

The American tennis star enjoyed a string of good results and Grand Slam finals, but did not win a major until 1992, when he claimed his first Wimbledon title.

In 1993, Agassi experienced the first major setback in his career when he was forced to sit out a large part of the season because of chronic tendonitis in his wrist. He underwent surgery at the end of the year, as reported at the time by Sports Illustrated.

He made his comeback in 1994 and quickly returned to his highest level, becoming number 2 in the world largely thanks to his first title at the US Open, in front of his home crowd.

His wrist no longer seemed to be an issue as Agassi went on to win a string of titles. He claimed the Australian Open and Davis Cup in 1995 and a gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

However, 1997 turned out to be a dark year for the American star, who initially skipped the Australian Open because he was tired of training and playing match after match, as told by Talk Tennis.

Apparently mentally consumed by preparations for his wedding to actress Brooke Shields, as speculated by Essentially Sports, Agassi took a break from tennis and plummeted down the rankings following a series of poor results.

The resurgence of his wrist injury also prevented him from competing at the French Open and Wimbledon, putting him in an even darker place.

He returned during the summer, but failed to achieve good results, which didn't help things. It was a complicated period in his career, during which he later confessed in his autobiography 'Open' that he had taken illegal substances, including methamphetamine, at a time when his marriage was already on the rocks.

He finished the 1997 season as world No. 110, a far cry from his standards. However, while others might have fallen by the wayside, Agassi bounced back the following season.

After hitting rock bottom, the American decided to return to the top, once again becoming one of the world's elite players thanks to some magnificent results year after year.

Agassi went on to win one title after another, writing his legend a little more each season before retiring in 2006.

Agassi now boasts one of the most impressive records in world tennis, with no fewer than eight Grand Slam titles, three Davis Cups, an Olympic gold medal and 101 weeks as world number 1.

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