Return Game: Andre Agassi's greatest quality on and off the court

Men’s tennis was in need of a boost. The 1980s were a glorious time for the sport, with players like Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe making waves with their play and personalities.

The old guard couldn’t play forever, creating a void that needed to be filled by the next group of American stars. There were plenty, including Pete Sampras, Michael Chang, and Jim Courier. But for all of their panache on the court, something was missing.

Sampras was as robotic as he was exceptional, making Courier and Chang look like Hall and Oates in comparison.

Fans wanted something more than talent. They wanted a brash star like Connors and McEnroe, whose antics left them laughing one minute, and defiantely pumping their fist the next.

Enter a kid from Las Vegas with long, flowing hair, jean shorts, and a crippling return game. Andre Agassi was that star.

Agassi ushered in a new era for professional athletes. The checklist for being a star in the 90s required three things: an overbearing parent, a disastrous celebrity marriage, and a drug problem nobody really knew about. Above all else, Agassi could play.

He was very good during a time when tennis was blessed with several superstars. Agassi avoided Wimbledon from 1988 to 1990 because he hated the all white dress code. He entered at the last minute in 1992 and won the tournament, beating the likes of Boris Becker and McEnroe along the way.

He became the first unseeded player to win the U.S Open in 1994 after teaming up with coach Brad Gilbert and went 73-9 in 1995, vaulting to the top of the world rankings.

Agassi, like grunge and Britpop, owned the early 90s. He dated Barbra Streisand, who was almost 30 years his senior. Eyebrows were raised, as Agassi described the relationship as an act of rebellion.

“We're simpatico, and the public outcry only adds spice to our connection,” he had said. “It makes our friendship feel forbidden, taboo – another piece of my overall rebellion.”

He was named BBC overseas sports personality of the year. He was on the cusp of becoming the next big star, alongside Connors and McEnroe.

And then everything went wrong.

Agassi’s devotion to the sport faded. Years of being pushed by a number of external factors, including his father, who made his son play legend Jim Brown for money when Agassi was just nine, took their toll.

He dated actress Brooke Shields. Their relationship became tabloid fodder, a 90s version of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. Fours years of dating culminated in their marriage in 1997.

‘97 was a landmark year for Agassi in all of the worst ways. He tested positive for Crystal Meth, but had the result thrown out after lying to doping officials. What was described as an accident was really addiction.

"I snort some. I ease back on the couch and consider the Rubicon I've just crossed," Agassi wrote in his autobiography ‘Open.’

By November he slipped to 141st in the world. Agassi’s plummet down the rankings compounded his relationship woes with Shields. The myth goes Agassi put a picture of Steffi Graf on their fridge to help motivate Shields to get into better shape.

The pair divorced in 1999. For Agassi, it was the best thing that could have happened. In June he became the fifth player in history to capture the career Grand Slam, winning the French Open for the first time.

The Agassi we saw at the end of the decade looked much different than the one that entered it. His long hair was gone (we would later learn it was a wig), and his colorful attire was eschewed, a monotone black and white outfit in its place.  He featured the shaved head and goatee that was all the rage in 1999.

He didn’t look as happy, but he wore an expression of extreme purpose as he went deeper into the tournament. His fourth round matchup against Carlos Moya is memorable for the anguish on Agassi’s face.

By the end of 1999 he was the number one ranked player in the world again. The top 100 charts remained clogged, with new stars like Britney Spears and Sugar Ray emerging to cap off the decade in depressing fashion.

But there was one comeback story for the ages. A player considered one of the greatest of all time came all the way back, battling addiction and personal woes to display the talent that had legendary coach Nick Bollettieri raving, claiming Agassi had more natural talent than anyone he had ever seen when the Nevadan went to Florida as a teenager.

His story of redemption continued into the aughts, where he played some of his best tennis in the twilight of his career. He married Graf in 2001, and the pair have two children.  

McEnroe and his unruly colleagues left a void in the men’s game that Agassi filled. The Nevadan hothead was the ying to Sampras’ yang. His fall from grace coincided with a down period in the men’s game and his rebirth ushered in a new era, one that welcomed the emergence of Roger Federer.

For all of his faults, men’s tennis in the 90s would have been an empty vessel without Andre Agassi. It will take some more time, however, to forgive him for the wig.