#5 Andre Agassi
Nominated for: US Open 2006, 3R against Benjamin Becker; Life
Agassi has had his share of serious ups and downs in a life lived significantly in the public eye. Unlike several other public sporting figures, he chose to eventually come clean and write about his troubles, including his struggles with drug abuse at the peak of his career.
In fact, the American champion's own life has seen so much tension that it could be an Oscar-worthy film all on its own. He saw difficulties early in life, living and growing up with a father he has described as abusive and violent. In his autobiography, Open, Agassi spoke about how his father held the driver of a car the pair were in at gunpoint.
His father was known to deride him regularly, berating him for what he perceived as his son’s shortcomings after lackluster performances. Psychologically traumatized and dealing with the breakdown of his marriage to model and actress Brooke Shields (another Hollywood angle for the ace), Agassi took to using crystal meth.
He would go to rehab and deal with his drug problem, and after battling through his demons, he had the happy ending most films look towards – he met and eventually married another former World No. 1 and one of the greatest players to have ever graced a tennis court – Steffi Graf, with whom he went on to have two children.
Another Oscar-worthy moment in Agassi’s life, one that did not end as happily for the American ace, came at the 2006 US Open, his final match. Playing a relatively-unknown German named Benjamin Becker (no relation to Boris), an aging Andre Agassi went down in four closely-contested sets against his 25-year-old opponent.
The entire match was emotionally charged – crowd, Becker, Agassi himself as Graf and the pair’s children watched on from the sidelines.
Never one to shy away from emotion, Agassi cried as his home crowd gave him a four-minute standing ovation, as his Grand Slam-winning wife sobbed from the sidelines.
With an incessantly cheering crowd in the background, a young Benjamin Becker simply said “he was my idol, and I wish him all the best in life,” bringing to an end one of tennis’ most emotionally charged matches.
He walked off court thanking fans for everything they had done, saying he would “carry the memory of you for the rest of my life."
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