Steffi Graf & Andre Agassi
February 14, 2008
by
findingDulcinea Staff
A profile of one of the most accomplished sports couples in history, tennis greats Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi, including links to bios, the couple’s charitable pursuits, interviews, speeches, and more.
From Singles to Doubles
The world has watched these two sports superstars play their hearts out on the tennis court for decades. And that pressure and professionalism has bracketed their individual journeys. But the dedication and focus required to reach the top of your game as an athlete often leaves little time to develop personal relationships.
So perhaps Graf and Agassi had a date with destiny. Their constant success on the courts eventually led to a victory dance together—at the winners’ ball for the 1999 French Open, where they both chalked up surprise upsets, and perhaps unsurprisingly, ended up in each others arms.
Source: Just Jared
Mind you, Andre Agassi, a bit of a rock star on the court in the early days of his career, had famously dated Barbra Streisand. He’d also had a short-lived, and reportedly turbulent, marriage to actress Brooke Shields from 1997 to 1999. But Agassi and Graf recognized in each other the shared experiences that formed a firm foundation for a lasting bond.
And maybe there is such a thing as a soul mate. Agassi insists he had seen a flicker of recognition years before, in 1992, at the French Open.
Source: Sports Illustrated
But it wasn’t time yet: There were victories and defeats both professional and personal, and life lessons to learn before this bond could be truly recognized and appreciated.
Source: Hello Magazine
A Common Bond
They danced, they dated, and not long after that, they were married just days before their first child, a son, was born.
Source: Sports Illustrated
Both the German tennis great and the Las Vegas native of Iranian descent had domineering fathers who propelled them into the game at an early age; only their mothers were present at the private ceremony.
Source: CNN
Now they truly function as team. Together they have produced a second child, a little girl, and since Graf’s retirement in 1999, and Agassi subsequently following suit in 2006, they’ve gone on to design furniture, found a resort, even narrate a New York travelogue.
Their copious charity work—each has a foundation focusing on underprivileged children: hers, Children For Tomorrow and his, the Andre Agassi Charitable Association, established in 1994 to assist the youth of Las Vegas keeps them visible. And their deep love for each other is evident, in Agassi’s own heartfelt words at Graf’s induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
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