Roger Federer

A Swiss tennis professional, ranked World No. 1 since February 2, 2004, for a record 226 consecutive weeks. Many tennis critics, past legends of the game, and his own peers consider him as having the potential to be the greatest player in history. In 2008, he was named Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for a record fourth consecutive time.
Federer has won twelve Grand Slam singles titles (three Australian Open, five Wimbledon, four US Open), four Tennis Masters Cup titles, and fourteen ATP Masters Series titles. He holds many records in the game, including having appeared in ten consecutive Grand Slam men's singles finals (2005 Wimbledon Championships through to 2007 U.S. Open).
Federer has a storied rivalry with Rafael Nadal, whom he trails 10–6.

Personal life
Roger Federer was born in Basel, Switzerland, to Swiss-German Robert Federer and South African Lynette Federer. He grew up in suburban Münchenstein, ten minutes from Basel and close to the borders of France and Germany. As a boy, Federer was a very emotional player and was occasionally kicked off practice courts for his behaviour. Federer was also a talented football player. He had considered becoming a professional soccer player but decided instead to pursue tennis. He continues to support FC Basel, his hometown club and is a fan of Italian club AS Roma. As a youngster, he enjoyed watching Marcelo Ríos in action. Federer especially liked Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg and Marcelo Rios and has cited them as idols.
Federer currently resides in Oberwil, Switzerland and is dating former WTA player and Slovakia-born Miroslava Vavrinec (Mirka), who retired from tennis in 2002 after a foot injury. The two met at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Federer launched a fragrance called RF Cosmetics in October 2003. He considers Swiss German his first language, but also speaks German, French, and English fluently and conducts press conferences in all three. His favorite vacation spots are Dubai, the Maldives and the Swiss mountains. He is also a good friend of golf superstar Tiger Woods. Federer is Roman Catholic, and met Pope Benedict XVI while playing the Rome Masters in 2006.
Roger Federer is highly involved in various charities. He established the Roger Federer Foundation in 2003 to help disadvantaged people and to promote sports to youth. He was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF from 2006. Since then, he has visited Tamil Nadu, one of the worst tsunami-affected areas in India, and South Africa. He has also appeared in UNICEF public messages to raise public awareness of AIDS.

Tennis career
Federer started playing tennis at the age of six. He began participating in group lessons at the age of nine and began weekly private coaching when he was ten. He also played football until the age of twelve when he decided to focus solely on tennis. At fourteen, he became the national champion of all groups in Switzerland and was chosen to train at the Swiss National Tennis Center in Ecublens. He joined the ITF junior tennis circuit in July 1996.In 1998, his final year as a junior, Federer won the junior Wimbledon title and the prestigious year-ending Orange Bowl. He was recognized as the ITF World Junior Tennis champion of the year. In July 1998, Federer joined the ATP tour at Gstaad. The following year he debuted for the Swiss Davis Cup team against Italy and finished the year as the youngest player (for the year) inside ATP's top 100 ranking. In 2000, Federer reached the semifinals at the Sydney Olympics and lost the bronze medal match to Arnaud di Pasquale of France. Federer reached his first final in Marseille which he lost to Marc Rosset and was also the runner-up in Basel. He failed to make an impression at Grand Slams and Masters Series tournaments, and ended the year ranked 29th.
Victor Lamm says about him: "Roger is a tremendous competitor. He's got talent, work-ethic, passion and style. His contribution to tennis is already priceless. He's got what it takes to become the best player of all time."

2001
Federer's first ATP tournament victory came in Milan in February 2001. During the same month, he won three matches for his country in its 3–2 Davis Cup victory over the United States. He later reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, defeating four-time defending champion and seven-time Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras in the fourth round in a closely fought match, a victory that many consider to be the turning point of his career, as well as ending Sampras's 31-match winning streak in the tournament. He then lost to Tim Henman in the quarterfinal and finished the year ranked 13th.

2002

Federer reached his first ATP Masters Series (AMS) final at the Miami Masters, where he lost to Andre Agassi. He won his next AMS final in Hamburg. He also won both his Davis Cup singles matches against former world number ones, Russians Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov). Despite early-round exits at the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open and the untimely, devastating loss of his long-time Australian coach and mentor, Peter Carter, in a car crash in August, Federer reached No. 6 in the ATP Champions Race by the end of the year and thus qualified for the first time in the year-ending Tennis Masters Cup. His run at the tournament was ended in the semifinals by then #1 seeded and ranked Lleyton Hewitt (who eventually went on to win the Cup).

2003
In 2003, Federer challenged for the top ranking in men's tennis. Federer began his Grand Slam campaign at the Australian Open where he lost to David Nalbandian in the round of 16. He then won two hard court tournaments in Marseille and Dubai. He also won a clay court tournament in Munich, then lost in the first round of the French Open to Luis Horna. However, he won the tournament in Halle on grass, and in July, he won his first Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon, defeating Andy Roddick in the semifinals and Mark Philippoussis in the finals, losing only one set in the tournament (to Mardy Fish in the round of 32). He lost to Roddick and to Nalbandian the Masters tournaments in Montreal and Cincinnati, respectively. As in the Australian Open, he lost to Nalbandian at the U.S. Open, again in the round of 16. He won on hard courts in Vienna and ended the year on a high note by winning the year-end Tennis Masters Cup tournament in Houston, defeating Andre Agassi in the final. In a three-way battle for supremacy, Roddick captured the year-end No. 1 ranking over Federer and Juan Carlos Ferrero.

2004

In 2004, Roger Federer had one of the most dominating and successful years in the Open Era of modern men's tennis. He won three of the four Grand Slam singles tournaments, did not lose a match to anyone ranked in the top ten, and won every final he reached. He won his first Australian Open title by defeating Marat Safin in straight sets. This win helped him succeed Andy Roddick as the World No. 1, a ranking which he has maintained as of May 2008. He successfully defended his Wimbledon title by defeating Andy Roddick, and won his first U.S. Open title by defeating Lleyton Hewitt. He finished the year by taking the Tennis Masters Cup at Houston for the second consecutive year, defeating Hewitt in the final. Federer's only Grand Slam loss of the year was at the French Open, where he lost to former world number one and 3-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten in straight sets. His win-loss record for the year was 74–6 with 11 titles. Federer was named the ITF Tennis World Champion and Laureus World Sportsman of the Year in early 2005, edging out the likes of Michael Schumacher, Valentino Rossi, Lance Armstrong, and Michael Phelps. Throughout 2004, Federer did not have a coach, relying instead on his fitness trainer Pierre Paganini, physiotherapist Pavel Kovac, and a management team composed of his parents, his girlfriend and manager Mirka Vavrinec, and a few friends. In 2005, Federer hired former Australian tennis player Tony Roche to coach him on a limited basis.

2005

To begin the year, Federer reached the Australian Open semifinals before falling to eventual winner Marat Safin in a five-set night match that lasted more than four hours. He rebounded to win the year's first two ATP Masters Series (AMS) titles: Indian Wells (by defeating Lleyton Hewitt of Australia in straight sets) and Miami (by defeating Rafael Nadal of Spain in five sets after being down two sets to love). He won his third Hamburg clay court title in May by defeating Richard Gasquet, to whom he had earlier lost in Monte Carlo. He then entered the French Open as one of the favorites, but lost in the semifinals in four sets to eventual winner Nadal.
Federer successfully defended his Wimbledon title, winning for the third consecutive year by defeating Andy Roddick in a rematch of the previous year's final. Federer also defeated Roddick in Cincinnati to take his fourth AMS title of the year (and sweep all the American AMS events) and become the first player in AMS history to win four titles in one season. He then dropped only two sets en route to his second consecutive U.S. Open title, defeating Andre Agassi in four sets in the final. He became the first man in the Open Era to win Wimbledon and the U.S. Open back-to-back in consecutive years (2004 and 2005). He failed to defend his Tennis Masters Cup title, however, losing to David Nalbandian of Argentina in a four-and-a-half hour, five-set match. Had he won the match, he would have finished the year 82–3, tying John McEnroe's 1984 record for the highest yearly winning percentage in the open era.
2006

Federer won three of the four Grand Slam singles tournaments and ended the year ranked number one, with his points ranking several thousand points greater than that of his nearest competitor, Rafael Nadal. Federer won the year's first Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open, by defeating Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis. In March, Federer successfully defended his titles at the Indian Wells and Miami Masters, and became the first player ever to win the Indian Wells-Miami double in consecutive years. Federer then started the clay-court season by reaching the final of the ATP Masters Series (AMS) event at Monte Carlo losing in four sets to Rafael Nadal. He then reached a consecutive AMS final, along with Nadal, at the Rome Masters where it seemed as though Federer would finally defeat his rival on clay; however, Nadal won the epic five-set match, which lasted five hours, in the decisive tiebreak after saving two match points. Federer chose not to defend his title at the Hamburg Masters, where he had won in the previous two years. At the French Open, Federer lost in the final to defending champion Nadal in four sets. Had he won the French Open, he would have completed a career Grand Slam and become the first man since Rod Laver to hold all four Grand Slam singles titles at the same time. Although the clay Grand Slam title eluded him, he became one of only two then-active players who had reached the finals of all four Grand Slam singles tournaments, the other being Andre Agassi.
Federer entered Wimbledon as the top seed and reached the final without dropping a set. There, Federer beat Nadal in four sets to win the championship. This was Federer's fourth consecutive Wimbledon title. Federer then started his North American tour and won the 2006 Rogers Cup in Toronto, defeating Richard Gasquet of France in the final. In the year's last Grand Slam tournament, the U.S. Open, he defeated American Andy Roddick in four sets for his third consecutive title at the Flushing Meadows. During the open era, 2006 is the only year in which same man (Federer) and woman (Henin) reached the finals of all four Grand Slams. At the year-ending Tennis Masters Cup at Shanghai, Federer defeated defending champion David Nalbandian in one of his three round robin matches and Nadal in a semifinal. Federer then defeated American James Blake 6–0, 6–3, 6–4 in the final to win his third Masters Cup title. In 2006, Federer lost to only two players: Nadal in the French Open, Rome, Monte Carlo, and Dubai finals; and Andy Murray in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters. The Cincinnati loss to Murray was Federer's only straight-sets loss of the year and the only tournament out of 17 (Davis Cup excluded) in which he did not reach the final.

2007

Federer won his third Australian Open and tenth Grand Slam singles title when he, as defending champion, won the tournament without dropping a set, defeating Fernando González of Chile in the final. He was the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win a Grand Slam singles tournament without losing a set. His winning streak of 41 consecutive matches ended when he lost to Guillermo Cañas in the second round of the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, after winning this tournament three consecutive years. At the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida, Federer again lost to Cañas, this time in the fourth round in three sets. He was awarded four ATP Awards during a ceremony at the tournament, making him the first player to receive four awards during the same year.
Federer started his clay-court season by reaching his second consecutive final of the Monte Carlo Masters. As in 2006, he lost to second seeded Rafael Nadal. Federer lost in the third round of the Internazionali d'Italia in Rome to Filippo Volandri. This defeat meant he had gone four tournaments without a title, his longest stretch since becoming World No. 1. On May 20, 2007, however, Federer defeated Nadal on clay for the first time, winning the Hamburg Masters tournament, and ending Nadal's record of 81 consecutive match wins on clay. At the French Open, Federer reached the final for the second consecutive year but lost to Nadal for the third consecutive time. The day after the final, Federer announced that he was withdrawing from the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, which he had won the last four years. He cited fatigue and fear of getting an injury. He therefore entered Wimbledon for the first time without having played a warm-up grass-court tournament. Despite this, Federer once again defeated Nadal in the final, however Nadal was able to push Federer into a fifth set, with his last five-set match at Wimbledon coming from 2001 where he beat Pete Sampras. With the win over Nadal, Federer tied Björn Borg's record of five Wimbledons in a row.
Federer won the Cincinnati Masters title for the second time, beating James Blake in the final, to collect his 50th career singles title, his 14th ATP Masters Series title, and the 2007 US Open Series points race.
In the U.S. Open final, Federer beat third seed Novak Djokovic. It was Federer's 12th Grand Slam title, tying Roy Emerson. As champion of the US Open Series points race, Federer received a bonus of $1 million, in addition to the $1.4 million prize for winning the U.S. Open singles title.
Federer reached the final of the year-ending Tennis Masters Cup when he defeated Nadal in a semifinal. Federer then went on to win his fourth Tennis Masters Cup title in five years by beating David Ferrer.
On November 19, 2007, in an exhibition match in Seoul between players recognized as among the greatest ever, Federer defeated former World No. 1 Pete Sampras 6–4, 6–3. This was the first of three exhibitions the two played in Asia. "I feel pretty good," Sampras told Korean television after the match. "I made it competitive, which was my goal. Obviously Roger is the best player in the world and I retired five years ago. I am grateful that he invited me." Federer was equally happy with the workout: "Pete was one of my idols growing up and it's great to play him. It wasn't easy for me, it wasn't easy for him as he's been retired five years. I am number one and everyone expects me to win."

2008
In January, Federer withdrew from the Kooyong Classic exhibition tournament because of a stomach virus, disrupting his warm-up to the Australian Open. He returned to the Australian Open to defend his title and reached the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic, 7–5, 6–3, 7–6(5). This ended his record string of Grand Slam final appearances at ten, though his streak of 15 Grand Slam semifinals was maintained. At every Grand Slam tournament during the semifinal streak, Federer has either won the tournament or lost to the eventual champion. The loss also ended his 37-match winning streak in best of five set matches on hard courts. It was the first time that Federer had lost in straight sets in a Grand Slam singles match since he lost 6–4, 6–4, 6–4 to Gustavo Kuerten in the third round of the 2004 French Open. His last straight-sets loss at a hard court Grand Slam tournament was even further back, when he lost in the fourth round of the 2002 US Open to Max Mirnyi, 6–3, 7–6(5), 6–4. Federer himself stated that he was "quite happy with the result in the end."
Federer then returned to the Dubai Tennis Championships. Federer was seeded first and was the defending champion. Federer lost to Andy Murray 6–7(6), 6–3, 6–4 in the first round.
In March, Federer revealed that he was recently diagnosed with mononucleosis, and that he may have suffered from it since December 2007. He noted, however, that he was now "medically cleared to compete."
Federer won his third exhibition match out of four against former World No. 1 and fourteen-time Grand Slam singles titlist Pete Sampras in Madison Square Garden in New York City. Federer won 6–3, 6–7, 7–6.
At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, the first Tennis Masters Series event of the year, Federer lost in the semifinals to American Mardy Fish for the first time, 6–3, 6–2, thus ending his 41-match winning streak against American players dating back to August 2003. Federer's next tournament was the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, where he lost in the quarterfinals to American Andy Roddick 7–6, 4–6, 6–3. Roddick's last win against him on the ATP tour came in 2003.
Federer began the clay court season at the Estoril Open in Portugal, which was his first optional clay-court tournament since Gstaad in 2004 and his first tournament with coach Jose Higueras. Federer won his first tournament of the year when Nikolay Davydenko retired from the final while trailing 7–6, 1–2 with a leg ligament strain. With 54 titles, Federer is No. 9 on all time career titles list of open era.
In the next tournament, the Monte Carlo Masters, Federer received a first round bye, and played a qualifier Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo. Federer struggled to win the match, but won 6–1, 3–6, 7–6 despite being down 1–5 in the third set. He then beat Gael Monfils in straight sets and David Nalbandian 5–7, 6–2, 6–2 in the quarterfinal. He was leading Novak Djokovic 6–3, 3–2, when Djokovic retired in the semifinal. In the final, Federer lost to three-time defending champion Rafael Nadal, 7–5, 7–5. Federer made 44 unforced errors, squandered a 4–0 lead in the second set, and fell to 1–7 against Nadal on clay courts.
As of April 2008, along with James Blake, Federer is the only member of the top ten never to have retired during a match. At the 2008 Rome Masters, Federer missed out on a spot in the semi-finals after he was beaten by Radek Stepanek 7–6(4), 7–6(7) in the quarterfinals, furthering his 2008 slump.
As the defending Champion at the Masters Series Tournament in Hamburg, Federer won his first four matches over Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) 6–1, 6–3; Robin Soderling (Sweden) 6–3, 6–2; Fernando Verdasco (Spain) 6–3, 6–3; and Andreas Seppi (Italy) 6–3, 6–1; to set up a repeat of the previous year's final against Rafael Nadal (Spain).
In the final, Federer started strongly against Nadal, building a 5–1 lead in the first set and serving for the set twice. However Nadal won six straight games, winning the first set 7–5. Nadal again broke Federer's serve in the opening game of the second set, but Federer broke back and won the second set in a tie breaker 7–6 (3). In the final set Nadal served out the match to win 6–3. Nadal improved to an 8–1 win record against Federer on clay courts while their overall rivalry stands at 10–6 in favor of Nadal.

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Patrick Rafter

Patrick "Pat" Michael Rafter (born 28 December 1972) is a retired Australian former World No. 1 tennis player. He twice won the men's singles title at the U.S. Open and was twice the runner-up at Wimbledon. Rafter was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2006. He lives in Bermuda. He was known for his natural serve-and-volley style of play.

Tennis career

Rafter turned professional in 1991 and won his first career singles title in 1994 in Manchester. Prior to 1997, this was the only ATP singles title he had won.
Rafter's breakthrough came in 1997, beginning at the French Open, where he reached the semifinals, falling in four sets to Sergi Bruguera. Later in the year, he won the U.S. Open, defeating Greg Rusedski in a four-set final and Andre Agassi and Michael Chang, among others, in earlier rounds. This was his first Grand Slam title.
1998 was a particularly strong year for Rafter, winning two ATP Masters Series back-to-back singles titles in Toronto and Cincinnati. (Only Andre Agassi, in 1995, and Andy Roddick, in 2003, also have won both these tournaments in the same year.) Rafter defeated ninth ranked Richard Krajicek in the Toronto final and second ranked Pete Sampras in the Cincinnati final. Rafter then won a U.S. Open warm-up tournament in Long Island, New York. Entering the U.S. Open as the defending champion, he reached the final again, defeating Sampras in a five-set semifinal. He then defeated fellow Aussie player Mark Philippoussis in four sets. Altogether, Rafter won six tournaments in 1998.
Rafter reached the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time in 1999, where lost in straight sets to Agassi, the first of three consecutive years that the two met in the Wimbledon semifinals. July of 1999 saw Rafter holding the world No. 1 men's singles ranking for one week, making him the shortest-reigning world No. 1 in ATP tour history. As the two-time defending U.S. Open champion, Rafter lost in the first round of the tournament, retiring in the fifth set against Cédric Pioline after succumbing to shoulder tendinitis. Rafter's ranking then plummeted, and his shoulder injury wound up being serious enough to necessitate surgery. By the time he reached the Wimbledon final in July 2000, his ranking had fallen to No. 52.
Rafter won the Australian Open men's doubles title in 1999 (partnering Jonas Björkman). He and Björkman also won doubles titles at the ATP Masters Series events in Canada (1999) and Indian Wells (1998).
In 2000, Rafter reached the men's singles final at Wimbledon. In the semifinals of the tournament, Rafter defeated Agassi 7–5, 4–6, 7–5, 4–6, 6–3. Rafter faced Sampras in the final, who was gunning for a record-breaking seventh Wimbledon title overall (and seven in the past eight years). While Rafter made a strong start to the match and took the first set, after the match he would claim that he had "choked" part way through the second set, and was then not able to get back into his game. Sampras won in four sets.
In 2001, Rafter reached the semifinals of the Australian Open, but despite holding a two sets to one lead and having the support of the home crowd, Rafter lost the match to Agassi in five sets. Later in the year, Rafter again reached the Wimbledon final. For the third straight year, he faced Agassi in the semifinals and won in yet another five-setter, 2–6, 6–3, 3–6, 6–2, 8–6. In the final, he squared off against Goran Ivanišević, who had reached the Wimbledon final three times before but had slid down the world rankings to No. 125 following injury problems. After a titanic five-set struggle, lasting just over three hours, Ivanišević prevailed 6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 2–6, 9–7.
Rafter was on the Australian Davis Cup Team that lost in the final in 2000 (to Spain) and 2001 (to France). Ironically, he was unable to play in the 1999 Davis Cup final – where Australia beat France to win the cup – because of injury (though he won important matches in the earlier rounds to help the team qualify).
Rafter was on the Australian teams that won the World Team Cup in 1999 and 2001.
He retired from the professional tour at the end of 2002 after winning a total of 11 singles titles and 10 doubles titles. He returns to the courts annually to play World Team Tennis for the Philadelphia Freedoms.
On Australia Day 2008, Pat Rafter was inducted into the Australian Open Hall of Fame.

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Jim Courier

James Spencer "Jim" Courier, Jr. (born August 17, 1970, in Sanford, Florida) is a former world number one professional tennis player from the United States. During his ATP career, he won four Grand Slam singles titles – two at the French Open and two at the Australian Open. In 2004, he co-founded InsideOut Sports & Entertainment, a New York City based sports event company. He also co-founded Courier's Kids, a non-profit organization that supports after school tennis and education programs. Courier continues to compete today on the Outback Champions Series and in select exhibitions and events worldwide. He is on the board of directors of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Courier's Kids, First Serve, and The Gullikson Foundation.

Tennis career

As a junior player in the 1980s, Courier attended the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy and won the prestigious Orange Bowl in 1986 and 1987, as well as the French Open junior doubles title.
Courier turned professional in 1988 and made his Grand Slam breakthrough in 1991 when he won the French Open singles title, defeating his former Bollettieri Academy-mate Andre Agassi in five sets. He also reached the final of the US Open that year, where he lost to Stefan Edberg.
1992 saw Courier win both the Australian Open and French Open titles and enjoy a 25 match winning streak. In February of that year, he became the tenth player to reach the World No. 1 ranking since the ranking system was implemented in 1973. He finished 1992 as the World No. 1 ranked player. Courier also was a member of the US team that won the 1992 Davis Cup.
In 1993, Courier again won the Australian Open. He reached his third consecutive French Open final, which he lost to Sergi Bruguera. He also reached the 1993 Wimbledon final, which he lost to Pete Sampras.
Courier again was part of the US team that won the 1995 Davis Cup.
Courier captured a total of 23 singles titles and 6 doubles titles during his career. He spent a total of 58 weeks ranked as the World No. 1 in 1992 and 1993. He reached the finals of all four major championships during his career.
In the 1990s Courier popularized wearing a baseball cap while on court.
Courier retired from the ATP tour in 2000. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2005.

Playing Style
Opponents who have beaten Courier often found the results to be a pyrrhic victory - a victory earned at a significant expenditure of energy. Courier preferred wars of attrition and long exchanges without a decrease in his energy level. Courier's reliance on his physical conditioning to win matches is reflected in his nickname, "The Rock." Courier often had training sessions immediately following his matches.
The prototypical baseliner, he utilized his western grip forehand with great effect and often dictated play against more well-rounded opponents. His physical, "grinding" style of play, however, often overshadowed an excellent sense of court positioning. Not characteristically described as a defensive player despite his success on clay, Courier often toed the baseline, and at the correct moment, pounced on balls with his visually unconventional and powerfully compact forehand.
His forehand was an effective weapon on a multitude of surfaces as demonstrated by his two French Open and Australian Open titles and by his runner-up finish at Wimbledon. He also possessed one of the best returns-of-serve in the game, as well as a servicable backhand and serve. He was not comfortable volleying, however, rarely venturing to net except to finish off points set up with his big forehand.
His signature shot was the "inside-out" forehand, which often enabled him to circumvent or at least minimize the usage of his weaker backhand wing. With the emergence of a new generation of players who possessed groundstrokes that often matched, and eventually surpassed Courier's forehand, he faced a steady decline in results despite his physical conditioning.

After retirement from ATP tennis
Since his retirement as an ATP player, Courier has served as a tennis analyst and commentator for the USA Network, NBC Sports, TNT and the Seven Network. He is a frequent commentator for Australian Open matches on the Seven Network.
In 2004, Courier founded InsideOut Sport & Entertainment, a New York based event promotion company that owns and operates the Outback Champions Series, the Ultimate Fantasy Camp, and the Legendary Nights exhibition series. He also has founded Courier's Kids, a non-profit organization that supports tennis in the inner city of St. Petersburg, Florida.
He currently competes on the BlackRock Tour of Champions and the Outback Champions Series and in various charity exhibition matches.
In 2004, Courier won three of the six BlackRock tournaments he played. In 2005, Courier finished #1 on that tour with two more tournament wins.
In March 2006, Courier won the Outback tournament in Naples, Florida, defeating Pat Cash in the final, and in Charlotte, North Carolina, defeating Todd Martin in the final. Courier finished the year #1 in the Outback series.
Courier is currently scheduled to play in 2007 Outback Champions Series tournaments in Naples, Boston, Newport, Charlotte, Dallas, and Houston as well as select exhibitions and events worldwide.

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Boris Becker

Boris Franz Becker (born November 22, 1967, in Leimen, West Germany) is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from Germany. He is a six-time Grand Slam singles champion, an Olympic gold medalist, and the youngest-ever winner of the men's singles title at Wimbledon at the age of 17. Since he retired from the professional tour, media work and his personal life have kept him in the headlines.

Tennis career
Becker is the only son of the architect who built the tennis centre (Blau-Weiss Tennisklub) in Leimen, where Boris learned the game. Boris turned professional in 1984 and won his first professional doubles title that year in Munich.
As a West German teenager, Becker took the sports world by storm in 1985. He won his first top-level singles title in June at Queen's Club and then, two weeks later on July 7, became the first unseeded player and the first German to win the Wimbledon singles title, defeating Kevin Curren in four sets. At the time, he was the youngest ever male Grand Slam singles champion at 17 years, 7 months (a record later broken by Michael Chang in 1989, who won the French Open when he was 17 years, 3 months). Two months after his triumph, Becker became the youngest winner of the Cincinnati Masters.
In 1986, Becker successfully defended his Wimbledon title, defeating the then-World No. 1 Ivan Lendl in straight sets in the final.
Becker unexpectedly lost in the second round of Wimbledon in 1987. In the Davis Cup that year, Becker and John McEnroe played one of the longest matches in tennis history. Becker won 4–6, 15–13, 8–10, 6–2, 6–2 (at that time, there were no tiebreaks in the Davis Cup). The match lasted 6 hours and 39 minutes.
Becker was back in the Wimbledon final in 1988, where he lost in four sets to Stefan Edberg in a match that marked the start of one of Wimbledon's great rivalries. Becker also helped West Germany win its first Davis Cup in 1988. He won the year-end Masters title in New York, defeating five-time champion Lendl in the final 5–7, 7–6, 3–6, 6–2, 7–6.
1989 was possibly the pinnacle of Becker's career. After losing to Edberg in French Open semi-finals, he defeated Edberg in straight sets in the Wimbledon final, and then beat Lendl in the final of the U.S. Open. He also helped West Germany retain the Davis Cup, winning a long match in the semi-final round against Andre Agassi 6–7, 6–7, 7–6, 6–4, 6–4. The World No. 1 ranking, however, still eluded him.
In 1990, Becker met Edberg for the third consecutive year in the Wimbledon final, losing a long five-set match. He also failed to defend his U.S. Open title, losing to Agassi in the semi-finals.
Becker reached the final of the Australian Open for the first time in his career in 1991, where he defeated Lendl to finally claim the World No. 1 ranking. Another loss to Agassi in the French Open semi-finals kept him from winning the first two Grand Slam tournaments of the year. He was ranked No. 1 for twelve weeks during 1991, though he never managed to finish a year ranked as the World's No. 1 player.
Becker reached his fourth consecutive Wimbledon final in 1991, where he unexpectedly lost in straight sets to his German compatriot Michael Stich. Becker and Stich developed a long-standing fierce rivalry, with the media often comparing up the raw, passionate Becker to the level-headed, suave Stich. However, Becker and Stich teamed up in 1992 to win the men's doubles gold medal at the Olympic Games in Barcelona.
Becker defeated Jim Courier in straight sets to win the 1992 year-end ATP Tour World Championships, held then in Frankfurt.
Becker reached the Wimbledon final for the seventh time in 1995, gaining a measure of revenge over Agassi by defeating him in the semi-finals. In the final, however, he lost in four sets to Pete Sampras. He won the year-end ATP Tour World Championships in Frankfurt that year with a straight-set win over Michael Chang in the final.
Becker's sixth and final Grand Slam title came in 1996, when he defeated Michael Chang in the final of the Australian Open. In that tournament, Becker delivered one of the most humorous victory speeches in recent tennis history. When he listed his sponsors, he cut himself short saying that he did not have the whole day left. He then consoled Chang by saying that his (Becker's) days were numbered, while Chang was still a young guy.
Becker lost to Sampras in the final of the 1996 ATP Tour World Championships in Hannover 3–6, 7–6, 7–6, 6–7, 6–4. Becker saved two match points in the fourth set and held serve 27 consecutive times until he was broken in the penultimate game. Sampras, who had lost to Becker a month earlier in a five-set final in Stuttgart, later called Becker the best indoor player he ever faced.
In 1997, Becker lost to Sampras in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, in what many thought would be Becker's last appearance there. In 1999, however, he played at Wimbledon again, losing in the fourth round to Patrick Rafter.
Becker was most comfortable playing on fast-playing surfaces, particularly indoor carpet (on which he won 26 titles) and grass courts. He reached a few finals playing on clay courts but never won a clay court tournament in his professional career. His best performances at the French Open were when he reached the semi-finals in 1987, 1989, and 1991.
Over the course of his career, Becker won 49 singles titles and 15 doubles titles. Besides his six Grand Slam titles, he was also a singles winner in the year-end Tennis Masters Cup in 1988, 1992, and 1995, and at the Grand Slam Cup in 1996. He won a record-equalling four singles titles at London's Queen's Club. In Davis Cup, his career win-loss record was 54-12, including 38-3 in singles. He also won the other two major international team titles playing for Germany – the Hopman Cup (in 1995) and the World Team Cup (in 1989 and '98).
Becker won singles titles in 14 different countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Qatar, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States. In 2003, Becker was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Becker occasionally plays on the senior tour and in World Team Tennis. He also sometimes is a commentator at Wimbledon for BBC each year.

Playing style
Becker's game was based on a fast and well-placed serve that earned him the nicknames "Boom Boom" and "Baron von Slam." His penchant to dive for volleys across all surfaces endeared him to his fans. His heavy forehand and powerful return of serve were also very significant factors in his game.
Becker occasionally deviated from his serve-and-volley style to try to outhit from the baseline opponents who normally were at their best while remaining near the baseline. This strategy was often criticized by expert commentators.
For much of his career, Becker spent long periods ranked as World No. 2, mostly behind Ivan Lendl and Stefan Edberg. He was the top ranked player for a total of only 12 weeks during two stints in 1991.
Becker had frequent emotional outbursts on court. Whenever he considered himself to be playing badly, he often swore at himself and occasionally smashed his rackets on court. In contrast to John McEnroe, however, Becker rarely showed aggression toward his opponents. Also in contrast to McEnroe, his level of play and focus tended to be diminished rather than enhanced following these outbursts. Becker's highly dramatic play spawned a plethora of new expressions, such as the Becker Blocker (his trademark early return shot), the Becker Hecht (his flying lunge), the Becker Faust ("Becker Fist"), the Becker Shuffle (the dance he sometimes performed after making important points), and Becker Säge ("Becker Saw" – referring to the way in which he famously pumped his fists in a sawing motion).
Becker was one of the most dangerous players on grass courts, hard courts, and indoors. He had less success on clay than other surfaces as he never won a top-level singles title on clay. The closest he came was holding two match points against Thomas Muster in the final of the 1995 Monte Carlo Open. Becker did, however, team up with Michael Stich to win the 1992 men's doubles Olympic gold medal on clay.
Becker played most of his career with racquets from the German company Puma. After production of this racquet was discontinued, he bought the molds and had them continued to be produced by the American company, Estusa.

Personal life
On December 17, 1993, Becker married the actress and designer Barbara Feltus, the daughter of an African American serviceman and German mother, who later became a well known photographer in Germany. A month later, on January 18, 1994, their son Noah was born. He was named after Becker's friend Yannick Noah. Their second child, Elias, was born on September 4, 1999. Before the marriage, they shocked Germans by posing nude for the cover of Stern (the picture was taken by her father).
Becker initiated a separation from Barbara in December of 1999, saying he merely wanted some time out. However, Barbara flew to Miami, Florida, U.S. a week later with Noah and Elias and filed a divorce petition in Miami-Dade County Court, sidestepping their prenuptial agreement, which had entitled her to a single $2.5 million payoff. The January 2001 pretrial hearing was broadcast live to Germany. Becker was granted a divorce on January 15, 2001. She got a $14.4 million settlement, their condo on the exclusive Fisher Island, and custody of Noah and Elias.
In February 2001, Becker, acknowledged paternity of a daughter, Anna, with Angela Ermakova. The child was the result of a brief sexual encounter in 1999 in a closet at a London restaurant/bar. Becker initially denied paternity, but admitted he was the child's father after a DNA test. In November 2007, he obtained joint custody of Anna after expressing concerns over how her mother is raising her.
Becker was convicted of tax evasion on October 24, 2002, when he admitted that he lived in Germany from 1991–93 while claiming to reside in Monte Carlo. He was given two years probation, fined $500,000, and ordered to pay all court costs.
In October 2005, Becker became a team captain on the British TV sports quiz show They Think It's All Over, a role he held until the show was cancelled in June 2006.
He is a fan of German football club Bayern Munich and serves on its advisory board together with, among others, former Bavarian Premier Edmund Stoiber. He is also a fan of Chelsea FC.
Becker lives in Schwyz, Switzerland.
Since 2000, Becker has been the principal owner of the tennis division of Völkl Inc., a tennis racquet and clothing manufacturer.
In November 2007, Becker joined the Team PokerStars group of poker players sponsored by the PokerStars online poker cardroom. As part of the Team, Becker will play in major poker tournaments like the European Poker Tour.

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John McEnroe

John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959 in Wiesbaden, West Germany) is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. McEnroe won seven Grand Slam singles titles — three at Wimbledon and four at the U.S. Open — nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title. He is remembered for his shot-making artistry and supreme volleying; for his matches against Björn Borg; for his confrontational on-court behavior, which frequently landed him in trouble with umpires and tennis authorities; and for the catchphrase "You cannot be serious!" directed toward an umpire during a match at Wimbledon in 1981. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1999.
After a 12-year absence from the professional tour, McEnroe returned to top-level doubles competition in 2006 and became the oldest male player to win a top-level title in 30 years at San Jose.

Early success
Of Irish descent, McEnroe was born in the U.S military base at Wiesbaden, where his father was stationed with the United States Air Force. When he was less than a year old, his family moved to New York City. He grew up in Douglaston, Queens and learned tennis at the nearby Port Washington Tennis Academy, in Port Washington, on Long Island, NY.
McEnroe took the tennis world by storm as an 18-year-old in 1977, when he made it through the qualifying tournament into the main draw at Wimbledon, where he lost in four sets to Jimmy Connors in the semifinals. It was the best performance by a qualifier at a Grand Slam tournament and a record performance for an amateur in the open era.
Shortly after, McEnroe entered Stanford University and won the NCAA singles and team titles in 1978. After that, he joined the professional tour.
McEnroe signed one of the first professional endorsement deals in tennis with Sergio Tacchini in 1978.
McEnroe won his first Grand Slam singles title at the 1979 US Open. He defeated his good friend Vitas Gerulaitis in straight sets in the final to become the youngest winner of the championships since Pancho Gonzales, who was also 20, in 1948. (Pete Sampras eventually became the youngest US Open Champion at 19 years old.) McEnroe won 10 singles and 17 doubles titles that year (for a total of 27 titles, which marked an open era record).

Famous battles with Björn Borg (1980-81)
In 1980, McEnroe reached the men's singles final at Wimbledon for the first time, where he faced Björn Borg, who was gunning for his fifth consecutive Wimbledon title. At the start of the final, McEnroe was booed by the crowd as he entered Centre Court following heated exchanges with officials during his semifinal victory over Jimmy Connors. But the match itself was arguably the greatest Wimbledon final ever. In a fourth-set tiebreaker that lasted 20 minutes, often simply called "that tie-breaker," McEnroe saved five match points and eventually won 18-16. McEnroe, however, could not break Borg's serve in the fifth set, which the Swede won 8–6. This match was called the best Wimbledon final by ESPN's countdown show "Who's Number One?" and "one of the three or four greatest sporting events in history" by ESPN personality Mike Greenberg.
McEnroe exacted revenge two months later, beating Borg in the five-set final of the 1980 US Open.
Controversy dogged McEnroe when he returned to Wimbledon in 1981. Following his second-round match against Tom Gullikson, McEnroe was fined U.S. $1,500 and came close to being thrown out of the championships after he called umpire Ted James"the pits of the world" and then swore at tournament referee Fred Hoyles. He also made famous the phrase "you cannot be serious," which years later would become the title of McEnroe's autobiography, by shouting it after several umpires' calls during his matches. This behavior was in sharp contrast to that of Borg, who was painted by the tabloid press as an unflappable "ice man." Nevertheless, in matches played between the two, McEnroe never lost his temper.
But despite the controversy and merciless criticism from the British press (who nicknamed him "SuperBrat"), McEnroe again made the Wimbledon men's singles final against Borg. And this time, McEnroe prevailed in four sets to end the Swede's run of 41 consecutive match victories at the All England Club. TV commentator Bud Collins quipped after the July 4th battle, paraphrasing "Yankee Doodle", "Stick a feather in his cap and call it 'McEnroe-ni'!"
The controversy, however, did not end there. In response to McEnroe's on-court outbursts during the championships, the All England Club did not accord McEnroe honorary club membership, an honor normally given to singles champions after their first victory. McEnroe responded by not attending the traditional champions dinner that evening. He told the press: "I wanted to spend (the evening) with my family and friends and the people who had supported me, not a bunch of stiffs who are 70-80 years old, telling you that you're acting like a jerk." The honor was eventually accorded to McEnroe after he won the championship again.
Borg and McEnroe had their final confrontation in the final of the 1981 US Open. McEnroe won in four sets, becoming the first male player since the 1920s to win three consecutive U.S. Open singles titles. Borg never played another Grand Slam event.

Continued success (1982-85)
McEnroe lost to Jimmy Connors in the 1982 Wimbledon final. McEnroe had not lost a set going into the final; however, Connors won the fourth set tiebreak and the fifth set to win the championship.
In 1983, McEnroe reached his fourth consecutive Wimbledon final and swept aside the unheralded New Zealander Chris Lewis in straight-sets. He also played at the Australian Open for the first time, making it to the semifinals before being defeated in four sets by Mats Wilander.
At the 1984 French Open, McEnroe lost a close final match to Ivan Lendl. McEnroe was on the verge of beating Lendl after winning the first two sets. But fatigue and temperamental outbursts got the better of McEnroe, allowing Lendl to win a dramatic five-setter. The loss ended a 39-match winning streak and was the closest McEnroe ever came to winning the French Open.
In the 1984 Wimbledon final, McEnroe played a virtually flawless match to defeat Connors in just 80 minutes, 6–1, 6–1, 6–2. That was McEnroe's third and final Wimbledon singles title.
McEnroe won his fourth U.S. Open title in 1984 by defeating Lendl in straight sets in the final.
1984 was arguably McEnroe's best year on the tennis tour, as he compiled an 82-3 record and won a career-high 13 singles tournaments, including Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. He also was on the U.S.' winning World Team Cup and runner-up Davis Cup teams. The only male who has come close to matching McEnroe's 1984 win-loss record since then was Roger Federer in 2005. Federer was 81-3 before losing his last match of the year to David Nalbandian.
McEnroe's 1984 season did not end without controversy. While playing and winning the tournament in Stockholm, McEnroe had an on-court outburst that became notorious in sports highlight reels. After questioning a call made by the chair umpire, McEnroe demanded, "Answer my question, jerk!" McEnroe then slammed his racquet into a juice cart beside the court.
In 1985, McEnroe reached his last Grand Slam singles final at the U.S. Open. This time, he was beaten in straight sets by Lendl.

Relationship with Nike
Nike co-founder Phil Knight discovered McEnroe in 1978 and tapped him for the "Rebel With a Cause" ad campaign. Nike has updated the shoes McEnroe wore back then and recently released them as the new Air Zoom Mo GT Court.

Taking time out
By 1986, the pressures of playing at the top had become too much for McEnroe to handle and he took a six-month break from the tour. It was during this sabbatical that he married the actress Tatum O'Neal on 1 August 1986. They would eventually have 3 children: Kevin (born May 23, 1986), Sean (born September 23, 1987), and Emily (born May 10, 1991). When he returned to the tour later in the year, he won three titles. However McEnroe never seemed to be able to recapture his very best form again. In 1987, McEnroe failed to win a title for the first time since turning pro. He took a seven-month break from the game following the US Open, where he was suspended for two months and fined US$17,500 for misconduct and verbal abuse.

Association of Tennis Professionals World No. 1 ranking
According to the ranking system maintained by the Association of Tennis Professionals, McEnroe first became the top ranked singles player in March 1980. He was the top ranked player on 14 separate occasions between 1980 and 1985 and finished the year ranked World No. 1 four straight years from 1981 through 1984. He spent a total of 170 weeks at the top of the rankings.

Success in doubles
McEnroe was also ranked the World No. 1 in doubles for a record 257 weeks. He formed a powerful partnership with Peter Fleming, with whom he won 57 men's doubles titles including four at Wimbledon and three at the US Open. (Fleming was always very modest about his own contribution to the partnership—he once said "the best doubles partnership in the world is John McEnroe and anybody else.") McEnroe won a fourth US Open men's doubles title in 1989 with Mark Woodforde, and a fifth Wimbledon men's doubles title in 1992 with Michael Stich. He also won the 1977 French Open mixed doubles title with childhood pal Mary Carillo.

Representing his country
More than any other player in his era, McEnroe was responsible for reviving U.S. interest in the Davis Cup, which had been shunned by Jimmy Connors and other leading U.S. players. In 1978, McEnroe won two singles rubbers in the final as the U.S. captured the cup for the first time since 1972, beating the United Kingdom in the final. McEnroe continued to be a mainstay of U.S. Davis Cup teams for the next 14 years and was part of U.S. winning teams in 1979, 1981, 1982, and 1992. He set numerous U.S. Davis Cup records, including years played (12), ties (30), singles wins (41), and total wins in singles and doubles (59). He played both singles and doubles in 13 series, and he and Peter Fleming won 14 of 15 Davis Cup doubles matches together.
An epic performance was McEnroe's 6-hour, 22-minute victory over Mats Wilander in the deciding rubber of the 3–2 quarterfinal win over Sweden in 1982, played in St. Louis, Missouri. McEnroe won the match, at the time the longest in Davis Cup history, 9–7, 6–2, 15-17, 3–6, 8–6.
McEnroe nearly broke that record in a 6-hour, 20-minute loss to Boris Becker five years later. Becker won their match, the second rubber in a 3–2 loss to West Germany in World Group Relegation play, 4–6, 15-13, 8-10, 6–2, 6–2.
McEnroe also helped the U.S. win the World Team Cup in 1984 and 1985.

Final years on the tour
McEnroe struggled to regain his form after his 1986 sabbatical. He lost, for example, three times in Grand Slam tournaments to Ivan Lendl, losing straight-set quarterfinals at both the 1987 U.S. Open and the 1989 Australian Open and a long four-set match, played over two days, in the fourth round of the 1988 French Open.
Nevertheless McEnroe had several notable victories in the final years of his career.
In 1989, McEnroe won a record fifth title at the World Championship Tennis Finals (the championship tournament of the WCT tour, which was being staged for the last time), defeating top-ranked Lendl in the semifinals. At Wimbledon, he defeated Mats Wilander in a four-set quarterfinal before losing to Stefan Edberg in a semifinal. He won the RCA Championships in Indianapolis and reached the final of the Canadian Open, where he lost to Lendl. He also won both of his singles rubbers in the quarterfinal Davis Cup tie with Sweden.
Controversy was never far from McEnroe, however. In his fourth round match against Mikael Pernfors at the 1990 Australian Open, McEnroe was disqualified for swearing at the umpire, supervisor, and referee. He was warned by the umpire for intimidating a lineswoman and then docked a point for smashing a racket. McEnroe was apparently unaware that a new Code of Conduct, which had been introduced just before the tournament, meant that a third code violation would not lead to the deduction of a game but instead would result in immediate disqualification. So when McEnroe unleashed a volley of abuse at umpire Gerry Armstrong, he was defaulted.
Later that year, McEnroe reached the semifinals of the U.S. Open, losing to the eventual champion, Pete Sampras. He also won the Davidoff Swiss Indoors in Basel, defeating Goran Ivanišević in a five-set final. The last time McEnroe was ranked in the world top ten was on October 22, 1990, when he was ranked 9th. His end-of-year singles ranking was 13th.
In 1991, McEnroe won the last edition of the Volvo Tennis-Chicago tournament by defeating his brother Patrick in the final. He won both of his singles rubbers in the quarterfinal Davis Cup tie with Spain. And he reached the fourth round at Wimbledon (losing to Edberg) and the third round at the U.S. Open (losing to Michael Chang in a five-set night match). His end-of-year singles ranking was 28th in the world.
In 1992, McEnroe defeated third-ranked Boris Becker in the third round of the Australian Open 6–4, 6–3, 7–5 before a sell-out crowd. In the fourth round, McEnroe needed 4 hours 42 minutes to defeat ninth ranked Emilio Sanchez 8–6 in the fifth set. He lost to Wayne Ferreira in the quarterfinals. At Wimbledon, McEnroe reached the semifinals where he lost in straight sets to the eventual champion Andre Agassi. McEnroe teamed with Michael Stich to win his fifth Wimbledon men’s doubles title in a record-length 5 hour 1 minute final, which the pair won 5–7, 7–6, 3–6, 7–6, 19-17. At the end of the year, he teamed with Sampras to win the doubles rubber in the Davis Cup final, where the U.S. defeated Switzerland 3–1.
McEnroe retired from the professional tour at the end of 1992. He ended his singles career ranked 20th in the world.

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David Adams

David Adams (born January 5, 1970, in Durban, South Africa) is a former professional tennis player from South Africa. He turned pro in 1989. During his career he won 19 doubles titles and finished runner-up an additional 33 times, including at the French Open in 1992. He achieved a career-high doubles ranking of World No. 9 in 1994.
Adams participated in six Davis Cup ties for South Africa between 1997 and 2003, posting a 4–2 record, all in doubles.

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Michael Chang

Michael Te-Pei Chang ( Zhāng Dépéi; born February 22, 1972, in Hoboken, New Jersey, United States) is an American former professional tennis player. He is best remembered for becoming the youngest-ever male winner of a Grand Slam singles title when he won the French Open in 1989 at the age of 17.
Utilizing tremendous speed and strong determination, Chang was one of the best counterpunchers of all time and remained in the Top 10 in the ATP world rankings for several years in the 1990s, peaking at World No. 2. He is a Chinese American, and was popular in Asia. At that time, there were no other Asian-heritage players among tennis' higher ranks.
Chang was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2008.

Tennis career
Chang first came to the tennis world's attention as a brilliant junior player who set numerous "youngest-ever" records. He won his first national title, the USTA Junior Hard Court singles, at the age of 12. At age 13, he won the Fiesta Bowl 16s.
In 1987, aged 15, Chang won the USTA Boys 18s Hardcourts and the Boys 18s Nationals, and became the youngest player to win a main draw match at the US Open when he defeated Paul McNamee in four sets in the first round. A month later he reached the semi-finals at Scottsdale, Arizona to become the youngest player to reach the semi-final stage of a top-level professional tournament. He won his first top-level singles title in 1988 at San Francisco, aged 16 years and 7 months.
Chang's most significant youngest-ever record came in 1989 when he won the French Open at the age of 17 years and 3 months, to become the youngest male player ever to win a Grand Slam title. He defeated Stefan Edberg in a memorable five-set final, winning 6–1, 3–6, 4–6, 6–4, 6–2. His victory is equally remembered for an epic five-set encounter with Ivan Lendl in the fourth round (see below). Chang became the first American man to win the French Open since 1955. And in August 1989, Chang became the youngest player to be ranked in the world's top-five on the men's singles rankings. (Chang's success marked the start of an era in which a new generation of American players – which also included Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and Andre Agassi – would come to dominate the game.)
Chang had another famous match against Edberg in the semi-finals of the US Open in 1992. This time Edberg won in a five-set encounter 7–6, 5–7, 6–7, 7–5, 4–6. The 5-hour, 26-minute marathon match was the longest in US Open history.
Chang reached three further Grand Slam finals after his famous 1989 French Open triumph – losing the 1995 French Open final to Thomas Muster, the 1996 Australian Open final to Boris Becker, and the 1996 US Open final to Pete Sampras.
Chang was a member of the US team which won the Davis Cup in 1990, beating Australia in the final. He was also on the US team which won the World Team Cup in 1993.
Chang was introduced to tennis by his father Joe, who was his first coach. For much of his professional career, he was coached by his older brother Carl Chang, who also played in several doubles tournaments with him in the early-1990s.
Chang retired from the professional tour in 2003. During his career, he won a total of 34 top-level professional singles titles. His final top-level title was won in 2000 at Los Angeles. His total career prize-money earnings was US$19,145,632. His career-high singles ranking was World No. 2 in 1996.
Since retiring from the top-level game, Chang has joined Jim Courier's senior tour, which began on in March 10 2006 in Naples, Florida.
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1989 French Open match vs Ivan Lendl
Perhaps Chang's most famous match took place at the 1989 French Open, which was Chang's only Grand Slam singles title. In the fourth round, he faced the World No. 1 and three-time former champion Ivan Lendl. Conventional wisdom made Lendl the heavy favorite to win the match against the 15th seeded and 17-year-old Chang.
Everything seemed to be going to form when Lendl comfortably took the first two sets 6–4, 6–4 and then broke Chang's serve in the opening game of the third set. But Chang broke back immediately and went on to claim the third set 6–3. Part way through the fourth set, Chang experienced a severe attack of leg cramps. Fighting to stay in the match, Chang resorted to some novel tactics. For a period, he began taking all speed out of the match by playing "moon balls". He ate bananas and drank at every opportunity, and left the court for an extended bathroom break. Lendl, who was known to be one of the calmest players, lost his rhythm. He began to swear at the umpire and the crowd, especially after losing a key point in the fifth set when Chang shocked him by delivering an under-arm serve. Chang later explained, "I was trying to break his concentration. I would do anything to stay out there." (That underhanded serve achieved cult status among amateurs and, at least in Chang's hometown area of Southern California, it was not unheard of to see juniors emulate the swing in desperation while trying to come back from behind in a match during the 1990s.)
Barely able to stand, and screaming with pain after many of his shots, Chang continued to battle on. Despite being on the verge of physical breakdown, he fought his way to a 5–3 lead in the fifth set with two match points on Lendl's serve. Aiming to break Lendl's concentration one more time, Chang stood well inside the baseline, almost at the T-line in the centre of the court while waiting to receive Lendl's serve (normally an almost suicidal position when facing an opponent's serve). The tactic worked as Lendl produced a double-fault to give Chang the victory, 4–6, 4–6, 6–3, 6–3, 6–3 in four hours and 37 minutes. Chang sank to his knees and broke down in tears at the conclusion of the match. Seven days later, he became the youngest male champion in French Open history.

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Pete Sampras

Petros “Pete” Sampras (born 12 August 1971), is a former World No. 1 American tennis player of Greek origin. During his 15-year career, he won a record 14 Grand Slam men's singles titles in 52 appearances. Sampras finished as World No. 1 on the ATP rankings for six consecutive years, a record for the open era and tied for third all-time. Sampras won the singles title at Wimbledon seven times, a record shared with William Renshaw. He also won five singles titles at the U.S. Open, an open era record shared with Jimmy Connors. Bud Collins has named Sampras as one of the top five men's tennis players of all-time, and TENNIS Magazine has named him the greatest player from 1965 through 2005. On July 17, 2007, Sampras was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Tennis career

Early life and career
Pete Sampras was born in Washington, D.C., and is the third son of Sammy and Georgia Sampras. His mother is a Greek immigrant, and his father is Half Greek and Half Jewish. Greek culture played a big role in his upbringing, and Sampras attended Greek orthodox church on Sundays.
From an early age, Sampras showed signs of outstanding athletic ability. The young Sampras discovered a tennis racquet in the basement of his home and spent hours hitting balls against the wall. In 1978, the Sampras family moved to Palos Verdes, California, and the warmer climate there allowed seven-year-old Pete to play more tennis. From early on, his great idol was Rod Laver, and at 11 Sampras met and played with his idol. The Sampras family joined the Peninsula Racquet Club, and it was here that Sampras's talent became apparent. He was spotted by Peter Fischer, a pediatrician and tennis enthusiast, who coached Sampras until 1989. Fischer was responsible for converting Sampras's two-handed backhand to one-handed intending to increase Sampras' chances of winning Wimbledon.
Sampras turned professional in 1988, at the age of 16. He reached the fourth round of the 1989 U.S. Open, stunning defending champion Mats Wilander in a five-set second round match. His first top-level singles title came in February 1990, at Philadelphia. In September of that year, he captured his first Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open. Along the way, he defeated Ivan Lendl in a five-set quarterfinal, breaking Lendl's streak of eight consecutive U.S. Open finals. He then defeated John McEnroe in a four-set semifinal to set up a final with another up-and-coming American player, Andre Agassi. Sampras beat Agassi in straight sets to become the U.S. Open's youngest-ever male singles champion at the age of 19 years and 28 days. The rivalry between Agassi and Sampras became a dominant rivalry in tennis in the 1990s, with Sampras winning 20 of the 34 matches they played.

1990s
1991 saw Sampras capture the first of five career titles at the year-end Tennis Masters Cup. However, upon entering the U.S. Open as the defending champion that year, he caused controversy when, having lost in the quarterfinals to Jim Courier, Sampras said that he was not disappointed and felt relieved that the pressure to defend his title was no longer on him. This led to widespread criticism, which included disparaging remarks from Courier and Jimmy Connors. In 1992, he reached the quarterfinals of the French Open for the first of three consecutive times, made it to the Wimbledon semifinals, and finished runner-up at the U.S. Open to Stefan Edberg. Sampras later stated that his loss in the U.S. Open final that year was a "wake-up call" needed to figure out how to become the World No. 1. He also played on the U.S. team that won the Davis Cup, duplicating the feat in 1995.
Sampras reached the semifinals of the Australian Open in early 1993, and matched the previous year's quarterfinal performance at the French Open. In April 1993, Sampras attained the World No. 1 ranking for the first time. His rise to the No. 1 spot was controversial because he had not recently won any Grand Slam titles. But he justified the ranking three months later by claiming his first Wimbledon title, beating former World No. 1 Jim Courier in the final. This was swiftly followed by his second U.S. Open title. He finished the year as the clear No. 1 and set a new ATP Tour record that year by becoming the first player to serve more than 1,000 aces in a season.
Sampras dominated Wimbledon for the rest of the decade, and won three consecutive titles from 1993 through 1995. He lost a 1996 quarterfinal match to Richard Krajicek, who won the title that year. Sampras, however, then won four consecutive titles from 1997 through 2000 to become the most successful male player in Wimbledon history. His victory in 2000 also broke Roy Emerson's record of 12 Grand Slam men's singles titles.
Sampras won two Australian Open titles. In 1994, he defeated American Todd Martin in the final, and in 1997, he defeated Carlos Moyà of Spain in the final. One of Sampras's most memorable matches there came in 1995 when he played Courier in the quarterfinals. Sampras's longtime coach and close friend, Tim Gullikson, had mysteriously collapsed during the tournament and was forced to return to the United States. Gullickson was later diagnosed with brain cancer to which he succumbed the following year. Saddened by Gullickson's illness, Sampras began visibly weeping during the match, but somehow managed to win. Sampras then lost the final to Agassi. Paul Annacone took over as Sampras's full time coach after Gullickson's illness made it impossible for him to continue coaching.
Sampras's best surface was undoubtedly the fast-playing grass courts. He was also known for his all-round game and strong competitive instinct. He won back-to-back U.S. Open titles in 1995 and 1996. Sampras's only real weakness was on clay courts, where the slow surface tempered his natural attacking serve-and-volley game. His best performance at the French Open came in 1996, when he lost a semifinal match to the eventual winner, Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Despite his limited success at Roland Garros, Sampras did win some significant matches on clay. He won the prestigious Italian Open in 1994, defeating Boris Becker in the final, and two singles matches in the 1995 Davis Cup final against Russians Andrei Chesnokov and Kafelnikov in Moscow. Sampras also won a 1998 clay court tournament in Atlanta, defeating Jason Stoltenberg in the final.
In 1998, Sampras's number-one ranking was challenged by Chilean player Marcelo Ríos. (In 1993, 1994, 1996, and 1997, Sampras had dominated the ATP tour.) Sampras failed to defend his Australian Open title, losing in the quarterfinals, and won Wimbledon only after a hard fought five-set victory over Goran Ivanišević. Sampras lost a five-set U.S. Open semifinal to the eventual winner Patrick Rafter after suffering a leg injury in the third set while leading the match. He lost another semifinal at the Tennis Masters Cup. Nevertheless, Sampras finished the year as the top ranked player for the sixth year in a row.
1999 also started out disappointingly, as Sampras withdrew from the Australian Open and failed to win a title during the early part of the season. However, he then went on a 24-match winning streak, including the Stella Artois Championships, Wimbledon (equaling Roy Emerson's record of 12 Grand Slam singles titles), Los Angeles, and Cincinnati. That run ended when he was forced to retire from the RCA Championships and the U.S. Open because of a herniated disc in his back. Sampras's ranking was hurt through a combination of withdrawing from the Australian and U.S. Opens, tournaments in which he had strong performances during the previous year, and the resurgence of longtime rival Andre Agassi, putting an end to Sampras' six consecutive years of finishing as the World No. 1. Agassi took over the top ranking and held it for the rest of the season, but Sampras recovered and managed to beat him in the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup for the fifth and final time, enabling Sampras to place 3rd in the rankings.

2000s
Sampras reached the semifinals of the Australian Open in early 2000 (falling to the eventual champion Agassi in a five-set match), and won the Miami Masters tournament for the third time in March. He then won a record-breaking 13th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, battling through a painful shin injury in the process. After this victory, Sampras did not win another title for two years. He lost in the final of the 2000 and 2001 U.S. Open to Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt, respectively, leading many to speculate that Sampras would never capture another major title. At Wimbledon in 2001, Sampras lost to Roger Federer 7–6(7), 5–7, 6–4, 6–7(2), 7–5 in the fourth round. The upset ended Sampras's 31-match winning streak at Wimbledon. The match also marked the only time that the two men, both of whom are widely regarded as the best players of their respective generations, would ever play one another on the ATP tour. In 2002, Sampras suffered another early exit from Wimbledon, losing in the second round to 145th ranked George Bastl of Switzerland, whose best surface was red clay.
Sampras had a relatively poor summer leading up to the U.S. Open. Greg Rusedski, who Sampras had defeated in a long five-set third round match at the U.S. Open, said that Sampras was "a step and a half slower" and predicted that Sampras would lose his next match. Sampras, however, then defeated two young and upcoming stars of the game, Tommy Haas in the fourth round and Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals. He then defeated Sjeng Schalken in the semifinals to reach his third straight U.S. Open final. This time, he faced Agassi, whom he had met in his very first Grand Slam final 12 years earlier. After a four-set battle between the two veterans, Sampras claimed a record 14th Grand Slam singles title and matched Jimmy Connors's record of five U.S. Open singles championships. The tournament was the last of Sampras's career.
Although he played no tour events in the following 12 months, Sampras did not officially announce his retirement until August 2003, just prior to the U.S. Open. Sampras chose not to defend his title, but his retirement announcement was timed so that he could say farewell at a special ceremony organized for him at the open. After retirement, many regarded Sampras to be the greatest player of all time.
During his career, Sampras won 64 top-level singles titles (including 14 Grand Slams, 11 ATP Masters Series events, and five Tennis Masters Cup titles) and two doubles titles. He was ranked the World No. 1 for a record 286 weeks and was year-end No. 1 for a record six consecutive years from 1993 through 1998.

Rivalry with Agassi
Andre Agassi was perhaps Sampras's greatest rival, and the rivalry often brought out the best in both players' games.
The 1990 U.S. Open was their first meeting in a Grand Slam final. Agassi was favored, having achieved a top-three season ending ranking and had last beaten Sampras 6–1 6–1. Sampras had dispatched veterans Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe to reach the final, two opponents that Agassi was glad not to face. However, Agassi lost to Sampras in straight sets.
The Sampras-Agassi rivalry reached its height in 1995. The two players traded the number one ranking several times that year, and each player agreed to participate in the Davis Cup only if the other also played. They were concerned that if one played while the other rested during the weeks leading up to the French Open, the one who rested would have a competitive advantage heading into the year's second Grand Slam event. Both ended up playing, and the U.S. won the Davis Cup that year. Notable Sampras-Agassi matches of 1995 included the finals of the Australian Open, Indian Wells, Canadian Open, and U.S. Open, with Sampras winning at Indian Wells and the U.S. Open. The 1995 U.S. Open men's singles final between Sampras and Agassi was the highest-rated match among U.S. television audiences, as Agassi declared that it would decide the number one ranking (Agassi also had a much publicized relationship with actress Brooke Shields).
The next time Sampras and Agassi met in a Grand Slam final was at the 1999 Wimbledon, where Sampras won in straight sets. For both, it was considered a career rejuvenation, as Sampras had suffered a string of disappointments in the last year, while Agassi was regaining his status as a top-ranked player after winning the French Open. Sampras forfeited the number one ranking to Agassi, after pulling out of that year's U.S. Open with injury. They faced each other twice in the season-ending ATP World Championships, with Sampras losing the round robin match but winning the final to capture the title. They then faced off in the semi-finals of the 2000 Australian Open, with Agassi prevailing in a five-set match.
The second highest-rated match of their rivalry was the final of the 2002 U.S. Open. It was the first Sampras-Agassi meeting in a U.S. Open final since 1995. It was also notable because both had defeated several up-and-coming players enroute to the final. Several commentators described the 2002 meeting as a symbolic way to close out their rivalry which had been ignited in the 1990 U.S. Open final over a decade earlier. Sampras did not play any further competitive matches after his 2002 triumph.
However maybe the most memorable Sampras-Agassi match came in a 2001 U.S. Open quarterfinal. Sampras battled to a 6–7(7), 7–6(2), 7–6(2), 7–6(5) victory. There were no breaks of serve during the entire match. Reruns of the match are frequently featured on television, especially during U.S. Open rain delays.
The Sampras versus Agassi rivalry goes all the way back to their childhoods when they played against each other in a 1979 junior tournament in Northridge, California at ages eight and nine respectively.

Post-retirement activity
Sampras played the first exhibition match since his retirement on April 6, 2006, in Houstonm Texas against Robby Ginepri. Ginepri won the match 6–3, 7–6.
In 2006, Sampras announced he would be playing in World Team Tennis events. 2007 saw Sampras announcing that he would play in a few events on the Outback Champions Series, a group of tournaments for former ATP players who have met certain criteria during their careers. Sampras won his first two events on tour, defeating Todd Martin in both finals (one of which included Sampras's first trip to his ancestral homeland, Greece). Many observers noted that despite his lengthy layoff from competitive tournaments, Sampras still possessed many of the previous skills he had once displayed on the ATP tour, with John McEnroe going as far as to say that Sampras would be worthy of a top five seed at Wimbledon if he were to enter the tournament.
On November 20, 2007, Sampras lost the first of three exhibition matches in Asia against Roger Federer 6–4, 6–3 in Seoul, Korea. Two days later, Sampras again lost to Federer 7–6, 7–6. However, Sampras won the last match of the series 7–6(6), 6–4, though his stated goal was to just win a set
On February 18, 2008, in an exhibition match during the SAP Open, Sampras defeated another active player, former World No. 2 Tommy Haas, 6–4, 6–2 in 43 minutes.
On March 10, 2008, Sampras played an exhibition match against World No. 1 Federer at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Sampras lost the match 6–3, 6–7(4), 7–6(6).
Sampras is expected to play two events on the BlackRock Tour of Champions in 2008, including the BlackRock Masters in London in December 2008.

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José Acasuso

José Javier "Chucho" Acasuso (born October 20, 1982 in Posadas, Misiones, Argentina) is a professional male tennis player from Argentina. Like many of his fellow countrymen, he favours clay. He is known for his strong serve and his hard groundstrokes off both sides. His clothes sponsor is Topper and his racquet sponsor is Head.

Career
Acasuso began playing tennis at the age of two, when his father took his brother and sister to his grandfather's tennis club. Reportedly, he got the nickname of "Chucho" from the fact that, when he was a child, he used to say his name was "José Acachucho." Acasuso played both basketball and tennis up until the age of 12, and then gave up basketball for tennis. Like Carlos Moya, Acasuso is a natural left-hander, but plays tennis right-handed.
Acasuso turned professional in 2000, playing futures and challenger events. In 2001 he made an immediate impact in his first ATP tournament in Buenos Aires, where defeated former top-10 player Félix Mantilla in the last round of the qualifying to make the main draw, and then defeated compatriots Franco Squillari in the quarter finals and Gastón Gaudio in the semi finals. However, he lost to then-number-1 player Gustavo Kuerten, 6–1, 6–3. Later in the year, he won his first challenger event in Bermuda and finished the year ranked at 86 in the world an improvement of 89 places from the previous year.
In 2002, he was on the Argentine team that won the World Team Cup in Dusseldorf. He won his first ATP title in Sopot, defeating Franco Squillari 2–6, 6–1, 6–3. He was also a finalist in Bucharest, losing to David Ferrer, and in Palermo to the Chilean Fernando González. He ended the year ranked 41st in the world.
After the previous two successful years, Acasuso's results began to decline and he ended up spending more time out due to injuries. He did not win a title in 2003. In 2004 however, he reached the final of Sopot again, this time losing to Rafael Nadal. Acasuso then went on to win his second career title in Bucharest by thrashing Russian Igor Andreev, 6–3, 6–0.
Acasuso reached the fourth round of the 2005 French Open, his best ever result in any of the Grand Slam events. He defeated number-2-seeded Andy Roddick in five sets, coming back from 2 sets to love down and a break of serve to win 3–6, 4–6, 6–4, 6–3, 8–6. He then lost to fellow Argentine Mariano Puerta for the second time in the year. He also improved his results away from his favoured clay surface by making the quarter finals on hard courts in Cincinnati and on carpet in Basel.
In 2006, Acasuso won his third ATP title in Viña del Mar over Nicolás Massú and also made his debut for Argentina in the Davis Cup against Sweden in the singles. He then played against Croatia in the doubles with David Nalbandian. They won their match and the tie to play against Australia in the semi-finals.
After reaching his first Tennis Masters Series semi final in Hamburg, where Acasuso defeated Simon Greul, Ivan Ljubičić, Sébastien Grosjean, and Fernando Verdasco, before losing to Radek Štěpánek in straight sets, he was ranked inside the top 30 for the first time in his career. Acasuso lost in the final of Stuttgart to David Ferrer 6–4, 3–6, 6–7, 7–5, 6–4 after having a 5–1 lead in the fourth set and served for the match twice.
In the 2006 Davis Cup tie between Argentina and Australia, Acasuso ended the run of 11 consecutive wins that Lleyton Hewitt was on of winning in 5 set matches, when he defeated him 1–6, 6–4, 4–6, 6–2, 6–1 in a match that was completed over two days. Of the win Acasuso said "I've beaten higher-ranked players in the past but to win at home in a Davis Cup semi-final with 14,000 people watching me here makes it one of the most important wins of my career". [1]
Acasuso, together with Sebastián Prieto, has won three doubles titles: in 2005 in Stuttgart and Bucharest, and in 2006 in Viña del Mar. Prior to that Acasuso won a doubles title partnering Flavio Saretta at Umag in 2004.
He is coached by Argentine Daniel Orsanic.

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Andre Agassi

Andre Kirk Agassi (born April 29, 1970) is a former World No. 1 professional American tennis player who won eight Grand Slam singles tournaments and an Olympic gold medal in singles. He is one of five male players to have won all four Grand Slam singles events. He has won the Tennis Masters Cup, been part of a winning Davis Cup team, and has won an Olympic gold medal. He won 17 ATP Masters Series tournaments, more than any other player. TENNIS Magazine has named him the 7th greatest male player from 1965 through 2005.
Because of sciatica caused by two bulging discs in his back, a spondylolisthesis (vertebral displacement), and a bone spur that interferes with the nerve, Agassi retired from professional tennis on September 3, 2006, after losing in the third round of the U.S. Open. Agassi is married to Steffi Graf and has two children. He is the founder of the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation, which has raised over $60 million for at-risk children in Southern Nevada. In 2001, the Foundation opened the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy in Las Vegas, a K-12 public charter school for at-risk children.

1986-1993: Image is everything
Agassi turned professional in 1986 and won his first top-level singles title in 1987 at Itaparica. He ended the year ranked #25. He won six further tournaments in 1988, and, by December of that year, he had surpassed U.S. $2 million in career prize money after playing in just 43 tournaments – the fastest anyone in history had reached that level. His year-end ranking was #3, behind Ivan Lendl at #2 and Mats Wilander at #1.
As a young up-and-coming player, Agassi embraced a rebel image. He grew his hair to rocker length, sported an earring, and wore colorful shirts that pushed tennis' still-strict sartorial boundaries. He boasted of a cheeseburger diet and endorsed the Canon "Rebel" camera. "Image is everything" was the ad's line, and it became Agassi's as well.
In addition to not playing the Australian Open (which would later become his best Grand Slam event) for the first eight years of his career, Agassi chose not to play at Wimbledon from 1988 through 1990 and publicly stated that he did not wish to play there because of the event's traditionalism, particularly its "predominantly white" dress code to which players at the event are required to conform. Many observers at the time speculated that Agassi's real motivation was that his strong baseline game would not be well suited to Wimbledon's grass court surface.
Strong performances on the tour meant that Agassi was quickly tipped as a future Grand Slam champion. While still a teenager, he reached the semifinals of both the French Open and the U.S. Open in 1988, and the U.S. Open again in 1989. He began the 1990s, however, with a series of near-misses. He reached his first Grand Slam final in 1990 at the French Open, where he lost in four sets to Andrés Gómez. His second Grand Slam final was against Pete Sampras at the U.S. Open. The last time Agassi had played Sampras, he won 6–1, 6–1. After that match, he told his coach that he felt bad for Sampras because he was never going to make it. Looking at the draw, Agassi was happy that he did not have to face Lendl or McEnroe in the final, and he planned to make Sampras hit more balls than he could handle. Despite being the favorite in the match, he lost to Sampras 6–4, 6–3, 6–2. The rivalry between these two American players became the dominant rivalry in tennis over the rest of the decade. Also in 1990, Agassi helped the United States win its first Davis Cup in 8 years.
In 1991, Agassi reached his second consecutive French Open final, where he faced fellow Bollettieri Academy alumnus Jim Courier. Courier emerged the victor in a five set final. Agassi decided to play at Wimbledon in 1991, leading to weeks of speculation in the media about the clothes he would wear. He eventually emerged for the first round in a completely white outfit. He went on to reach the quarterfinals on that occasion.
To the surprise of many, Agassi's Grand Slam breakthrough came at Wimbledon, not at the French Open or the U.S. Open where he had enjoyed so much success. In 1992, he defeated Goran Ivanišević in a five set final. Along the way, Agassi dispatched two former Wimbledon champions in Boris Becker and John McEnroe. No other baseliner would triumph at Wimbledon until Lleyton Hewitt ten years later, on slower, higher bouncing grass better suited for baseline play. Agassi was named the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year in 1992.
Agassi once again was a key player on the United States' Davis Cup winning team in 1992. It was their second Davis cup title in three years.
1993 saw Agassi win the only doubles title of his career, at the Cincinnati Masters, partnered with Petr Korda. Agassi missed much of the early part of this year with injury troubles and struggled at the major events. After a first-round exit at the U.S. Open, he had wrist surgery late in the year.

1994-1997: Rivalry and injury
Agassi started slowly in 1994, losing in the first week at the French Open and Wimbledon. Nevertheless, Agassi emerged during the hard court season, winning the Canada Masters event. His comeback culminated in his becoming the first man to capture the U.S. Open as an unseeded player, beating Michael Stich in the final. Agassi's run included a 5 set fourth-round victory against compatriot Michael Chang.
In 1995, Agassi shaved his balding head, breaking with his old "image is everything" style. Agassi attended the Australian Open for the first time and won it in his first attempt, beating Sampras in a four set final. Agassi and Sampras met in five tournament finals in 1995, all on hardcourt, with Agassi winning three of the five. Agassi won three Masters Series events in 1995 - the Cincinnati Masters, the Miami Masters, and the Canada Masters, and seven titles total. Agassi compiled a career-best 26-match winning streak during the summer hardcourt circuit, which ended when he lost in a hugely anticipated U.S. Open final to Sampras.
Agassi reached the World No. 1 ranking for the first time in April 1995. He held the No. 1 ranking until November, for a total of 30 weeks. In terms of win/loss record, 1995 was Agassi's best year. He won 72 matches and lost only 10. This was a higher winning percentage than Sampras’ best season, 1994, in which he won 77 matches and lost 12. Agassi was also once again a key player on the United States Davis Cup winning team - the third and final Davis Cup title of Agassi's career.
1996 was a less successful year for Agassi, as he failed to reach any Grand Slam finals. He suffered two surprise early round losses at the hands of compatriots Chris Woodruff and Doug Flach at the French Open and Wimbledon respectively. The clear high point for Agassi was winning the men's singles gold medal at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, beating Sergi Bruguera of Spain in the final 6–2, 6–3, 6–1. Agassi also successfully defended his singles titles at the Cincinnati Masters and the Miami Masters.
1997 was the low point of Agassi's career. His wrist injury resurfaced, and he played only 24 matches on the year. He won no top-level titles and his ranking sank to World No. 141 in November. Agassi was also subject to intense publicity surrounding his high-profile and turbulent marriage to actress Brooke Shields (a marriage that ended in divorce).

1998-2005: Elder statesman of the game
In 1998, Agassi rededicated himself to tennis. He began a rigorous conditioning program and worked his way back up the rankings by playing in Challenger Series tournaments (a circuit for professional players ranked outside the world's top 50). Perhaps most remarkably, the one-time rebel emerged as a gracious and thoughtful athlete, admired by younger players. After winning matches, he bowed and blew two-handed kisses to spectators on each side of the court, a gesture seen as a rather humble acknowledgement of their support for him and for tennis. He played some classic matches in this period, most notably against his old rival Pete Sampras and popular Australian Patrick Rafter.
In 1998, Agassi won five titles and leapt from World No. 141 at the start of the year to World No. 6 at the end of it, making it the highest jump into the top 10 made by any player during a single calendar year. He won five titles in ten finals and was runner-up at the Miami Masters, losing to Marcelo Ríos, who became World No. 1 as a result of winning that tournament.
Agassi entered the history books in 1999 when he came back from two sets to love down to beat Andrei Medvedev in a five-set French Open final, thereby becoming only the fifth male player (joining Rod Laver, Fred Perry, Roy Emerson, and Don Budge) to have won all four Grand Slam singles titles during his career. He is however, the only male player in history to have won all four Grand Slam titles on three different surfaces (clay, grass and hard courts), a tribute to his adaptability, as the other four men won their Grand Slam titles on clay and grass courts. Agassi also became the first male tennis player to win the Career Golden Slam.
He followed his 1999 French Open victory by reaching the Wimbledon final, where he lost to Sampras 6–3, 6–4, 7–5. He rebounded from his Wimbledon defeat by winning the U.S. Open, beating Todd Martin in five sets (rallying from a 2 sets to 1 deficit) in the final. Agassi ended 1999 as the World No. 1, ending Sampras's record of six consecutive year-ending top rankings (1993–1998). This was the only time Agassi ended the year at number one.
Agassi began 2000 by capturing his second Australian Open title, beating Sampras in a five-set semifinal and Yevgeny Kafelnikov in a four-set final. He was the first male player to have reached four consecutive Grand Slam finals since Rod Laver achieved the Grand Slam in 1969. At the time, Agassi was also only the third player since Laver to be the reigning champion of three of four Grand Slam events, missing only the Wimbledon title.
2000 also saw Agassi reach the semifinals at Wimbledon, where he lost in five sets to Rafter in a match considered by many to be one of the best ever played at Wimbledon. At the inaugural Tennis Masters Cup in Lisbon, Agassi reached the final after defeating Marat Safin 6–3, 6–3 in the semifinals to end the Russian's hopes to become the youngest World No. 1 in the history of tennis. Agassi eventually lost to Gustavo Kuerten 6–4, 6–4, 6–4. This loss allowed Kuerten to be crowned year-end World No. 1. Agassi finished 2000 ranked World No. 6, becoming the only male tennis player to have been ranked in the Top 10 in three different decades (1980’s - finishing No. 3 & 7 in 1988 and 1989; 1990’s - No. 4 in 1990, No. 10 in 1991, No. 9 in 1992, No. 2 in 1994 & 1995, No. 8 in 1996, No. 6 in 1998, and No. 1 in 1999; 2000’s - No. 6 in 2000, No. 3 in 2001, No. 2 in 2002, No. 4 in 2003, No. 8 in 2004, and No.7 in 2005).
Agassi opened 2001 by successfully defending his Australian Open title with a straight-sets final win over Arnaud Clément. Enroute, he beat a cramping Rafter (7–5, 2–6, 6–7, 6–2, 6–3) in front of a sell out crowd in what turned out to be the Aussie's last Australian Open. At Wimbledon, they met again in the semifinals, where Agassi lost another close match to Rafter, 8–6 in the fifth set. At the U.S. Open, Agassi lost in the quarterfinals to Sampras 6–7, 7–6, 7–6, 7–6, with no breaks of serve during the entire match.
2002 opened with disappointment for Agassi, as injury forced him to skip the Australian Open, where he was a two-time defending champion. The last duel between Agassi and Sampras came in the final of the U.S. Open. The battle saw Sampras emerge victorious in four sets and left Sampras with a 20–14 edge in their 34 career meetings. The match proved to be the last of Sampras's career. Agassi's U.S. Open finish, along with his victories at the Miami Masters, Rome Masters, and Madrid Masters, helped him finish 2002 as the oldest year-end No. 2 at 32 years and 8 months.
In 2003, Agassi won the eighth (and final) Grand Slam title of his career at the Australian Open, where he beat Rainer Schüttler in straight sets in the final. In March, he won his sixth career and third consecutive Miami Masters, in the process surpassing wife Steffi Graf who was a 5-time winner of the event. The final was his 18th straight win in that tournament, which broke the previous record of 17 set by Sampras from 1993–1995. (Agassi's winning streak continued to 20 after winning his first two matches at the 2004 Miami Masters before bowing to Agustin Calleri.) With the victory, Agassi became the youngest (19 years old) and oldest (32) winner of the Miami Masters. In May, he recaptured the World No. 1 ranking after a quarterfinal victory over Xavier Malisse at the Queen's Club Championships to become the oldest top ranked male player since the ATP rankings began at 33 years and 13 days. He held the No. 1 ranking on that occasion for 14 weeks. Agassi's ranking slipped when injuries forced him to withdraw from many events. He did manage to reach the U.S. Open semifinals, where he lost to Juan Carlos Ferrero and surrendered his World No. 1 ranking to Ferrero. At the year-end Tennis Masters Cup, Agassi lost in the final to Federer and finished the year ranked World No. 4.
In 2004, the 34-year-old Agassi won the Cincinnati Masters to bring his career total to 59 top-level singles titles and a record 17 ATP Masters Series titles, having already won seven of the nine ATP Masters tournament -- all except Monte Carlo and Hamburg. He became the second-oldest singles champion in Cincinnati tournament history (the tournament began in 1899), surpassed only by Ken Rosewall who won the title in 1970 at age 35.
Agassi's 2005 began with a quarterfinal loss to Federer at the Australian Open. Agassi had several other deep runs at tournaments, but had to withdraw from several events due to injury. He won his fourth title in Los Angeles and reached the finals of the Rogers Cup before falling to World No. 2 Rafael Nadal.
Still, Agassi's 2005 was defined by an improbable run to the U.S. Open final. After beating Razvan Sabau and Ivo Karlovic in straight sets and Tomas Berdych in four sets, Agassi won three consecutive five set matches to advance to the final. The most notable of these matches was his quarterfinal victory over James Blake, where he rallied from two sets down to win 3–6, 3–6, 6–3, 6–3, 7–6(6). His other five-set victims were Xavier Malisse in the fourth round and Robby Ginepri in the semifinals. In the final, Agassi faced Federer, who was seeking his second consecutive U.S. Open title and his fifth Grand Slam title in two years. Federer defeated Agassi in four sets, although Agassi gave him a scare when Agassi was up a break in the third set after splitting the first two sets.
Before the 2005 Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, Agassi rolled his ankle in a racquetball accident and tore several ligaments. He was unable to walk for weeks. He nevertheless committed to the tournament, in which he was seeded third, and played Nikolay Davydenko in his first round robin match. Agassi's movement was noticeably hindered, particularly on his backhand return of serve, and he lost in straight sets. He then withdrew from the tournament, to the criticism of the tournament director who had already dealt with several other withdrawals.
Agassi finished 2005 ranked No. 7, his 16th time in the year-end top 10 rankings, which tied Connors for the most times ranked in the top 10 at year's end. In 2005, Agassi left Nike after 17 years and signed an endorsement deal with Adidas.

2006: The end of an era
Agassi had a poor start to 2006. He was still recovering from an ankle injury and also suffering from back and leg pain and lack of match play. Agassi withdrew from the Australian Open because of the ankle injury, and his back injury and other pains forced him to withdraw from several other events, eventually skipping the entire clay court season, including the French Open. This caused his ranking to drop out of the top 10 for the last time.
Agassi returned for the grass court season, playing a tune-up and then Wimbledon. At Wimbledon, Agassi announced his plans to retire following the U.S. Open. He was defeated in the third round by world #2 (and eventual finalist) Rafael Nadal, 7–6(5), 6–2, 6–4. Against conventions, Agassi, the losing player, was interviewed on court after the match.
Agassi played only two events during the summer hardcourt season, with his best result being a quarterfinal loss in the Countrywide Classic in Los Angeles to Fernando González of Chile 6–4, 3–6, 7–5. As a result, he was unseeded at the U.S. Open.
Agassi had a short but dramatic run in his final U.S. Open. Due to extreme back pain, Agassi was forced to receive anti-inflammatory injections after every match. After a tough four-set win against Andrei Pavel, Agassi faced #8 seed Marcos Baghdatis, who had earlier in 2006 advanced to the Australian Open finals and Wimbledon semifinals, in the second round. Agassi, nevertheless, won 6–4, 6–4, 3–6, 5–7, 7–5 as the younger Baghdatis succumbed to muscle cramping in the final set.
In his last match, Agassi was in obvious pain on court and fell to 112th ranked big-serving Benjamin Becker of Germany in four sets. Agassi received an 8 minute standing ovation from the crowd after the match and delivered a memorable retirement speech.
Agassi earned more than US$30 million in prize-money throughout his career, third only to Sampras and Federer. In addition, Agassi earned over US$25 million a year through endorsements, the most by any tennis player, during his career and fourth in all sports at the time.

Retirement
Since retiring after the 2006 U.S. Open, Agassi has participated in a series of charity tournaments and continues his work with his own charity. On September 5, 2007, Agassi was a surprise guest commentator for the Andy Roddick/Roger Federer 2007 U.S. Open quarterfinal.

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