Which tennis champion was nicknamed "The Punisher"?

Andre Agassi (born 1970), who reached Number One in the world rankings in men's tennis, was nicknamed "The Punisher". This was due to his style of play, in which he often wore his opponents down by making them run all round the court.

Agassi was born in Las Vegas, and has Assyrian, Armenian, and Iranian blood, but has only ever represented the United States. His father was a champion boxer. The young Andre's skill was recognised early, and he dropped out of school in the 9th grade, to concentrate entirely on tennis.

During his career, he won all the grand slams, although he also courted controversy. For several years he refused to play at Wimbledon, as he was irked by the strict dress code. He also won a gold medal at the 2006 Olympic Games.

His career was ended by health issues in 2006, as he suffered from the painful complaint of sciatica.

His personal life has been colourful. He was romantically linked to the far older Barbra Streisand, and was briefly married to Brooke Shields, but since 2001, when they wed in a private and low-key ceremony, he has been married to fellow tennis champion Steffi Graf.

He is also politically active, and has made donations to the Democratic Party.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

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4 Comments

Ben

Sciatica refers to pain, numbness, or tingling in the leg.

✨KRISTA✨

fdeisner, That "long hair" was a hair piece held on by the head band! During some of his top events he has later said, the only thing he could think about was his hair piece falling off!

fdeisner

In the early to Mid 1970s there was a warm-up competition two weeks prior to the US Open out on Suffolk Long Island. My girlfriend and I went to see a match that had a very young Andre Agassi play against Yvonne Lindell who I think at that time was ranked number one, if not in the top three. Agassi was a skinny young kid with his long hair and his headband. He threw his whole body into almost every shot and how good he was at tracking down balls. I knew at that point he was going to be a top ranked player, although I didn't know that he would be as good as he was. Lindell won the match but it was close.