No Place Like Miami for Andre Agassi

Agassi, second from left, sits courtside at the 2024 Miami Open.

Ethan Silipo, Contributor

Every great tennis player has a favorite tournament. For Rafael Nadal, nothing compares to the orange clay at Roland Garros, where he lifted the trophy 14 times in his career. For Roger Federer, the elegance of Wimbledon became synonymous with the gracefulness of his game. For eight-time major champion Andre Agassi, the numbers say his favorite event was the Miami Open.  

His six titles in South Florida are tied with Novak Djokovic for the most by an ATP player in tournament history. That success represents only a small piece of Agassi's illustrious career, one that made him not only one of tennis' greatest champions, but one of its most influential ambassadors.  

Agassi's Floridian tennis roots were planted at a young age, making it no surprise that he later found success in the Sunshine State. After spending his childhood following his father's strict training regimen at their home in Las Vegas, Nevada, Agassi was sent to the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida, at age 13.  

Agassi's initial attitude toward the sport was far from an eager novice. He notably loathed the expectations places on him in those early years of training. Nonetheless, his talent was obvious, and he joined the professional tour at age 16 in 1986. His first Miami Open title came just four years later. 

Defeating Stefan Edberg in what was, at the time, a best-of-five-set tournament dubbed the Lipton Championship, Agassi's triumph at the 1990 Miami Open marked his first career ATP 1000 title. After the victory, Agassi told the press that he was "a lot stronger, fitter, and tougher mentally," after previously receiving criticism for his eccentric outfits, long hair, and occasionally reckless behavior as a youth.  

Two years later, he backed that sentiment by securing his first career Grand Slam at Wimbledon.  

His second Grand Slam title came at the 1994 US Open. He followed up with a victory at the 1995 Australian Open catapulting to world No. 1 for the first time in his career.  

Agassi carried that momentum into March, claiming his second Miami Open title just a few months after the Australian Open. For Andre and his father, Mike Agassi, that 1995 Miami Open title was especially satisfying.   

Two weeks earlier, at Indian Wells, Agassi lost to Pete Sampras in the final, with Agassi later admitting he was distracted by his father's recent open-heart surgery. After the loss, Andre visited his father in the hospital, where Mike critically faulted him for not targeting Sampras' backhand. Andre promised his father he would beat Sampras using his advice the next time they met.  

As fate would have it, Agassi met Sampras in the Miami Open final shortly after. By taking his father's coaching advice, Agassi was able to pull off a revenge-filled victory against his rival.  

He successfully defended that Miami Open title the following year in 1996.   

Agassi didn't claim his third Miami Open championship until five years later in 2001, which marked the beginning of a dominant Miami Open three-peat that cemented his status as one of the tournament's greatest victors. 

A few months after his 2001 title, Agassi married Steffi Graf, a fellow tennis player and five-time Miami Open champion. Graf's Miami Open titles are second only to Serena Williams' eight. 

Graf won 22 Grand Slams in her career to Agassi's eight, but he famously joked after winning his fifth Miami Open title that he was "moving up in the household" when he matched his wife's tally. This month, they celebrate their 25-year wedding anniversary.  

In 2006, Agassi tearfully retired from the sport to the tune of a standing ovation on Arthur Ashe Stadium. He was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 2011, two years after he released his autobiography, Open.
Ssince retiring, Agassi has remained closely connected to tennis, recently taking on broadcast and commentary roles at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. He also mentors and coaches players, serving as captain of Team World at the Davis Cup since 2025, working with athletes like Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe and Alex de Minaur.  

He's even dabbled in pickleball, where his racquet skills are unsurprisingly brilliant. In 2024, he partnered with paddle manufacturer Joola, releasing a signature Agassi paddle. He's invested heavily in the up-and-coming sport and was even appointed as the inaugural chair of the Life Time Pickleball and Tennis Board.   

But ultimately, tennis will forever be recognized as the sport that made Agassi immortal, especially his accomplishments in Miami.   

His six Miami Open titles remain a tournament record and a mark of a career that helped shape the tournament's history – a statistic that may stand unbroken for years to come. Few have left a bigger imprint on Miami, and even fewer deserve their place at the top more than Agassi.