Five Facts About Andre Agassi’s Remarkable Career For His 50th Birthday - UBITENNIS
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Five Facts About Andre Agassi’s Remarkable Career For His 50th Birthday

Ubitennis looks back on the record-breaking career of one of America’s most successful tennis players of all time.

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On Wednesday April 29th Andre Agassi will be celebrating a brand new milestone in his life.

The former American tennis star turns 50 today and to celebrate Ubitennis has constructed five interesting facts about Agassi’s standout career. Between 1987-2005 he won 60 titles on the ATP Tour with 48 of those occurring on a hard court. On top of that he also made 61 appearances in grand slam main draws, which was nine more than former rival Pete Sampras.

Here are five things you should know about Agassi’s life as a tennis player.

1. His historic 1994 US Open win

At the age of 24, Agassi re-wrote the record books at the 1994 US Open when he lifted his maiden grand slam title. He became the first player in the tournament’s history to defeat five seeded players in a row. Scoring wins over Wayne Ferreira (12), Michael Chang (6), Thomas Muster (13), Todd Martin (9) and Michael Stich (4). Against those five players he lost only three sets. Two against Chang in the fourth round and one against Martin in the semi-finals.

At the same tournament Agassi became the first unseeded player in the Open Era to lift the men’s title and the first since Fred Stolle back in 1966. Since then, the US Open men’s title has always been won by a seeded player.

2. Record against top 10 opposition

Agassi achieved a total of 109 wins over top 10 players throughout his career against 90 losses. Working out as a winning percentage of 55%. Out of the 109, 10 of his victories were against somebody ranked No.1 at the time. Incredibly, there is a 19-year gap between his first top-10 scalp and last. His first was against Pat Cash (No.7) in 1987 and the last was against Marcos Baghdatis (No.8) in 2006.

List of wins over No.1 players
1990 – Defeats Pat Rafter at the ATP World Tour Championships
1992 – Defeats Stefan Edberg in the Davis Cup
1994 – Defeats Pete Sampras in Paris, France
1995 – Defeats Sampras at the Australian Open. Later that same year he also got the better of his compatriot at the Miami Masters
1998 – Three years later he scores two more victories over No.1 Sampras in San Jose and Toronto
2000 – Upsets Marat Safin at the Tennis Masters Cup
2001 – Defeats Gustavo Kuerten in Los Angeles
2002 – Last victory over a No.1 player was at his home grand slam in Flushing Meadows when he stunned Lleyton Hewitt

3. His time at the top

50-year-old Agassi spent a total of 101 weeks as world No.1 between 1995 and 2003. Overall, he enjoyed six different stints at the top with his longest reign being 52 consecutive weeks between 1999-2000.

Agassi has the ninth-longest No.1 reign in ATP rankings history. He is one out of five American men to have held the top spot for more than 100 weeks.

Periods as world No.1

First April 10, 1995 November 5, 1995 30 weeks
Second January 29, 1996 February 11, 1996 2 weeks
Third July 5, 1999 July 25, 1999 3 weeks
Fourth September 13, 1999 September 10, 2000 52 weeks
Fifth April 28, 2003 May 11, 2003 2 weeks
Sixth June 16, 2003 September 7, 2003 12 weeks

4. The record he shares with Nadal

In 1996 the American stuck gold on home soil when he lifted the men’s title at the Atlanta Olympic Games. As the top seed in the tournament, he dropped only six games against Spain’s Sergi Bruguera in the final, which was the best-of-five sets. It was at the same tournament where he defeated Italy’s Andrea Gaudenzi in the third round. Gaudenzi is now the chairman of the ATP Tour.

The victory made Agassi the first man in history to have won all four grand slam titles and a singles Olympic gold medal in their career. An achievement that has only ever been replicated by Rafael Nadal. The current world No.2 achieved the milestone when he clinched his maiden US Open trophy back in 2013.

5. A prize money great

Despite retiring almost 14 years ago, Agassi remains one of the highest earning tennis players of all-time. He made a total of $31,152,975 in prize money during his career in what is the eighth highest amount in the history of men’s tennis. Five out of the seven ranked above him are still playing on the professional circuit. The two exceptions being David Ferrer and Pete Sampras.

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Indian Wells Daily Preview: The Championship Matches in Men’s and Women’s Singles

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Iga Swiatek during Friday’s semifinals (twitter.com/BNPPARIBASOPEN)

It’s championship Sunday in tennis paradise, featuring rematches from recent finals in the desert.

In the women’s singles championship match, it’s a rematch from the 2022 final, as World No.1 Iga Swiatek faces a rejuvenated Maria Sakkari.  And the men’s singles championship match is a rematch from just a year ago, as Carlos Alcaraz takes on Daniil Medvedev.  Will Iga and Carlitos become multi-time champions of this event, or will Maria and Daniil win their first Indian Wells titles?


Iga Swiatek (1) vs. Maria Sakkari (9) – 11:00am on Stadium 1

This is yet another tournament during which Swiatek has gone completely unchallenged.  She has not dropped a set, and lost only 17 games through nine completed sets.  Iga is 7-2 in WTA 1000 finals, and an excellent 18-4 in tour finals overall.

By contrast, four out of Sakkari’s five matches this fortnight have gone three sets, including the last two against top Americans Coco Gauff and Emma Navarro.  Friday’s night’s semifinal against Gauff was a dramatic, extended affair, which went late into the evening due to a long rain delay in the desert.  Playing such a draining contest, and then coming back just 36 hours later to play at 11:00am in the morning, with be an extremely challenging turnaround for Maria.

After a subpar 2023 season, Sakkari is back to playing her best tennis, in the first tournament of the working relationship with her new coach, David Witt.  She is 1-2 in WTA 1000 finals, though she just won her first title at this level six months ago in Guadalajara.  But Maria is a meek 2-7 in tour finals, and as per Tennis Abstract, is just 3-7 against top 10 opposition within the last year.

Sakkari claimed their first two meetings, back in 2021 before Swiatek rose to the top of the sport.  The last three have all gone to Iga, with the most recent being the 2022 final at this same event.  All five of their matches have been straight-setters.  So while this is Maria’s favorite event, and her new coach has helped restore her confidence, Iga remains a clear favorite to win her second title in Indian Wells.


Daniil Medvedev (4) vs. Carlos Alcaraz (2)  – Not Before 2:00pm on Stadium 1

Despite playing in a location where “it never rains,” both the men’s and women’s semifinals suffered from severe rain delays, leading to the men’s semis finishing much later on Saturday than expected.  And both went three sets, so neither Alcaraz nor Medvedev will be fully fresh on Sunday.  Carlitos came back from a set down to hand Jannik Sinner his first defeat of the year, while Daniil came from a set down to oust American Tommy Paul.

In the championship here a year ago, Alcaraz comfortably prevailed against a depleted Medvedev, who had won 19 matches in the month leading up to that final.  They would go on to play three more times in 2023, with Carlitos taking three of four.  However, Daniil was able to overcome the Spaniard in the US Open semifinals, winning 6-3 in the fourth.  Overall Alcaraz is 3-2 against Medvedev.

Carlitos has not been the same player since losing the near four-hour final last summer in Cincinnati to Novak Djokovic.  But his victory over Sinner on Saturday felt significant, and it brought him to his first final since that one in Cincinnati. 

Alcaraz is 12-4 in ATP finals, and 4-1 at this level.  Medvedev is 20-17 in ATP finals, and 6-3 in Masters finals.  Hard courts easily remain Daniil’s strongest surface, though he made it painfully clear here a year ago that the slower-playing courts in Indian Wells are not to his liking.  And coming off an inspiring effort to defeat Sinner, the ATP’s best player of the last six months, Carlitos should be favored to become the first man to defend this title since Djokovic in 2016.


Sunday’s full Order of Play is here.

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Indian Wells Daily Preview: Alcaraz and Sinner Reignite an Electrifying Rivalry in the Semifinals

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Jannik Sinner during Thursday’s quarterfinals (twitter.com/BNPPARIBASOPEN)

The men’s singles semifinals will be played on Saturday, as will the women’s doubles championship match.

18 months ago at the US Open, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner contested one of the best matches in recent memory.  After five hours and 15 minutes of scintillating rallies, Alcaraz would prevail 6-3 in the fifth, and go on to claim his first Major a few days later.  On Saturday, they meet for the eighth time at tour level, in the most anticipated semifinal of the fortnight.

The other men’s singles semifinal sees last year’s runner-up, Daniil Medvedev, take on the No.2-ranked American, Tommy Paul.

Plus, the women’s doubles final features two of the top three seeds.  At 11:00am local time, it will be Su-Wei Hsieh and Elise Mertens (1) vs. Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova (3).  At January’s Australian Open, Su-Wei and Mertens defeated Hunter and Siniakova in the semifinals, before going on to win the title.


Jannik Sinner (3) vs. Carlos Alcaraz (2) – Not Before 1:30pm on Stadium 1

Sinner leads their head-to-head 4-3, and 3-2 on hard courts.  They’ve met three times since the aforementioned 2022 US Open epic, including in the same round of this same event a year ago, when Alcaraz prevailed in straight sets.  Two weeks later in the semis of Miami, Jannik claimed a three-hour three-setter.  And six months ago in Beijing, the Italian won in straights.

These two phenomenal players have achieved contrasting results across the past six months.  Sinner is now 36-2 since last summer’s US Open, with four singles titles.  He also propelled Italy to the Davis Cup title.  Jannik has beaten Novak Djokovic three times during this span, and also achieved his first Major championship.  However, within that same time, Alcaraz has reached no tournament finals, and is 0-4 in his last four semifinals.

Jannik is an undefeated 16-0 in 2024, and has not dropped a set in Indian Wells.  Carlitos is 10-3 this season, and has taken eight consecutive sets after losing the first set he played here last week.  Based on recent form, Sinner is a considerable favorite to advance to his first championship match in the desert.  And in doing so, he would take the No.2 ranking away from Alcaraz, reaching a new career-high.


Tommy Paul (17) vs. Daniil Medvedev (4) – Last on Stadium 1

Medvedev is 13-2 on the year, and has now appeared in the semifinals in all three tournaments he’s played this season.  He dropped one set earlier in the event, to Sebastian Korda.  Daniil is vying for his second consecutive final in Indian Wells, and his first Masters 1000 final since surprisingly winning a clay court title almost a year ago in Rome.

This is a second semifinal at this level for Paul, after first achieving this feat last summer in Canada, where he upset Alcaraz in the quarterfinals.  The 26-year-old American had a poor ending to his 2023 season, going 6-8, but is now 14-4 in 2024 after reaching back-to-back finals last month in Dallas and Delray Beach.  Like Daniil, Tommy has lost just one set this fortnight, in the quarterfinals to Casper Ruud.

Paul is extremely quick around the court, and likes to use his forehand to end points.  Yet he has an 0-2 record against Medvedev, which includes a 6-2, 6-1 loss six months ago in Beijing.  While the crowd will be solidly behind Tommy, Daniil’s hard court abilities are well-established, and the fourth seed should be favored on Saturday.


Saturday’s full Order of Play is here.

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Novak Djokovic Announces Withdrawal From Miami Open

Novak Djokovic will not be playing the Miami Open after losing early in Indian Wells.

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(@BNPPARIBASOPEN - Twitter)

Novak Djokovic has announced that he has withdrawn from the second Masters 1000 of the season in Miami.

The news comes after the world number one lost in the third round of Indian Wells to lucky loser Luca Nardi.

Many people expected Djokovic to play in Miami given the Serb’s result in California.

However that appears not to be the case as Djokovic has announce on X that he has withdrawn from the tournament.

This means for the second time in three years Djokovic will enter the clay court season without winning a trophy.

The Serb will look to change that stat when he plays the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters which starts on the 7th of April.

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