Tennis legend Andre Agassi's father, Mike Agassi, has died at the age of 90 in Las Vegas.
According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, Mike Agassi, who was a Las Vegas casino ambassador, passed away at at Nathan Adelson Hospice's Tenaya Avenue facility last Friday.
The Man Behind the Legend
Born as Emmanuel Agassi in Iran, he represented his country in the Olympics as a boxer in 1948 and 1952. After the Games, he followed his brother, Samuel, to Chicago and changed his name to Mike.
Less than a month after graduating from Roosevelt University, Mike met Elizabeth Dudley through a mutual friend. They married at a Methodist church in Chicago's North Side on August 19, 1959. When a friend offered Mike a job at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas, the couple moved to the desert with their two-year-old daughter Rita and eight-day old son Phillip in October 1962. Their daughter Tamara (Tami) was born in 1967 and Andre in 1970.
André's father Mike has passed away at 90. Born Emmanuel Agassi, he was an Olympic boxer for Iran before emigrating to the US, settling in Las Vegas. Over-the-top demanding (read Agassi's memoir Open), he was a driving force behind his son's tennis career https://t.co/DMTGnQIlQ5
- Christopher Clarey (@christophclarey) September 29, 2021
Mike had a passion for tennis and was renowned for his tough love attitude towards his four kids.
Andre Agassi, who won eight Grand Slams, was the most talented of the children and was heavily pushed by Mike.
In his autobiography, Open, Andre recalled tennis lessons with his dad's ball machine against which he had to hit 5,000 balls a day.
Andre called him "The Dragon" in his book.
Andre, who is now 51, won four Australian Open titles (1995, 2000, 2001 and 2003), two US Opens (1995 and 1999) and one title each at Wimbledon (1992) and the French Open (1999).