Agassi elected to Hall of Fame

Eight-time Grand Slam singles champion Andre Agassi, among only six men to achieve a career Grand Slam, has been elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, officials said yesterday.

Agassi’s induction ceremony will be conducted on July 9 at the Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, during the ATP Hall of Fame Championships grass-court event. He will be the only enshrinee in the recent player category.

Former world number one Agassi announced the honour at Agassi Prep, the public charter school he founded in Las Vegas in 2001 for at-risk youth.

“I’m truly honored to be recognized alongside the greatest players of tennis,” Agassi said. “My tennis career afforded me the opportunity to make a difference in other people’s lives and it was truly special to share this exciting moment with the students of Agassi Prep.”

The 40-year-old American topped the rankings for 101 weeks and went 870-274 with 60 titles in his career, including four Australian Opens, two US Opens, one Wimbledon and one French Open plus the 1996 Olympic singles gold medal.

Agassi’s 1999 French Open triumph gave him a career Grand Slam and made him the first such man to have won the titles on three different surfaces – grass, clay and hardcourt.

Roger Federer, Don Budge, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver and Fred Perry are the other men to complete the career Grand Slam.

Agassi, who played for Davis Cup-winning US teams in 1990 and 1992, turned professional at age 16 in 1986, won his first ATP crown the following year and retired in 2006 after a third-round loss at the US Open.