American Legend Andre Agassi Unveils How He Managed to Pull Off Billions of Dollars Worth Philanthropic Gesture Through Tennis

Aside from his brilliant tennis career, Andre Agassi has always been all about creating opportunities through education. To the former tennis player and Olympic gold medalist, his sport came first at times. But when he established the Andre Agassi Foundation, he had a new purpose. Interestingly, Agassi had found a unique connection between his two major interests.

In an interview, the 8x Grand Slam champion shed light on how tennis helped him turn his main life agenda into reality, implementing his commitment to childhood education into his Foundation

Andre Agassi on tennis being the driving force behind his ability to contribute to children’s foundation work

Andre Agassi’s monumental contribution to improving children’s literacy has made impactful progress over the last twenty-three years. In an interview, he hinted at tennis as being the reason he could progress towards making his contribution to his organization positively. He has raised over a billion dollars over the last 23 years by convincing the private sector to contribute to his foundation. “That’s what brought me back, was the ability to use tennis as a way to give children choice that really didn’t have a choice in their life”, the former professional tennis player told 60 Minutes Australia.

Andre Agassi opened his first school for underprivileged children back in 2001. Since then, his conviction that education is the key to changing the lives of people has enabled him to keep moving forward toward his goals off-court. “It’s given me way more than I’ve given it”, he added, further emphasizing on his unwavering determination to build children’s literacy.

Andre Agassi on giving children the “choice” in life

In a previous interview with Tech Crunch, Andre Agassi candidly spoke about his lack of education as one reason he considers his educational initiatives to be one of the most significant contributions to society. He admitted that this was his life’s work.

“And if I could provide them education and through that give them hope and choice allowed me to see what was in front of me you know um opposed um to being kinda lost, like reaching in and turning a dirty sock inside out”, Agassi opened up in the interview.

Read more: ‘Allowed It to Bring Me Down’ – Andre Agassi Turns Self-Critic as He Reflects Back on a Major Shortcoming

Andre Agassi left school in the 9th grade and started focusing on his career in tennis. His lack of education is therefore one of the driving forces in his attempt to promote literacy among children, which ultimately proved to be the main agenda of his life.