Is Andre Agassi an Armenian? Everything to Know About His Family’s Original Roots

Andre Agassi, the American tennis legend has always waved the flag of America proudly and even won a gold medal at the 1996, Olympics held in Atlanta, Georgia. Born and brought up in Las Vegas, as American as one can be though, his roots are from a different side of the world. Although not directly related to the country, his familial roots lie in Asia’s Armenia.

So what is his ethnicity and when did his bloodline migrate to America? How does a migrant’s son who is escaping prosecution become world No. 1 in tennis? Let’s find out.

From Armenia, with love: Andre Agassi

Agassi, of Armenian descent, continues to call Las Vegas his home. His father, Emmanuel “Mike” Agassi, represented Iran as a boxer in the 1948 and 1952 Olympics before immigrating to the United States. Upon obtaining citizenship, he altered the family name from Agassian to Agassi to escape potential persecution.

It was Emmanuel’s brother, Samuel, who paved their way to Chicago, America. Emmanuel changed his name to “Mike” upon immigrating to blend in and by 1963, he had moved to Las Vegas to take a job at the Tropicana Hotel Casino. Agassi’s mother, Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Agassi is an American and got married to Mike in 1959. They had four children, two daughters and two sons. They are Rita, Phillip, Tami, and Andre.

Upon joining, Mike noticed that the Tropicana Hotel Casino’s tennis courts were mostly unused. Despite being a beginner at tennis, he had a deep love for the sport and volunteered to refurbish the courts and provide complimentary coaching sessions for guests.

He found young Agassi to be talented since he was a child and he encouraged him to be a tennis player from a tender age. Mike hung tennis balls over Agassi’s crib and handed him a full-sized tennis racket at the age of 2, nurturing a dream that would take Andre to a World No. 1 position in 1995.

Mike built the ‘Dragon’ for Andre Agassi

Mike Agassi had famously created a tennis machine dubbed The ‘Dragon,’ designed to shoot balls at Agassi to help him perfect his stroke technique. Agassi would diligently return 5,000 balls daily from this machine. This rigorous practice regimen contributed to him becoming one of tennis’s most formidable returners of service and winning eight Grand Slam titles!

Mike was quoted in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, later published by Tennis World, stating, “It’s better to have a father beside his son in the sport than his coach.” In recognition of his contributions to tennis, he was inducted into the Nevada Tennis Hall of Fame in 2008.

Although the country has a dark history, today, the Armenian diaspora proudly includes many prominent individuals, among whom Andre Agassi stands out as an A-lister.

Read more: Andre Agassi Confesses to Being ‘Frozen in Fear’ on the Biggest Night of His Tennis Career