Open

Twenty-one-year-old Andre reached his third Grand Slam final in a row when he faced Courier in the 1991 French Open. Andre knew he could win, but his animosity toward Courier made him tense. After Courier broke him in the fifth set, Andre resigned himself to losing.

Wendi, now Andre’s girlfriend, encouraged him to play at Wimbledon and accompanied him to London. Andre reached the quarterfinals but was defeated after pulling a hip muscle. At the US Open, he lost in the first round as competitiveness again deserted him.

Andre bought a bachelor pad in Vegas, creating rooms for arcade games, billiards, and a movie theater. At the Davis Cup, he played well in his first two matches, and the night before the final he celebrated, drinking too much. Hungover, Andre won his match, wearing Oakley sunglasses. The following week, Oakley sent him a red Dodge Viper to thank him for the free publicity.

In the 1992 French Open, Andre beat Sampras but lost to Courier in the semifinal. After defeating Andre, Courier again went for a run. Entering Wimbledon as the 12th seed, Andre defeated Becker in the quarterfinals and McEnroe in the semifinals. His final opponent was Goran Ivanisevic. Andre won the match in five sets, becoming the 1992 Wimbledon champion. Overwhelmed with joy and relief, he called his father after the match. Mike Agassi observed that his son should have won the fourth set. Andre realized his father was crying.

Andre looked forward to the Wimbledon Ball because the male winner dances with the female champion, who this year was Steffi Graf, whose dignity and beauty impressed Andre. He sent her a message after the French Open but received no reply. At the ball, Andre learned that the champions’ dance had been canceled because it was unpopular with players. Andre briefly met Steffi at the ball and said he would like to chat sometime. She smiled but did not respond.

The press now celebrated Andre as a champion, and fans often asked him for autographs or pictures. Kevin Costner invited Andre and Wendi onto his yacht and to his house for a preview of The Bodyguard, and at President George Bush’s invitation, Andre spent a night at the White House. However, his satisfaction in winning Wimbledon was transient. He considered proposing to Wendi despite her desire for an open relationship.

While digging his Hummer out of desert sand, Andre injured his wrist. Diagnosed with tendonitis, he missed the hard-court season. Wendi broke up with him, asserting that she would never find herself while they were together. Devastated, Andre stayed home drinking and eating junk food. Gil suggested that he focus on the lead-up to the 1993 Wimbledon tournament and arranged a cortisone injection for his wrist. During a warm-up tournament in Germany, Andre ran into Nick, who was in debt and had sold the academy. Nick suggested that Andre owed him money because he had invested so much in developing Andre’s career. Disturbed by the encounter, Andre lost his first-round match.

At Wimbledon, Andre made history as the lowest-seeded defending champion ever. Moderating his serve because of his numb wrist, he narrowly won the first round. The press focused on the 28-year age difference between him and his current girlfriend, Barbra Streisand, who attended the tournament. Andre had met Barbra through mutual friends. He admired her reluctance to sing at a party when urged to do so. When she eventually gave in, her powerful voice filled the room. In the Wimbledon quarterfinals, Andre played Sampras, who won despite a shoulder injury. Returning home, Andre saw a headline in USA Today announcing Nick’s decision to part ways with him.

Andre reluctantly agreed to wrist surgery in December 1993, fearing that a mistake by the surgeon could end his career. Although Gil was known for squeamishness, he agreed to be present in the operating theater. The operation was successful, and while Andre was recovering, a friend’s wife suggested setting him up with Brooke Shields. Brooke was filming in South Africa, so Andre began a lengthy fax correspondence with her and stopped dating Barbra. Once Brooke returned to the US, they met in Los Angeles and discovered they had much in common. Brooke’s ambitious mother had managed her career since she was 11 months old, and the two shared a favorite movie, Shadowlands.

Andre and Sampras agreed to a joint magazine interview. Sampras was surprised at the parrot (rescued from a bankrupt pet shop) in Andre’s hotel room. Andre noted that Sampras sounded “more robotic” than Peaches during the interview.

Andre hired Slim, a former schoolmate, as a personal assistant. Meanwhile, Perry, in his second year of law school, agreed to become Andre’s manager. Perry suggested Brad Gilbert as Andre’s new coach; Brad was a tennis player and the author of Winning Ugly, describing how to outthink an opponent and make them play on your terms. Brad advised Andre to focus on his opponents’ weaknesses rather than perfectionism. Andre and Perry were convinced that Brad was the right person for the job, and he accepted the position.

At the Key Biscayne tournament, Andre played Becker (now coached by Nick) and comfortably beat him. Just before the final, Andre’s opponent, Sampras, lay on the floor groaning from food poisoning. Andre agreed to postpone the match instead of insisting that Sampras forfeit. When Sampras recovered, he was in peak form and won.

Andre struggled to adapt to “winning ugly” and experienced a losing streak. At the 1994 French Open, he lost to Thomas Muster, who tousled his hair at the net, almost dislodging Andre’s hairpiece. At Wimbledon, he was defeated in the fourth round. Brad assured him that good things would happen but at the Canadian Open uncharacteristically admitted that Andre was unlikely to win because he had an unfortunate draw. Andre insisted that he would win the tournament and that Brad get his ear pierced when he did. He won, and Brad got a diamond ear stud.

At the 1994 US Open, Andre was unseeded. He dressed inconspicuously for the event in black tennis gear, though Brooke’s presence attracted attention. Despite having an upset stomach, Andre easily beat Chang in the fourth round. Interviewed afterward, Chang claimed that Andre got lucky. In the final, Andre faced Michael Stich and won.

Andre initially rejected Brooke’s suggestion to shave his hair and get rid of the hairpiece. However, after reflecting on the anxiety his hair had caused, he agreed. Newly bald and feeling liberated, Andre played the 1995 Australian Open for the first time and beat Sampras in the final. The victory marked his third Slam. Andre and his team focused on achieving the world’s number-one spot, which Sampras currently held.

Gil increased Andre’s strength and endurance using homemade training machinery. He also created a new nutrition regimen while allowing Andre to occasionally indulge in the junk food he loved. Andre repeatedly ran up and down “Gil Hill” outside the trainer’s house. Sometimes he slept at Gil’s, lacking the energy to get home afterward.

At Indian Wells, Sampras was devastated by the recent revelation that his coach had a brain tumor. Meanwhile, Andre’s father was about to have open heart surgery. Andre lost to Sampras and immediately visited his father in the hospital. Mike could not speak but wrote that his son should have targeted Sampras’s backhand. Andre realized that his father could not help who he was and assured him he would beat Sampras next time. He did so a week later at Key Biscayne. After the tournament, he and Sampras flew to New York for the Davis Cup. Andre took Sampras to the theater to see Brooke playing Rizzo in Grease. Sampras fidgeted and yawned throughout.

Perry called, announcing that Andre was now number one in the world. Andre claimed to be pleased but felt nothing.

Given that his number-one world ranking did not make him happy, Andre wondered whether he should retire from tennis. However, he imagined the disappointment of his father, Perry, and Brad. Also, at 25, he had no idea what else he could do. He resolved to win the French Open, which would make him the first American to win all four Slams.

Before the 1995 French Open, Andre and Brooke explored Paris. However, Andre struggled to relax because he was thinking of the tournament. One night, they walked along the Seine, and Andre presented Brooke with a diamond tennis bracelet. However, a drunk appeared behind Brooke and urinated in the river, spoiling the moment.

Andre easily won his first four matches at the French Open and noted that fellow players were more respectful. In the quarterfinal, he was confident he could beat Russian player Kafelnikov. However, he injured his hip during the first set and, unable to move, lost the match. He returned to Vegas to recover.

Andre remained the world’s number-one player and was seeded first at Wimbledon in 1995. He enjoyed the scandal when Jeff Tarango forfeited his match by storming off the court and Tarango’s wife slapped the umpire. Andre reached the semifinals and played Becker. As soon as Becker gained an advantage, Andre’s mind wandered, thinking of his sister’s husband, Pancho, who had recently died of cancer. Aware that Nick was watching the match from Becker’s box, he wondered if his old mentor had given Becker insight into his game. Andre lost and was devastated. Brooke and Andre went to Indigo Island and had the whole island to themselves. Andre did not speak for two days.

Brad showed Andre an article recounting Becker’s post-Wimbledon news conference. Becker claimed that Andre was unpopular with other players because he lacked openness. Andre and Brad agreed to dedicate themselves to a “Summer of Revenge” (209).

At a Washington, DC, tournament, Andre experienced heat stroke in the final against Edberg and left the court to vomit. When he returned, he won the match. Afterward, Jeff Tarango criticized Andre for leaving the court. Andre then won 20 matches and four tournaments in a row, defeating Sampras and Chang. The media emphasized the rivalry between Sampras and Andre and their contrasting personalities.

In the 1995 US Open, Andre played Becker in the semifinals. When Andre was two sets ahead, Becker blew kisses to Brooke in the box. Andre was furious and lost the next set. However, he won the match and made Becker wait to shake his hand at the net. In the post-match interview, Andre warned Sampras that he was coming for him in the final.

That night, Andre woke screaming. He realized that he had torn the cartilage between his ribs and could hardly breathe. In the final, Sampras defeated him. Suddenly, all his previous wins seemed meaningless. Brooke gave Andre space and looked sympathetic, but he did not believe she understood his feelings.