The seven-time Grand Slam winner Andre Agassi became a heartthrob image during his heyday, thanks to his flowing, long locks. But he had a secret – he was losing his hair.
However, his bald head is now his signature look. And, of course, it took him a long time to embrace his baldness.
In his 2010 autobiography, Open, he admitted that he hated tennis, used meth and that his once-signature fluffy mullet was actually a hairpiece.
Highlights
- Andre Agassi neither has cancer nor Alopecia.
- The former world no. 1 tennis player admitted that he wore a hairpiece from 1990 to 1995.
- Agassi has shared he lost the 1990 French Open final because of a wig.
Andre Agassi’s baldness has sparked some concerns about his health. However, he does not have any health issues like cancer or alopecia that led to his baldness.
The fact is that by age 35, two-thirds of American men will experience some form of hair loss. For Agassi, it started much earlier. He was just 19 when he started losing his hair.
“Every morning I would get up and find another piece of my identity on the pillow, in the wash basin, down the plughole.”
Andre Agassi wrote in his autobiography
After struggling with it for a while, he decided to shave his head and never looked back.
He said this decision made him much happier, as he cared less about what others thought.
Agassi Preferred To Lose A French Open Final Than Risk His Hairpiece Falling Off
Agassi faced Andrés Gómez from Ecuador in the 1990 French Open final. He lost the match.
Many years later, he revealed that he was preoccupied with a problem with his hairpiece during the game.
“The evening before the match, I stood under the shower and felt my wig suddenly fall apart. Probably I used the wrong hair rinse. I panicked and called my brother Philly into the room.”
Andre Agassi
As soon as his brother arrived he said, “It’s a total disaster!” Philly looked at the wig and said could clamp it with hair clips.
When he was 19, Andre Agassi started losing his hair.
— Billy Oppenheimer (@bpoppenheimer) February 16, 2024
Deeply ashamed of his receding hairline, to hide it, Agassi started wearing a hairpiece.
Not long after, at the 1990 French Open, Agassi made it to his first Grand Slam final.
“The night before the final,” Agassi writes,… pic.twitter.com/p4Py7KDxmp
The tennis player’s sibling managed to put the wig with 20 clips, but Andre wasn’t confident enough that it would stay in place.
Andre- "Do you think it will hold?" Philly- "Just don’t move so much."
Andre said, of course, he could have played without his hairpiece, but was way too much concerned about what would all the journalists have written if they knew that all the time he was really wearing a wig.
“During the warming-up training before play I prayed. Not for victory, but that my hairpiece would not fall off. With each leap, I imagine it falling into the sand.”
Andre Agassi
Agassi shared that he imagined millions of spectators moving closer to their TV sets, their eyes widening and, in dozens of dialects and languages, asking how his hair had fallen from his head.
Thankfully, Agassi’s well-clipped hairpiece did a better job.
In 1995, Agassi finally felt comfortable enough to shave off his hair and embrace his bald look.
By that time, he had already won Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open. His success didn’t stop there.
In 1999, he completed the career Grand Slam by winning the French Open. Agassi became the first male player since Rod Laver to achieve this milestone.
Additional Information
- Andre Agassi is married to fellow tennis legend Steffi Graf. They have two kids, Jaden and Jaz.
- His parents are Emam Agassi and Elizabeth Agassi.
- The former tennis player amassed an impressive net worth of $145 million through his career.
