Speaker of the week: Andre Agassi

Andre Agassi, one of the greatest tennis players of all time, will share his reflections on success and finding your purpose at #NBFSweden.

Philanthropist and a former World No. 1 tennis player Andre Agassi belongs to the world’s biggest sports stars and rightfully so. During his 20-year career, Agassi has earned 60 men’s singles titles including eight Grand Slam singles championships and an Olympic gold medal. He was also a member of three winning Davis Cup teams (1990, 1992 and 1995). To honor his successful career, he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame for the Class of 2011 on July 9, 2011.

But as it turns out, tennis didn’t bring only grace and glory for Agassi. To the surprise of many, in his autobiography Open published in 2009, Agassi revealed the troubling relationship he had with his profession. He actually resented and hated tennis.

Agassi’s father pushed him to start the chase after tennis championships already in his childhood years, vigorously leading him to practice until exhaustion. At age 13, Agassi went to the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy and made tennis his primary focus. After championing in many junior level competitions, Agassi decided to turn professional at the age of 16. Despite the troublesome relation to tennis, Agassi dashed to the top and became one of the game’s most dominant players from the early 1990s to the mid-2000s.

His story has been an inspiration to many and the autobiography has received great reviews. The book also won the Autobiography category of the 2010 British Sports Book Awards.

Agassi is also known as a dedicated philanthropist, author, and businessman, and has been actively promoting education reform through the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education. After retiring from competition in 2006, he has focused more on the foundation. Since the inception of the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education in 1994, $185 million dollars has been raised to benefit the mission of the Foundation including $118 million from the Grand Slam for Children fundraising event. The Grand Slam for Children served as the Foundation’s primary fundraising vehicle and brought together international stars to raise awareness and money.

At Nordic Business Forum SWEDEN, we will be hearing Agassi’s take on success and finding purpose.

Top picks from the speaker:

• Read what Agassi had to say about his career and his foundation in this Harvard Business Review interview: https://hbr.org/2015/10/andre-agassi
• In this video interview Agassi talks about his entrepreneurial endeavours: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzGOFyU8F9M
• Agassi’s autobiography Open has been said to be one of the most honest autobiographies. https://www.amazon.com/Open-Autobiography-Andre-Agassi/dp/0307388409

More on Andre Agassi:

• On Twitter: @AndreAgassi
• Bio: www.nbforum.com/sweden/speakers/andre-agassi/
• Agassi Foundation: www.agassifoundation.org

Wanna see Agassi share his story? Get your tickets to NBForum Sweden here.

Buy tickets →

Nordic Business Forum Sweden is a one-day event in Stockholm at the Waterfront Conference Center on the 16th of January.