Who is Andre Agassi? Former tennis world champion and coach of Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon

ANDRE AGASSI has come out of retirement to help struggling Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon.

One of the best ever will help former world No 1 Djokovic, who has struggled mightily since winning the French Open a year ago.

Agassi, who retired in 2006 after eight Grand Slam wins, will be in Djokovic's corner for the entire tournament.

Here's everything you need to know about the controversial Wimbledon legend.

Who is Andre Agassi?

Andre Agassi is an American retired professional tennis player who was one of the sport's most prolific winners from the early 1990s to the mid-2000s.

Agassi has been called the greatest service returner in the history of the game and has been in the conversation for best ever.

He won eight Grand Slams, including Wimbledon in 1992, was a world No 1, an Olympic gold medal at Atlanta 1996 and helped the US to three Davis Cup wins.

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He began coaching Novak Djokovic at the French Open and will be his coach during this year's Wimbledon.

Agassi dated high profile stars such as Barbra Streisand and Brooke Shields in the 1990s, before marrying tennis legend Steffi Graf in 2001.

Agassi and Graf - who won 22 Grand Slams in here own glittering career - have two children.

Early life

At age 13 Agassi was sent to Nick Bollettieri's Tennis Academy.

He was meant to stay for only three months because that was all his father could afford.

However Agassi’s natural talent was so impressive that Bollettieri called his father and said: "Take your check back. He's here for free."

Agassi dropped out of school as a teenager to peruse his tennis career.

Then at the age of 16 Agassi competed in his first tournament at La Quinta, California.

How was his tennis career?

Agassi’s career flourished from the early 1990s to the mid-2000s.

During this period he won eight Grand Slam titles, an Olympic gold medal and the Davis Cup three times.

In Agassi’s entire career he achieved 60 singles titles.

On November 10, 1997, Agassi sank to No 141 in the rankings, he had not won any top level titles for over a year and said he'd lost interest in the game.

In 1999, Agassi entered the history books when he beat Andrei Medvedev in the French Open final, becoming only the fifth male player to win all four Grand Slams.

During his career, Agassi held the world No 1 ranking for a total of 101 weeks.

After suffering from sciatica caused by two bulging discs in his back and a bone spur that interfered with the nerve, Agassi retired from professional tennis on September 3, 2006 after losing in the third round of the US Open.

Agassi received a four-minute standing ovation from the crowd after the match and delivered a retirement speech.

Personal life

In his autobiography, Agassi admitted he used a cocktail of drugs and became addicted to crystal meth between 1997 and 1999.

Agassi said: "It was a period in my life where I needed help".

After retirement, Agassi has participated in a series of charity tournaments and set up his own charity.

He personally donated $35million to the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy in Las Vegas, a school for at-risk children in the area.

Agassi has also helped found other charities and has a long history of helping developing schools and education in Nevada.