Why Did Andre Agassi Turn Pro for $1,100?

David Senra says Andre Agassi took a $1,100 check and turned pro because an eighth-grade education left him no other path his father would accept. At 15 he was beating grown men and moving through the ranks. People pointed and whispered that he was the prodigy, the prettiest word he had heard applied to himself. He had refused prize money, because one dollar for playing would end his amateur status and force him to turn pro. One tournament offered $1,100. His father in Vegas told him to take the money. Cashing the check meant there was no turning back.

His father asked what his choices were after he had dropped out with an eighth-grade education, and named becoming a doctor as the alternative. None of it was news, but Agassi hated the way it was put. He told the tournament director he would take the money. As the words left his mouth, a shelf of possibilities fell away. The book dates that day as April 29, 1986, his 16th birthday.