Editing Andre Agassi (section)

===2004–2006: Final years===
[[file:Andre Agassi Indian Wells 2006.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|Agassi in 2006]]
In 2004, Agassi began the year with a five-set loss in the semi-finals of the Australian Open to [[Marat Safin]]; the loss ended Agassi's 26-match winning streak at the event. He won the [[Cincinnati Masters|Masters series event in Cincinnati]] to bring his career total to 59 top-level singles titles and a record 17 ATP Masters Series titles, having already won seven of the nine ATP Masters tournament—all except the tournaments in [[Monte Carlo Masters|Monte Carlo]] and [[Hamburg Masters|Hamburg]]. At 34, he became the second-oldest singles champion in Cincinnati tournament history (the tournament began in 1899), tied with Roger Federer and surpassed only by [[Ken Rosewall]], who won the title in 1970 at age 35. He finished the year ranked No. 8, one of the oldest players to finish in the top 10 since the 36-year-old Connors was No. 7 in 1988.<ref name="atpbio" /> At the time, Agassi also became the sixth male player during the [[Tennis open era|open era]] to reach 800 career wins with his first-round victory over [[Alex Bogomolov]] in [[Countrywide Classic]] in Los Angeles.

Agassi's 2005 began with a quarterfinal loss to Federer at the Australian Open. Agassi had several other deep runs at tournaments, but had to withdraw from several events due to injury. He lost to [[Jarkko Nieminen]] in the first round of the French Open. He won his fourth title in Los Angeles and reached the final of the [[Canada Masters|Rogers Cup]], before falling to No. 2 [[Rafael Nadal]].

Agassi's 2005 was defined by an improbable run to the US Open final. After beating [[Răzvan Sabău]] and [[Ivo Karlović]] in straight sets and [[Tomáš Berdych]] in four sets, Agassi won three consecutive five-set matches to advance to the final. The most notable of these matches was his quarterfinal victory over [[James Blake (tennis)|James Blake]], where he rallied from two sets down to win in the fifth set tie-breaker. His other five-set victories were over [[Xavier Malisse]] in the fourth round and [[Robby Ginepri]] in the semi-finals. In the final, Agassi faced Federer, who was seeking his second consecutive US Open title and his sixth Grand Slam title in two years. Federer defeated Agassi in four sets. Agassi finished 2005 ranked No. 7, his 16th time in the year-end top-10 rankings, which tied Connors for the most times ranked in the top 10 at year's end.

Agassi had a poor start to 2006, as he was still recovering from an ankle injury and also suffering from back and leg pain and lack of match play. Agassi withdrew from the Australian Open because of the ankle injury, and his back injury and other pains forced him to withdraw from several other events, eventually skipping the entire clay-court season including the French Open. This caused his ranking to drop out of the top 10 for the last time. Agassi returned for the grass-court season, playing a tune-up, and then [[2006 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles|Wimbledon]]. He was defeated in the third round by world No. 2 (and eventual runner-up) [[Rafael Nadal]]. Against conventions, Agassi, the losing player, was interviewed on court after the match.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13653101 |title=Upsetting day: Agassi, then Roddick ousted |date=June 1, 2006 |access-date=October 27, 2007 |agency=Associated Press |publisher=NBC Sports |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071105214848/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13653101 |archive-date=November 5, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> At Wimbledon, Agassi announced his plans to retire following the US Open. Agassi played only two events during the summer hard-court season with his best result being a quarterfinal loss at the [[Countrywide Classic]] in Los Angeles to [[Fernando González]] of Chile, which resulted in him being unseeded at the US Open.

Agassi had a short, but dramatic, run in his final US Open. Because of extreme back pain, Agassi was forced to receive anti-inflammatory injections after every match. After a four-set win against [[Andrei Pavel]], Agassi faced eighth-seeded [[Marcos Baghdatis]] in the second round who had earlier advanced to the [[2006 Australian Open]] final and Wimbledon semi-finals. Agassi won in five sets as the younger Baghdatis succumbed to muscle cramping in the final set.<ref>{{Cite news |agency=Associated Press |date=August 31, 2006 |title=Agassi Advances at U.S. Open |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/31/sports/tennis/01Agassi_wire.html |access-date=2023-05-18 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=July 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713023040/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/31/sports/tennis/01Agassi_wire.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In his last match, Agassi fell to 112th-ranked big-serving [[Benjamin Becker]] of Germany in four sets. Agassi received a four-minute standing ovation from the crowd after the match and delivered a retirement speech.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Walker |first=Ben |publisher=The Associated Press |title=Closing it out |url=https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/2006/09/04/closing-it-out/28498969007/ |access-date=October 10, 2022 |website=Sarasota Herald-Tribune |language=en-US |archive-date=October 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221010162132/https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/2006/09/04/closing-it-out/28498969007/ |url-status=live }}</ref>