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Back in 1987, as the newly-crowned Wimbledon champion, 

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I got the shock of my life when I came across a brash young American called Andre Agassi. 

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Andre may have been a superhero on the court, but off the court, he was very much human.

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Eight Grand Slam titles, Olympic gold, number one in the world in 1995, and two years after that, 141 in the world. 

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And two years after that, he was back to number one.

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Set with the task to unearth the real Andre Agassi, 

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we turn to fellow Hall of Famer, the flamboyant commentator and author, Bud Collins, to ask the all-important questions.

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My name is Bud Collins. I've been as a journalist over 50 years, television, writing. Every year, there are new people added to the list of the tennis immortals. 

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And now, I know you're going to like this year's entrant, one of the few men who have a career Grand Slam. 

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Andre Agassi, it's just about time for him to be in the Hall of Fame.

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Congratulations, Andre. You're in the Hall. 

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You've had in your career more ups and downs than an elevator operator.

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I mean it just... he's there, he's wonderful, he's the greatest player of all time. 

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He's down here, what's he doing? He's 141 on the ATP rankings.

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How did you dig yourself out from that? Why did you?

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You know, I did because I needed to choose and take ownership of my life. 

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You know, I felt like my father chose the game for me when I was young. 

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I stayed with it out of fear -- fear of what this would mean to walk away from something I've just known my whole life.

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But I've always had that slight disconnect with it until I was about 27 years old. 

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And when I was 27 years old, 141 in the world, I gave myself permission to quit. 

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I should say, I've quit a thousand times in my life, but I've never allowed myself to stay away.

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And I said, "I'm going to choose it for myself." And that's when I started to think about the school, my academy in Las Vegas, 

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and I started to play tennis to change the lives of these children, and I started to find out that, 

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geez, this is really fulfilling me, and tennis is a reason why I can do this. 

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And from that day forward I started a love affair with it. 

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And what did Gil mean to you? Gil Reyes?

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Gil's been everything to me. I call him my lifeguard, you know. 

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Physically, he knows the body better than anybody I've ever met. 

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He kept me playing until I was 36. He's been one of those influential people in my life. 

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My father, Gil and my wife.

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How funny that the three most influential people in my life, English isn't their first language, but we found a way to communicate.

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Dad, when I was five, you told me to win Wimbledon. When I was seven, you told me to win all of the four Grand Slams. 

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And more times than I can remember, you told me to get into the Hall of Fame.

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And when I was 29, I don't know if you remember this, you told me to marry Steffi Graf.

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Best order you ever gave me. So, Dad, please don't ever stop telling me what to do.

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It was tough with your father, we all know that. He loved you in his way. 

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You loved him, I think, in... but you had to get away from him. Is that correct?

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I think so, and I think he knew better than me. 

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I think that's why he sent me away. He saw what tennis had done and relationships with my other siblings. 

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He's a man that was passionate about tennis and believed tennis was the fastest road to the American dream.