What David Nalbandian and Andre Agassi have in common?
Have you ever wondered what American Andre Agassi and Argentine David Nalbandian have in common? Both famous tennis players are of Armenian origin. Nalbandian began playing tennis at age five when his Armenian grandfather built a cement court in his backyard in Cardoba, Argentine. Agassi’s father is also Armenian who immigrated to the U.S. from Iran. Agassi’s middle name, Kirk, is after Armenian American tycoon Kirk Kirkorian, who hired Agassi’s father Mike to work in one of his casinos. Later they became good friends.
David Nalbandian plans to visit his ancestrial homeland Armenia in early October, where he will give a master class and play an exhibition match with Armenia’s top tennis player Harutyun Sofyan.
wow… that’s interesting. I didn’t know that Nalby has Armenian blood.
Agassi’s father is an assyrian not armenian his father is from a place in Iran called urmi and their tribe is Assyrian called urmijnaieh
I know Agassi !!! when asked to mention that he is an Assyrian he declined and said that he is an American !!! One must respect his decision
also one fact there is no armenian name that does not end with a IAN!!! SO HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN AGASSIAN NOT AGASSI!!
AssyrianS have a singer related to his father his name is Ivan Agassi
God bless all !!!!!!!!!!
Thank you Odisho for your comment. You are only partly correct. According to Wikipedia, Agassi’s father is of Armenian and Assyrian ethnicity who resided in Iran. Mike Agassi’s real name is Emmanuel Agassian. As you mentioned, –ian is a very common Armenian last name. In 2006 September 7 interview with Larry King, Agassi himself mentioned that his last name was Armenian. Here is the quote. The full transcript is available here.
“KING: The name Agassi is what derivation?
AGASSI: Armenian, so my father was from Armenia and his parents sort of settled in Tehran.”
OK Nalbandian grand father was Armenian? Big deal. By now his blood is mostly Spanish European.
Most of all he is a Latino from Latin America who speaks
Spanish same way as Juan Martin del Potro and Guillermo Vilas.
Is like saying the great actors Rita Hayworth, Humphrey Bogart, Joan Bennet, and Martin Sheen are Spanish due to their Spanish ancestry. So stop calling David Armenian something he never even mention.
My grandparents are from Spain and the other one from Italy but I dont call myself any of that. I am first a Latin man from Argentina and proud of it.