Andre Agassi has reportedly revealed that the long, golden locks that he sported for most of the 1990s were a wig.

The tennis star said that it was his ex-wife Brooke Shields who eventually persuaded him to shave his head and to rid himself of the "chain" that he was carrying around.

Writing in his autobiography Open, Agassi said: "Every morning I would get up and find another piece of my identity on the pillow, in the wash basin, down the plughole.

"I asked myself, 'You want to wear a toupee? On the tennis court?' I answered myself: 'What else could I do?'"

The 39-year-old said that his first Grand Slam final performance at the French Open in 1990 was hampered by fears that the hairpiece may fall off.

He said: "With each leap, I imagine it falling into the sand. I imagine millions of spectators move closer to their TV sets, their eyes widening and, in dozens of dialects and languages, ask how Andre Agassi's hair has fallen from his head."