Open: An Autobiography
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#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER
Excess of an excellent memoir in regards to the highest ranges {of professional} tennis, Open is the engrossing story of a outstanding life.
Andre Agassi had his life mapped out for him earlier than he left the crib. Groomed to be a tennis champion by his moody and demanding father, by the age of twenty-two Agassi had gained the primary of his eight grand slams and achieved wealth, celeb, and the sport’s highest honors. However as he reveals on this looking autobiography, off the courtroom he was usually sad and confused, unfulfilled by his nice achievements in a sport he had come to resent. Agassi writes candidly about his early success and his uncomfortable relationship with fame, his marriage to Brooke Shields, his rising curiosity in philanthropy, and—described in haunting, point-by-point element—the highs and lows of his celebrated profession.
Prospects say
Prospects discover this autobiography participating and well-written, with a compelling story that gives insights into Agassi’s life and psyche. The e-book is praised for its honesty, with prospects deeply impressed by Agassi’s candor, and one buyer notes it offers a uncommon inside perspective from a tennis celebrity. The pacing is fast, and prospects describe it as emotional, with a number of mentioning it brings tears to their eyes at sure factors.
Charles Dickens –
One of the best autobiographies I’ve read
Most autobiographies, especially sports autobiographies, are just a chronological series of events with insight into each event. It’s usually not new insight and is mostly just filled with platitudes and cliches that the author already gave in press conferences. There are always a few interesting tidbits in each of these autobiographies, and reading a bullet point summary of those tidbits in an online review is just as good as reading the actual book.Agassi’s autobiography is more like a novel. You read it and think it would make a phenomenal movie, the way it starts at the very end and then flashbacks to the beginning. You can’t just read about the revelations in some online review and think you’ve gotten everything out of this book. This is a book that needs to be read front to back. It’s superbly written — not by Agassi himself, as he never had the education to pull that off, but he did spend thousands of hours on it and as a longtime fan I know that this is his authentic voice. In a recent interview, Andre expanded on why he and Pete Sampras were opposites by saying that when they saw each other in October 2009, Andre realized that Sampras had also just released an autobiography and tried to start a conversation by mentioning how he was so glad how his turned out, and how many thousands of hours of sweat and tears he put into it. He said that Sampras just looked at him like he was crazy. Sampras felt that an autobiography was just an encyclopedic sort of thing, not a cathartic baring of the soul. When you compare their books, it shows.Another thing that separates this book is Agassi’s remarkable memory. Agassi has always been known as one of the best analysts of the sport, and has always astounded the press with his point-by-point recollection of matches that had taken place decades before. After I play a recreational tennis match, I can barely remember the points I just played. You could ask Agassi about a point he played in 1988 and he’d be able to tell you what was going through his head, how fast the serve came at him, the sequence of shots, what someone in the crowd shouted out, what the temperature was, the humidity, the wind speed. He mentions in the book how he seems to notice the most trivial things, and once he notices them they forever stay in his mind. I’m sure if his memory was somehow measured, it would be found to be in the very upper tier in the populace. This combined with his deep, empathetic ability to notice and understand human behavior creates a truly astounding read. It is rare to find an athlete as intelligent as Agassi, and if his father hadn’t been so anti-education, I believe he could have had a brilliant academic career and flourished in some intellectual field. Perhaps psychology. Sports psychology would have been an easy fit, certainly!You don’t have to be a tennis fan to enjoy this book, although you will certainly get a little bit more out of it. Similarly, a sports fan will be able to get more of it than someone who doesn’t care much for any sport. However, there is not a person out there who could not gain something from reading this book. This is not simply a tennis story, or a sports story. This is a human story.In regards to the crystal meth revelation, I will say this in his defense:1. Testing positive for a recreational drug (crystal meth is a recreational, performance inhibiting drug, NOT a performance enhancer) in 1997, the year that he started and stopped taking the drug, had the penalty of a 3 month suspension. 3 months. That’s like a nice little vacation to get rested and refreshed for the rest of the season.2. In 1997, Agassi won nothing. He was losing in the first round of every tournament. He was playing challenger events, the minor leagues of tennis, and even losing in those. It is true that he won a few matches, and he did have a surprising run at the US Open when everyone thought he was going to quit tennis any minute. This was not fair to the players he beat – he should have been suspended at the time. However, when you really think about it, it just speaks to his talent that at his absolute lowest, when he was quite literally disabled physically, when he went out in front of that New York crowd and felt the magic and realized that he wanted to win, he was still able to muster up the game to beat world class players. At the end of the day, the only person hurt by his drug use was himself. Andre has said in recent interviews that he would happily have 1997 thrown out of his career. Have all of his results from that year blacked out. It makes absolutely no difference to the total number of titles and championships he won.3. For the past decade, Agassi has been the most admirable person to ever come out tennis. What he’s given back is remarkable. What he’s done for the sport is unmatched. Tennis is an unpopular sport in the United States, but people would always tune in for Agassi, and this book is selling like hot cakes. People love Agassi, and for good reason.This doesn’t justify him lying to the ATP, but we need to keep this in perspective. It’s important to understand that this doesn’t diminish his legacy in the slightest. He is still one of the best tennis players of all time — and as you’ll see in this book, he may have achieved twice as much if he hadn’t stumbled and fallen and beaten himself for so much of his life. He hated tennis, he admits it. His father, a man who would make Joe Jackson quiver with fear, thrust him into it as a toddler. He makes a strong argument for why it is the loneliest sport in the world, the sport most likely to produce insanity in its players. On the other hand, look at what it gave him. He loved holding up trophies and gold medals. He would never have met Stefanie without it. There was a duality to his life that I’m sure we can all relate to in some way.
K. Kopertyñski –
What can you see when it’s Open?
I won’t hide it. I’ve been a lifelong fan of Andre Agassi. I was waiting for this book to be published since Andre retired in 2006. Not expecting much, I just wanted to have a chance to look at the journey from his perspective. Only by playing tennis, he was the most influential person to my life from ones who I’ve never met in person. I thought I knew Andre. I was wrong. I only knew Andre Agassi – the great tennis player, after reading this book I can say I know Andre Agassi – the great man.I live far away from the States. I was waiting long for this book to arrive. In a mean time I read many reviews, excerpts, comments. Too many. But I just had to. It was previously written here what this book is about. I will not try to make a better description as I don’t have skills to do that. I would just like to share with you what I learned from this book and how powerful it is.One thing that makes the book special is the fact that it is written in a present tense. This is a powerful move. Obviously it is not done without a reason. What I think, Andre wants us not only to feel the story better, but he also doesn’t try to make it just the memoir of the past but rather shows what he actually thought in those particular moments of his life. It is written in a way that when there are 70’s you can hear the voice of a child, in the 80’s the voice of teenager and later you hear the voice of mature adult. But still all the time you hear the voice of the same person, Andre.Andre said “I didn’t transform, I formed”. It’s unbelievable how for so many years he was misunderstood by media and partly as a result of that by us. But Andre shows that even though he might have been perceived as special, different, star-status, high-life person, his life has not been as much different from average people’s lives like us. It’s about having choices and not having them, about making good and bad decisions, about promises which we all make and fail to keep, about weaknesses, about ups and downs, about duties, responsibilities and dedication, about being a son and being a father, being a husband and being a wife, about the power of friendships, about love. Aren’t these, the issues that all of us struggle with in our lives? And who of us wouldn’t like to be a superstar, the “number one”? In paradox Andre wanted to be rather like us – the “average one”. What we can learn now is that one can be more special being an “average” than being a “special”. These are our actions and abilities to give to others that define us.Although the story rolls around tennis, Andre rarely boasts about his talent and his great matches. He doesn’t talk much about the moments when he came up on top. Even in some of his greatest victories he defends his opponents because of various reasons. It even seems that he talks more about his painful losses than great triumphs. Andre’s fans may feel disappointed in this modesty. The point however is, that this is not tennis that is most important here. What matters most are his relations with people who he admires and truly loves. And these are his friends and his second wife. Haven’t you ever found out that at the hard times, there are only your closests who let you “stand on their shoulders”? Andre makes us remember that.The book is almost 400 pages long, but many stories and matches are described quickly without explication. Some may be disappointed. But this journey is so wealth that I doubt one thousand of pages would be enough. On the other hand it gives the story a great pace and that absorbs, you can’t put it down. I don’t think it could’ve been done better. And isn’t it just how the life goes? Week by week, month by month, year by year. Fast, without stopping, without much time to think or look back. In this book you can just feel it. Feel the story of beautiful real life.You can find more than I found. No doubt. I will also look for more. I’m sure there is more in this book. This story is for those who love tennis but also for those who look for answers in their lives. For people who try to find their places in the world. But also for those who just want to have a good read. For those who want to cry and who want to laugh. This book is really what he wanted it to be – a powerful book. Andre Agassi gives us a chance to learn on his example, his life. The life that hasn’t been perfect. The life with struggles and mistakes. But also the life that could’ve gone different ways, but eventually found the right path. He knows that the only way to make it a powerful and inspirational story was to make it true, honest, to make it “Open”. Like for many others, Andre gives us opportunity, and it is our “choice” if we want to take that with us.
Green900 –
One of the best autobiographies I’ve ever read. I say this not from a tennis perspective but from anyone looking to learn about a person struggling to overcome hardships through his remarkable journey. Highly recommend it – and don’t worry, for anyone who doesn’t follow tennis – you do not need to be well into tennis to appreciate this autobiography.
Annastrange –
Una parabola di caduta e rinascita meravigliosamente narrata. Alla fine del libro sarete innamorati di Agassi, della Graf e di metà dei protagonisti compresi Gil Reyes, Brad Gilbert e l’autore Moheringer. Il passaggio successivo sarà andare a cercare su YouTube i match citati nel libro uno per uno (niente paura, non sarete soli). Un libro coinvolgente, che ha la sua forza in una struttura narrativa a prova di bomba in cui si incastra la vita di un protagonista che, come si suol dire, ha una storia da raccontare. Non solo per amanti del gioco (anche se una passione per il tennis anni ’90 aiuta).
Michelle M –
An interesting life
schreiberling51 –
Sportler-Autobiografien sind mein Ding überhaupt nicht, und als ich eine Leseprobe von Agassis Buch runterlud, konnte ich nicht ahnen, wie süchtig ich nach einigen Seiten werden würde, das Ding zu verschlingen. Es ist wunderschön geschrieben. Ein Pulitzer-Preis-Autor hat ihm dabei geholfen; das Wissen darum tut dem Buch aber überhaupt keinen Abbruch. Im Gegenteil. Dann ist es schockierend. Agassi schreibt schonungslos offen (daher “Open”) über seine Fehler, sein Tennisspiel, seine Jugend, seine kurzzeitige Drogennutzung. Und natürlich über seine Liebe zu Steffi Graf, die er über Jahre mit sich trug (von der sie aber nichts ahnte), selbst durch seine erste Ehe mit einer Schauspielerin, bevor er sie für sich endlich gewinnen konnte. Der ultimative Schocker allerdings, den man, angesichts seiner erfolgreichen und schillernden Laufbahn kaum glauben kann, ist sein Bekenntnis, dass er Tennis immer gehasst hat. Ein sympathischer Mann, der das Herz an der richtigen Stelle hat und jetzt viel Gutes tut. Tipp: Tennisspiele parallel auf You-Tube ansehen, während man darüber liest. Auch Interviews mit ihm sind hoch interessant anzusehen!
alexandra –
Honest, warm and candid. We discover Agassi the person behind the tennis player.Very enjoyable and highly recommended for tennis fans.