Open by Andre Agassi
A superb biography of the life of one of the world's tennis superstars
"My life has always belonged to someone else. First, my father. Then Nick. And always, always, tennis."
[Nick Bollettieri, founder of the Nick Bollettieri tennis academy, and Agassi's first coach when he turned professional.]
We had a power cut recently and I had to scrap my plans to read an e-book because my battery was too low, so I turned back to Andre Agassi's memoir, Open. And even though it's quite a long book, I flew through it in two days. It's a riveting read and not just an excellent sports biography, but a superlative biography full stop.
But first, a brief explanation of who Andre Agassi is. I recently posted about this book on Instagram and a member of Gen Z said that she had never heard of him, which made me feel incredibly old. He was one of the world's most famous sports stars in the late eighties and nineties, loved for his flamboyance and his rebellious image, and he dated some of the world's most famous women in Barbra Streisand and Brooke Shields (an actress who was really prominent in the nineties). Critics said that he squandered his talent, particularly as he went through a phase in the mid-nineties where his world ranking dropped to 141 and he played journeyman-level tournaments. However, he overcame his problems to win several Grand Slams in his thirties, which was unknown at the time – most players then retired before their mid-thirties. He also got heavily into charity work, founding a school for underprivileged youth in his hometown of Las Vegas, and he married the successful women's tennis player, Steffi Graf, herself an icon of tennis. I saw a documentary in which Agassi and Graf were interviewed about their charity work, and while both seemed incredibly content, Agassi also seemed to exist in a bubble of calm (a far cry from his youth) so I was intrigued to read more about his life.
I had already mentioned on Substack that you can tell it's going to be good from the opening pages. Well, the opening chapter, entitled 'The End', is the single best piece of memoir writing I can remember reading, and you should definitely read it if you're considering any form of life writing. As I mentioned, it sets up a series of contradictions that define Agassi. He's a professional tennis player, but he hates the sport. He hates the sport and so can't wait to give it up, but he also hasn't done anything but tennis for as long as he can remember, and he doesn't want his career to end. He's a professional athlete, but he's in such pain that he can barely hobble around after a match. He "hates" his opponents on the court, but he finds himself holding hands with one after the match when they're both lying on massage beds waiting for their trainers. And so on.
If you think it sounds difficult to live like that, well, you would be right, but it's also unsurprising given his background. His emotionally abusive father coaches him from an early age, making him hit 2,500 balls every day as a child, equating to a million balls a year. Even this wasn't enough for his father, who sometimes takes Agassi out of school to play in the afternoons. No wonder the poor kid grows to hate the sport. When his father feels Agassi is outgrowing him, he sends him to Nick Bollettieri's tennis academy in Florida, several thousand miles away from his family. Agassi hates the academy passionately, describing it as like a real-life "Lord of the Flies". He rebels constantly and tries to get away, until eventually making a deal with Nick to train more and start entering Challenger tournaments before turning pro at 16.
His background, the obsessive focus on tennis – and the contradictions in his character - don't really do much to prepare Agassi for adult life. When he first turns pro, he had no idea how to handle his emotions. Losses hit him incredibly hard and affect both his playing and his motivation for many months afterwards. He describes several matches early on in his career where he's in control, and then suddenly, he starts thinking and poof, that control goes and he loses. His training also makes him a perfectionist, and he berates himself, sometimes on court, for his mistakes. Worse still, he describes how he doesn't really feel like he has a sense of self, and he finds it difficult to manage criticism from the public and press.
It takes him a long time to mature, too. Although his relationship with Brooke Shields has major problems, he proposes to her because everyone around him is getting married and also because he wants to break a pattern of seeing his relationships end after two years, which must be two of the worst reasons to marry anyone. At his lowest point, he starts using crystal meth, and when it's detected in a urine sample, he lies about it to the authorities. Even if you're not particularly interested in tennis, his comeback from the doldrums and move to late-career success, marriage and fatherdom is an inspiring tale of someone overcoming all their personal problems.
The book is good on the detail of being a top tennis player: the sense of confusion about where you've woken up, the demands tennis played on different surfaces makes on the body, the difference between the lower and higher echelons of the sport, even small things such as the transformation in racket strings contributing to a better spectacle. It's also very funny in places. At one point, Graf leaves Agassi alone with his young son and Agassi attempts to tidy up the baby's hair. It doesn't go well ("Andre, what is wrong with you? I leave you alone for forty-five minutes and you shave the baby?"). And it's a gripping story, well told, and with those contradictions set up in the introduction running throughout the story.
However, what I most liked about the whole book was Agassi's big heart and his generosity. While his own life is in turmoil, he forms a plan to set up a charity school running from kindergarten to grade. He doesn't say exactly how much of his own money he donates to his school, but Wikipedia puts it at $35 million, and by the time the book was published in 2009, he had raised another $50 million. He's generous to those he's close to, too. When the maitre d' at his favourite New York restaurant mentions that he's worried about paying for his kids' college educations, Agassi sets up shares for them to mature in ten years. His trainer and his assistant have relatives with health emergencies, and Agassi pays for the best private care for both (which sounds like it takes many months in hospital, and must run into the millions in both cases). In fact, the only hint of cattiness in the book is when he discovers that Pete Sampras, another top tennis player, had only tipped a valet a dollar.
He's also generous with his words. He writes in an afterward that he wanted to put the name of the ghostwriter, J. R. Moehringer, on the cover (equally generous, Moehringer insists that it's Agassi's story and his name should be the only one to feature.) He describes his wife as "the greatest person I have ever known" in a speech when he's introducing her. My favourite example, however - and a lovely note on which to end - was his farewell speech to the crowd in his final ever match at the 2006 US Open:
"The scoreboard said I lost today, but what the scoreboard doesn't say is what it is I have found. Over the last twenty-one years I have found loyalty: You have pulled for me on the court, and also in life. I have found inspiration: You have willed me to succeed, sometimes even in my lowest moments. And I have found generosity: You have given me your shoulders to stand on, to reach for my dreams – dreams I could have never reached without you. Over the last twenty-one years I have found you, and I will take you and the memory of you with me for the rest of my life."
Definitely read it.
What I’m reading this week
I actually haven’t been reading very much of anything. My sister flew back from Canada for a few days, so I’ve been doing lots of socialising instead (that’s also why I’m posting this on Monday night instead of Sunday). I hope to get back to reading tonight.