Andre Kirk Agassi. A professional tennis player. A former world No.1. A man who holds 8 grand-slams to his name and an Olympic gold medal. The list goes on… But this is the same man who hates tennis and has done so since he was introduced to it. Odd right? In his autobiography, Andre passes through all his life, from the exhausting days in his back-garden getting balls over the net restlessly, to the moments of triumph, victory and happiness. To what was Andre’s prison in his childhood became his home, as mentioned by himself in the book, ‘no matter how I feel about tennis, the game is my home’.
Author – Andre Agassi
Genre – Sport & Autobiography
Rating – 4.9/5
About the Author
Andre Agassi is as mentioned an American professional tennis player born in Las Vegas. During his early years, most of his life was spent on the tennis court practising with the ‘dragon’ (ball machine). His father insisted he’d hit 2,500 balls every day, which counts to 17,500 balls every week, so by the end of the year he would have hit almost one million balls. From the words of his father, ‘A child who hits one million balls each year will be unbeatable’. After the chapter of his life at home, he was sent to Nick Bollettieri’s academy at age 13. After watching Agassi’s game, Bollettieri was impressed by his talent and let him play for free, so Agassi dropped out of school to pursue his tennis career while surprisingly still hating it (a recurring theme).
After serving his way through multiple ups and downs, he turned pro in 1986 at the age of 16. 6 years into his professional career he came across a brilliant Croatian player, Goran Ivanisevic, in his first grand slam final in the 1992 Wimbledon Championship. The match went to 5 sets with Agassi getting the better hand, making it his debut grand slam win. This was just the start of Agassi’s outstanding career. But among the light of success, the dark days approached and Agassi himself admitted to having used recreational drugs due to his private life spinning out of control. He’d married Brooke Sheilds in 1997 and they’d divorced 2 years later. Alongside this, his mother had cancer, so with all this stress and other factors, Agassi entered depression. However, it was only a matter of time that the light shone once again. He fought back getting more wins and getting a total of 8 grand slams. He managed to become the first male player to win all grand slams on the 3 surfaces alongside being the first male player to win 4 Australian Open grand slams in the Open Era.
In 2001, 5 years before finishing his professional career, Andre Agassi married the 22-time female grand slam champion, Steffi Graf. Their relationship drove Agassi to win his final grand slam final win in 2003. Agassi still believed he had some game left in him. Unfortunately, he suffered from a condition called Spondylolisthesis where one of the bones in the vertebra slides over the bone below it, in other words, it’s extremely painful especially when playing professional tennis where you are on tour almost 3/4 of the year. His final career victory was in the 2006 US open round 2 which stretched up to 5 sets. Agassi fought through the pain and somehow finds the way against Marcos Baghdatis. He then retired at the age of 36 which is generally higher than the average retirement age. His story doesn’t end there.
Agassi emphasises that if there is one thing we can do in this world, which is ‘the only perfection there is, is the perfection of helping others.’ So Andre Agassi became the founder of the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education. This foundation provides a tuition-free charter school for at-risk children in the area to which Agassi personally donated $35 million.
My thoughts
I’m personally very interested in tennis, so I instantly enjoyed the memoir-style book. The book teaches some very valuable lessons and makes you realise what it takes to be a professional tennis player where, unlike a team sport, it’s you versus your mind because you are thinking for yourself and you have no one to discuss what the plan is once you step on the court. However, this is only concerning when inside the court but outside the court, you have all the support.
If there is one part I enjoyed most, it would be the relationships between Agassi and his fellow team members and parents. From what I understood, Agassi’s father was notably aggressive, possibly due to his boxing career. However, Agassi himself admits without all the moulding with the abusive behaviour from his father, he’d not have been as successful. Another important relationship was with his personal trainer Gil. Gil was almost a father figure for Agassi as they’ve worked together for over 17 years during Agassi’s professional career. It was fun to go through their unparalleled experiences and the book shows how regardless of tennis being a single-player game, it’s also a team sport. This may sound contrasting but the book convinces this exceptionally.
If there is something missing in this tennis autobiography, I believe it’s that for some tennis players out there looking for tips in the game, they won’t be able to find much in this autobiography. However, I do appreciate the intensity this autobiography managed to keep during match situations. Unlike the Rafa: My Story book, this book tackles many more parts of life and not just about matches the athlete has played. Therefore, I’d recommend anyone to join in on reading through this book!
You may think Open is only tailored for tennis players, but this book is written beautifully and it constructs many themes which Agassi looks back on which we can learn from and relate to. The struggles and triumphs Agassi faces are struck upon everyone and if we give genuine commitment we can learn the meaning of life. And as Agassi wonderfully puts it: “It’s no accident, I think, that tennis uses the language of life. Advantage, service, fault, break, love, the basic elements of tennis are those of everyday existence because every match is a life in miniature.“
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