His match narratives are riveting, from his early conquests as a junior, to his Gold medal, to his countless triumphant and agonizing bouts with Pete Sampras. I would be remiss not to mention the tennis sagas in Open.
Time and time again, they brought Agassi’s relationships either to screeching halts or detonated them in spectacular explosions of anger and self-neglect. But core wounds are called ‘core’ for good reason: they are incredibly difficult to uncover, and even harder to heal. I found myself constantly rooting for him to rise above his core wounds and to take steady control of his life. In Open Agassi, even more powerfully than he reveals insight into his life of fame, pulls back the curtain on his inner struggles: demons, shadows, dissenters, saboteurs. His dad’s calculations were correct, because one day he would be unbeatable, but only for short periods of time, as he would consistently be his own worst enemy. His dad insisted that he hit 2500 balls each day – at age seven! – because then he would hit nearly one million balls a year and certainly one day be unbeatable. As a seven-year-old, he was not permitted to be a child, but instead, under his father’s heavy rule, could exist only as a future tennis star. The emotional scars that Agassi amassed during his formative years haunted him throughout his tennis career, sabotaging personal and professional relationships and causing significant personal neglect. For Agassi, it was in a sense both – a father who was emotionally disconnected and a ruthless despot. Yet on the inside, he was deeply burdened by torment that plagues many men who were raised by fathers who were either absent or ruled by intimidation.
On the outside he had it all: adoring fans, incredible wealth, beautiful women, fast cars, the #1 ranking. I usually have four to six books on the go at any time, but all of them were put on pause for the day and a half it took me to devour this book.Īgassi’s ascension to tennis titan was meteoric, and his rise to global stardom was almost as spectacular.
Open by Andre Agassi is a narrative tour de force.
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