Open - Agassi

Andre Agassi has got to be the ultimate Alpha Male.  Women seem to have always been attracted to his looks (my wife), his sheer athleticism (my wife), and his rebel image (my wife).  Men see him as a modern day gladiator, the ultimate warrior who must rely on his own physical attributes while going into battle.  Agassi will sometimes being defeated, he will sometimes emerge victorious, but he will always be engaged in a bloody battle, and he has always risen from the ashes to go even further.

“Open” the recent autobiography by the Andre Agassi has already received a number of good reviews.  After reading his book, and finding it extraordinary for a number of reasons, I thought I would take this review in another direction.

Early on Agassi proclaims that his life has been one of contradictions.  The very fact that he hates tennis, yet has been ranked number one in the world speaks volumes to this contradiction -- how can you be number one in the world doing something you hate?  When I first heard about this book and that it revealed Agassi’s disdain for the game I thought perhaps we would find, tucked into a short paragraph, hidden away on a page deep in the book, a revealing confession that he secretly hated tennis.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  From the opening pages straight to the end, this man hated tennis.  Ironically that has to have been the best thing for a tennis loving world…because it was the sheer emotion of this contradiction that gave Agassi his personality, his character on and off the court—his, “this kid is different”, image.  We couldn't place it at the time, but it's clear now...a rebel doesn't rebel against something he loves.  

“Image is everything”, the slogan imposed on Andre by Canon that he confesses he loathed at the time but somehow never understood...he still either misunderstands it or uses brilliantly… has us feel sorry for him that he was subjected to such a narcissistic image imposed on him by the big unfeeling company taking advantage of the naïve rising star.  But let’s face it; it was those early, ever present, Canon commercials that kicked off the Agassi Brand just as sure as it was the million balls a year his father forced him to “hit harder” in their back yard before he was sent away to the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy already in possession of his deadly forehand.  That image of an image launched a 1000’s ships, sold a lot of cameras not to mention Nike shoes, and Oakley sun glasses.  But it was the image of a rebel, not the image of a new and rising star that earned him a new Dodge Viper from the President of Oakley when he appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated wearing his thermonuclear shades.  It was exactly his image that was everything.  

Let’s consider his list of victories– Brooke Shields (International Superstar), Barbara Streisand (International Superstar), Steffi Graff (International Superstar), Wimbledon, four Australian Opens, two US Opens, the French Open, and an Olympic Gold Medal. Each one of those conquests, alone, places more behind the shades than we will never see.  For instance, if as he claims, he can remember the details of each of his major professional matches, we are not just dealing with a man of huge athleticism we are dealing with a man of great intellectual powers.  How so in a man who dropped out of school in the ninth grade?  The amount of detail he places into some of the conversations he recalls is also spectacular, bordering on photographic– are we to believe his memory is that accurate?   And what about his inner circle of friends.  He didn't choose an entourage of yes men, he chose those that would challenge, stretch and grow him both professionally and personally.

Gil the athletic trainer at UNLV left his sweet job to become his personal trainer.  Nick Bollettieri, the owner of his tennis academy, not one the best of terms becomes his first professional coach. He convinced JP a successful evangelical minster to leave his flock and become his personal spiritual advisor. Later he convinces Brad a successful tennis player, writer, and coach to drop everything to become his coach in the twilight of his career.  Finally, he chose JR, a Pulitzer Prize winning author, to shadow write his autobiography.  On what planet does a Pulitzer Prize winner shadow write anything? And I've already mentioned the women he dated -- they are not ordinary women -- they all saw something in him, behind those shades, something that we mere mortals can't even begin to fathom.  

 I see something in Agassi as well…something that took him forty years to find himself. The image is real, the brand is real, and he is real. “Open” gives us a small glimpse inside his real door.  I for one thank him for taking the time to share what he found with us.