Andre Agassi's <i>Open</i> Brings Out a Dark Point Of View Of Tennis

When I picked up Andre Agassi's autobiography, Open I thought that Agassi was going to just write about his career and how he didn't really like tennis all that much. I became hooked to the book because not only did he bring out a different aspect of tennis, but he also made some astounding confessions. His use of crystal meth and denial to the ATP shocked me most.

I loved watching Andre play as a veteran because he seemed to have a good feel for the game. For me to learn that he hated the sport makes me think twice. Even though at some points in the book he expressed love for tennis, he was never really excited to compete in any tournaments, besides the Davis Cup.

All of his rivals are brought out to be people who beat him in a winnable match, or rivals of his three coaches, Nick Bollettieri, Brad Gilbert, and Darren Cahill.

I can easily understand the reasons for Andre not wanting to be a pro. He was hitting tennis balls since the age of three. While playing tennis might be fun, it is not a great sport when your teacher, his dad Mike Agassi, was yelling no f in thinking in your ear.

At one, Andre was banished to what thought of as a jail, the Bollettieri Academy. While he was attending tennis school there, he learned at a high school, The Brandenton Academy. After threatening to drop out of the tennis academy, he ended up not completing high school.

The beginning of his pro life brought a few things to enjoy. His matches against legends and idols such as John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, were great. He was even forced to rebel to show his thoughts on the world. He was not winning and was going on losing streaks of more than four matches at a time. In late 1987, he finally won a tournament, in Brazil and a moment of joy seemed to enter his life.

That joy quickly disappeared.

Andre went on to shock himself and the world by winning Wimbledon 1992, his first grand slam title. Once again, when he married actress Brooke Shields things were looking up. His pairing with Brooke was sour, and Andre didn't care because he was not sure that he wanted to be married in the first place.

Andre many times contemplated retirement but was never able to pull the trigger. After two years with Brooke, he divorced. Things plummeted further down. He had already left Nick and was now being coached by Brad Gilbert. His trainer, and best Friend was Gil. He was doing well outside of tennis, but on the court he was plummeting.

After breaking up with Brooke, Andre decides to go after Steffie Graf. Agassi had a hard time keeping pace with the 22 time slam champ. He finally gets a date with her, but it was hard for him. By the time he retired in 2006, the couple had two kids, Jaden and Jaz.

I think that Agassi lived a tough life and he brought out a lot of things that he didn't have to say. There were also some very important things, like his use of crystal meth, his fake hairpiece, his dropping out of high school, and, most importantly, his hate for tennis and his father.

Agassi had the right idea in writing an autobiography to show some very important hidden aspects of his life and tennis. He might have, though, gotten the wrong sense in some people's mind. That for one, he was not as great a player as he truly was. Also, he might have lured people away from watching great tennis.

For me, this book did quite the opposite, wanting me to dig deeper into the lives of today's pros and stars of tennis. This book might have inspired others to do the same.

This book must have helped Agassi get a lot of his shoulders and I respect for coming out with his secrets in such a way.

For the people like Marat Safin, who think that Agassi should be stripped of all his titles, that makes absolutely no sense. Agassi's only terrible thing was using meth, which is not an enhancement drug. The dropping out of high school, fake hairpiece, and all that other stuff has nothing to do in his ability as a tennis player, and, frankly, from reading the book, Agassi would not have really minded getting stripped of all his titles.

To all people who don't like Andre or tennis, for that matter, I would have to say, reading Open was a story to make people feel bad for him, which it did, and also, this book should simply feel more for the players of today's tennis.

For those of you who have yet to read Open I would recommend it to tennis players, fans, and anyone who wants to know about Andre Agassi.