"Open: An Autobiography" by Andre Agassi

First of all, I didn't read this book.  I only read an excerpt in Sports Illustrated.

Second, I warn anybody who read past my first sentence that this post may be more of a sports blog than a book blog.

Why am I bogging on it then?  I was inspired.  And I was looking for blog filler.  And I did read that excerpt.

Agassi grew up playing tennis.  He went to Nick Bollettier's tennis academy as a kid.  Like a lot of those kids, when he emerged as a pro he was a bit of a punk.  As a player, he had some success in tournaments and would disappear in others.

At some point during his career, though, Andre Agassi transformed himself from resident tennis "punk" to elder statesman.  It seemingly happened overnight.  I trace it back to when he shed his formerly-trademark locks.  All of a sudden, the guy was an adult.  He had matured.  Or at least that's how his public persona evolved.

For most of his career, he single-handedly made American tennis relevant.  When I was a kid, American tennis was always relevant.  Players like Connors, Evert and McEnroe made it relevant.  Sure, the end of Agassi's career coincided with the end of the career of arguably the best tennis player of all time--Pete Sampras, another American.  Because Sampras' public persona was very different than Agassi's--Sampras was basically an automaton who showed little or no emotion on the court--Agassi was the soul of American tennis.

American tennis hasn't been relevant since Agassi's retirement.

That brings me to "Open."  Does the world need an autobiography on Agassi?  Personally, I think not.  And some of you have undoubtedly read portions of the book that have been released.  Did we really need another overbearing father book?  Really?  Did we really need an "I took [insert drug name here--crystal meth in Agassi's case] but escaped punishment because I was a celebrity and never had to take responsibility for my actions" book?  Again, I think not.

Listen, maybe the book was cathartic for Agassi to write.  If this is the case, he can be forgiven.  I hope he didn't write the book to make a buck or because he was tired of being "irrelevant" or because he wanted forgiveness for his transgressions.

No matter his motivation, do you really think there's anything here that we haven't seen or heard before?  Lest you not be confused, I do not mean to trivialize Agassi's life, his upbringing, his challenges in life.  I have no doubt that his life stories are authentic.  But his audience can't identify with the typical overbearing father, drug experimentation and life difficulties of a famous wealthy world class athlete.  So the only reason to read the book is to watch a train wreck, and there are better train wrecks to watch.  Save your $$ and google "Open Andre Agassi" about a week from now, and you'll get all you need out of the book in about 15 minutes.

RIF