Book Review : Open by Andre Agassi

Love, fault and break -?

The headline will lead you to thinking that this is going to be a tragic romantic novel.?

But I assure you that it’s not tragic.?

And certainly not romantic.?

This book is about one man’s journey through life.?

A man - ever evolving and constantly searching for himself.?

And it's just that he happened to play tennis. Very well.?

This book is more about survivability.?

What you do when life throws everything but the kitchen sink at you.?

And then, throws the kitchen sink??

A journey that surfs through highs and lows; lows, lows and more lows and a few highs up along the way.?

The undying spirit of an ordinary man, who dusts off and gets up, blow after blow, is what makes ‘Open’, an autobiography by the tennis legend Andre Agassi, a memoir to celebrate the extraordinary.?

Hitting a ball dead perfect - The only peace.

Irony.?

The opening chapter is titled ‘The End’. Religiously sticking to the theme.

When I first read Open, what floated across was stark irony.?

When I re-read it, I also spotted a love-hate relationship that existed not only in his career but also with people and his own self too.??

And what caught my attention is the display of his alternating emotion towards tennis like a constant reminder in the book -?

“I slide to my knees and say : Please let this be over.??

Then : I don’t want it to be over.”

He admits that he hated tennis with a dark, dark passion.

And yet, ‘He plays tennis not because he loves it, but he cannot live with defeat’.?

Connecting more at a personal level, reading Robin Sharma’s ‘The 5 AM Club’ consistently not before 9AM, seems too negligible a contrast in my life.

‘I like people with contradictions, of course.’ says Agassi.?

Please let this be over -?

A very strong father-son bond reflects the evolution of the tennis star’s life.?

This relationship starts with Agassi saying, “My father says that if I hit 2,500 balls each day, I’ll hit 17,500 balls each week, and at the end of one year I’ll have hit nearly one million balls. He believes in math. Numbers, he says, don’t lie. A child who hits one million balls each year will be unbeatable.”

And ends with, ’Quit, he says. After last night (tennis match), you have nothing left to prove. Just quit, Go Home. You did it. I can't see you suffer anymore. I can’t see you like this. It’s too painful’, Mike Agassi telling his son Andre after 20 years of the long hard toil.?

That he played tennis sheerly out of fear for his father. And Mike Agassi, wanted his son to be the No.1 tennis player in the world.?

Agassi says that though he feared his father, he always loved him. And that his father loved him as much as he loved tennis. And then he muses, was love for tennis and love for Andre, the same to his father?

Standing on the shoulders of the giants -?

Agassi’s professional tennis life talks more about his relationship with his personal trainer, Gil Reyes. The surrogate father that he became to Andre.?

‘Somewhere up there is a star with your name on it. I might not be able to help you find it, but I’ve got pretty strong shoulders, and you can stand on my shoulders while you’re looking for that star. You hear? For as long as you want. Stand on my shoulders and reach, man. Reach.’ - Gil to Andre.?

The book contains details on his personal relationships, his marriages and seeking spiritual guidance from his known circles.?

Him playing the second fiddle to Pete Sampras, and other wonderful accounts of his other tennis matches, his on-court struggles and successes forms the last bit of the puzzle, making Agassi the champion that he is.?

Respected as ‘The Punisher’ , because of the way he runs guys back and forth. And that smoking forehand, all made him a magic to watch on court.?

I wonder what Rafael Nadal should be called ? ‘The Punisher’s Punisher?’ or ‘The Punish’est’ , maybe ?

I don’t want it to be over -?

‘Wouldn’t that feel like heaven, Andre? To just quit? To never play tennis again??

But I can’t.?

Not only would my father chase me around the house with my racket, but something in my gut, some deep unseen muscle, won’t let me.?

I hate tennis, hate it with all my heart, and still I keep playing, keep hitting all morning, and all afternoon, because I have no choice.?

No matter how much I want to stop, I don’t.?

I keep begging myself to stop, and I keep playing, and this gap, this contradiction between what I want to do and what I actually do, feels like the core of my life’

Agassi’s career is much like that of a Software Engineer in India. Just that Agassi got bountiful money and endorsements and stardom for doing what he hated, and standing by it.?

‘I can’t imagine all these people trying to be like Andre Agassi, since I don’t want to be Andre Agassi.’

My Musings -?

All success stories need not have a rags-to-riches background.

And yet, reading this book showcased that a common man with daily ups and downs, with absolutely average life's flow but, with an uncommon determination and hard work can reach his goals.

Agassi’s life debunks the commonly held perception that unless something earth shattering happens, one cannot reach the zenith of achievement.

I found the book as vibrant and colourful as the hairdo’s Agassi sports throughout his career - from pink mohawk to frosted tip mullets to unfortunate toupee fall off to bald and finally to the cleanly shaven look - in a way purging all things and looking straight at you!?

I can only imagine how wonderful an instagram account that would have made.

To buy or not ?

The good, the bad and the ugly. It's all here.?

‘After finishing this I appreciate Agassi more as a human than a tennis player’, reads a? review on GoodReads.?

You don’t even have to be a tennis fan to enjoy it. You just need to appreciate an interesting life story.

You will reflect on your own life, all the way back to the beginning. The wins, the losses, the highs and the lows in life are best faced full on, with focus, and being ready - to return serve. Hit harder!