Review: Open by Andre Agassi

The good

A fascinating inside look at the world of professional tennis. Here are some of the items I found especially interesting:

• Agassi says, over and over, that he hates tennis. Like genuinely hates it and despises it. And has wanted to quit many, many times.

• The toll of professional sports on the body. Some of my favorite bits: making it to a grand slam final at the age of 35 was considered “impossible”, and while Agassi managed to pull it off, it came at a huge cost, as at that age, he had so many back issues he could barely move, required regular cortisone injections, couldn’t sleep in beds, and so on; the description of his final match, where he played Benjamin Becker, and both of them ending up lying side by side in trainer beds, dealing with awful cramps and pains, and holding hands, was memorable.

• The superstitions / routines athletes have. If it worked once, do it again, and again, forever. Agassi once forgot to bring underwear, so he went commando for a big match, and won. After that, he never wore underwear to a match again.

• How professional athletes often have at least one psychotic parent applying intense pressure on them from when they are kids. Agassi’s dad wanted all his kids to go pro, forced them all to play tennis for hours a day, even gave tried giving them speed before matches to enhance their performance. Sounds like Steffi Graf’s dad was also quite psychotic. I guess to be a professional athlete, you have to start playing at such a young age, that it’s unlikely any kid would do it without intense pressure from their parents.

• How many times Agassi lost. Even when he was number one in the world, every single year would be full of losses. I guess to some extent, it’s obvious: no one can win every single grand slam. But hearing the psychological impact of one loss after another was pretty eye opening. High level athletics requires astonishing perseverance in the face of constant failure.

• How much of tennis is about managing fatigue, injuries, and confidence / focus. Sure, sometimes, a player would dominate another from a pure skill perspective, but Agassi describes so many matches where he won by running the other player down, or taking advantage of some injury that player had, or how much the tide could shift from someone gaining or losing confidence. Such an interesting mix of skill, physical ability, and mental ability.

The not so good

• The book starts out very strong, with lots of great anecdotes and stories, but it carries on just a bit too long. Agassi discusses so many of his matches, set by set, game by game, sometimes even point by point, and while it’s deeply interesting at the beginning, it becomes a bit repetitive by the end.

Rating: 4 stars