|
Secure checkout & satisfaction guaranteed by 
|
|
|
Open |  | Author: Andre Agassi
Publisher: Vintage
Category: eBooks
In Stock
Rating:  430 reviews
Sales Rank: 57
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Edition: 1
Pages: 400
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.342092
ASIN: B003062GEE
Publication Date: December 24, 2009
| | |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
From Andre Agassi, one of the most beloved athletes in history and one of the most gifted men ever to step onto a tennis court, a beautiful, haunting autobiography.
Agassi’s incredibly rigorous training begins when he is just a child. By the age of thirteen, he is banished to a Florida tennis camp that feels like a prison camp. Lonely, scared, a ninth-grade dropout, he rebels in ways that will soon make him a 1980s icon. He dyes his hair, pierces his ears, dresses like a punk rocker. By the time he turns pro at sixteen, his new look promises to change tennis forever, as does his lightning-fast return.
And yet, despite his raw talent, he struggles early on. We feel his confusion as he loses to the world’s best, his greater confusion as he starts to win. After stumbling in three Grand Slam finals, Agassi shocks the world, and himself, by capturing the 1992 Wimbledon. Overnight he becomes a fan favorite and a media target.
Agassi brings a near-photographic memory to every pivotal match and every relationship. Never before has the inner game of tennis and the outer game of fame been so precisely limned. Alongside vivid portraits of rivals from several generations—Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer—Agassi gives unstinting accounts of his brief time with Barbra Streisand and his doomed marriage to Brooke Shields. He reveals a shattering loss of confidence. And he recounts his spectacular resurrection, a comeback climaxing with his epic run at the 1999 French Open and his march to become the oldest man ever ranked number one.
In clear, taut prose, Agassi evokes his loyal brother, his wise coach, his gentle trainer, all the people who help him regain his balance and find love at last with Stefanie Graf. Inspired by her quiet strength, he fights through crippling pain from a deteriorating spine to remain a dangerous opponent in the twenty-first and final year of his career. Entering his last tournament in 2006, he’s hailed for completing a stunning metamorphosis, from nonconformist to elder statesman, from dropout to education advocate. And still he’s not done. At a U.S. Open for the ages, he makes a courageous last stand, then delivers one of the most stirring farewells ever heard in a sporting arena.
With its breakneck tempo and raw candor, Open will be read and cherished for years. A treat for ardent fans, it will also captivate readers who know nothing about tennis. Like Agassi’s game, it sets a new standard for grace, style, speed, and power.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 430
 This book will change you. In a good way. November 9, 2009
H. S. Brice (OC, CA)
317 out of 334 found this review helpful
So you're thinking this might be one of those recently retired famous people books aren't you? One where a celebrity, or a Politician, or a sports star cranks out hundreds of pages of self-serving, history-correcting drivel in order to cash the big advance check. A book you can't even bring yourself to finish; better than a tranquilizer at bedtime.
Well, this is certainly not that book. "Open" is a journey that I predict will stay with you for a very long time. It's a completely unexpected trip to places you've never been. I'm not one of those quasi-professional reviewers you see on Amazon. But this book practically made me write about it.
Interestingly, Open starts not at the beginning and not quite at the end. Second round, US Open, 2006.
Not the final match of Andre's career--but the one right before that.
Against a competitor you'd never heard of before or since.
The battle was against the guy across the net, and also Andre's hatred of tennis, his failing body, the demons that he harnessed to get through the unending heroic contest that seemed destined to continue until both just fell into a heap on the court. And it is so well told.
After 20 pages, I knew that this was unlike any other biography I had ever read. Couldn't put it down. Couldn't stop thinking about it. Agassi dug deeper inside than most of us ever will have to, to get to core of what made him so powerful as a player and so conflicted as a person. It is all conspicuously real: The small moments, the outlandish triumphs and the friendships that sustained him and/or corrupted him. The gauntlet he had to run through to arrive at the balance and joy he has today. It's transformative.
The headlines about this book have mostly related to Andre's drug use when he was at his lowest. But honestly, although it marked the place from which he recovered and flourished, it's only an incidental part of this story. The story is actually about perseverance, intelligence and raw talent all baked together into a very, very large American life.
If Open doesn't win a Pulitzer Prize, something is terribly wrong. Can I nominate it?
Image Is Everything November 9, 2009
prisrob (New England USA)
63 out of 67 found this review helpful
Andre Agassi has written a 'tell-all' book about his life in tennis. And, it turns out, he hated tennis. That was a bigger shocker to me than the salacious fact that he was on 'crystal meth'for a period of time. J.R. Moehringer, the author of 'A Tender Bar' and a Pulitzer Prize winner for his writing was a co-author of this autobiography. Andre loved Moehringer's writing in 'The Tender Bar', and he is correct, the man's writing and the book are excellent. This book, too, is very well written and is an exceptional read.
Andre tells us that he started playing tennis at the age of 3 and by the age of 5 he was showing an aptitude for the game. He was pushed by his father-an obsessive man who pushed his son too far and too much. In fact his father felt that education was not necessary and a hindrance to his tennis practice. Andre could never tell his father how much he hated the game because it was Andre's responsibility to help his family, and that is what he did. He left school in the ninth grade, something that has bothered him his entire career. His goal was to achieve in tennis. He was enrolled in the Bollettien tennis camp, but it felt more like a prison than a camp. The academy, in Agassi's words, was "Lord of the Flies with forehands." In retaliation Andre started wearing earrings, grew his hair long and wore loud clothes. Thus his reputation was born. As his career started to flourish, Andre, tried to keep it all together. He was known as the flamboyant player, the real player. He played the best tennis players in the world, and he was one of the best. He had an eye for the ball, and the 'tell' of players when they were about to hit the big one.
Andre Agassi talks about his rivals, the ones who were boring, the ones who kept it all together and the the real players; Pete Sampras, Boris Becker and Jimmy Connors The book is at its best when the game of tennis is being discussed. Each play during the tournaments and how he figured out how to win. He talks of his marriage to Brooke Shields, he never really wanted to be married, just like he never really liked to play tennis. His crystal meth years, the spiel he gave the Tennis Association when he tested positive for drugs. He finally met and married Steffi Graf and found the happiness that had so long eluded him.
He has built a life and a foundation that sponsors a charter school. He gave the first graduation speech and wowed the crowd. A ninth grade drop-out he has achieved success and fame. He has found his life and he has become Open. For anyone who loves tennis, this is a book that will be a fascinating look at the life of a giant in the tennis world and told in words that best describes him. He finally lives down his famous words 'Image Is Everything'.
Highly Recommended. prisrob 11-09-09
The Tender Bar
Inspiring - Must Read November 10, 2009
A. Velautham (London)
55 out of 61 found this review helpful
We have all read the press and watched the news; the drug allegations, the "I hate tennis". Tennis fans aren't quite sure whether they should feel cheated for all the love and support they have given Andre, to me the book set things straight.
Most of us look back at chapters of our lives and can identify with particularly unhappy periods. Andre kicks off the book with what was going through his head with the match against Baghdatis in the 2006 US Open. It is a blow by blow account of key parts of the match and a thought provoking glimpse into the mind and heart of a tennis player. He then goes straight into his childhood, the discomfort and unhappiness of being the child prodigy son of an obsessive father. There are weirdly honest stories - his grandmother tried to breastfeed him, very disturbing but a revelation of a dysfunctional upbringing. What seems to carry Andre through his childhood are friendships with his brother Phil and Perry who later becomes his manager. The importance of the childhood friendships are critical and from the way they are explained it is easy to understand why these friends are crucial figures for Andre.
The critical friendship is that of his mentor/guide/life coach/surrogate father Gill Reyes. Andre is taken under his wing and treated with the love and respect a father should treat his son, you sense through the stories in the book that now they have met each other neither could really exist happily without the other. His marriage with Brooke Shields is dealt with candidly, many will buy this book to find out what celebrities do behind closed doors. Whereas I did think Brooke appeared superficial from some of the things mentioned here, I think it merely shows how fame affects people differently. It appears that fame as a child makes people so perception orientated that perceptions are more important than anything else - who can judge the pressures these guys live through? Perfectly understandable in my opinion.
The drugs issue is dealt with here but only for a few pages in the book. The very weird thing is it doesn't seem like a big deal to me. Like most fans I was shocked and somewhat critical of the damage to his sport. But, I could understand after reading the book how stupid mistakes can be made. Off the book for a second truth is he wouldn't have got the endorsements for 10's of millions had he been suspended, or there would have been a clause in his existing deals that he would have broken had the allegations come out. However, reading the book and seeing what has been done with the money I can't help but feel it was better for everyone that nothing came out at the time.
Andre talks about his attraction to Stefanie from many years back, the courting process is just the same as you or I. We all have been through that 'has the phone just rung?' depression when expecting a call from someone we are interested in. It does feel almost story like the way they end up together, but we all have a story like this just not in the press.
Players are mentioned here all the time, the interesting one for me was Becker 'B.B. Socrates' they call him because he 'tries to appear intellectual but is just an overgrown farmboy', this is going to do nothing for Becker's ego. The rivalry with Becker seems more important than that with Sampras - who would have thought?
Another of those important times for Andre was a meeting with Mandela, a truly humbling experience for anyone. This times perfectly with the starting of his Charter school and I presume was a defining moment for him.
Overall, hey I got the book yesterday and I read 325 pages the first day this should tell you all you need to know. I felt sorry for Andre with his childhood but towards the end I understood how his father really wanted the best for everyone. Andre is surprisingly influenced by anyone he trusts - guided more by his heart than his head, he appears to live life to please for much of the book which is pretty much the way a child acts. His first marriage is what everyone else wants to see but he is developing on another level through his interactions with his trainer Gil, the goalposts are always changing as he tries understands what he wants from life. His 'hate' of tennis develops into an appreciation and respect.
When you read this book you will see parallels between what you go through in life with what a celebrity goes through but you go through it perhaps without the press. It is incredibly well written, so well written in fact that most will not credit Andre for the writing. This is what is says it is, an autobiography not just a tennis manual. Enjoy!
One of the best autobiographies I've read November 13, 2009
Charles Dickens
16 out of 18 found this review helpful
Most autobiographies, especially sports autobiographies, are just a chronological series of events with insight into each event. It's usually not new insight and is mostly just filled with platitudes and cliches that the author already gave in press conferences. There are always a few interesting tidbits in each of these autobiographies, and reading a bullet point summary of those tidbits in an online review is just as good as reading the actual book.
Agassi's autobiography is more like a novel. You read it and think it would make a phenomenal movie, the way it starts at the very end and then flashbacks to the beginning. You can't just read about the revelations in some online review and think you've gotten everything out of this book. This is a book that needs to be read front to back. It's superbly written -- not by Agassi himself, as he never had the education to pull that off, but he did spend thousands of hours on it and as a longtime fan I know that this is his authentic voice. In a recent interview, Andre expanded on why he and Pete Sampras were opposites by saying that when they saw each other in October 2009, Andre realized that Sampras had also just released an autobiography and tried to start a conversation by mentioning how he was so glad how his turned out, and how many thousands of hours of sweat and tears he put into it. He said that Sampras just looked at him like he was crazy. Sampras felt that an autobiography was just an encyclopedic sort of thing, not a cathartic baring of the soul. When you compare their books, it shows.
Another thing that separates this book is Agassi's remarkable memory. Agassi has always been known as one of the best analysts of the sport, and has always astounded the press with his point-by-point recollection of matches that had taken place decades before. After I play a recreational tennis match, I can barely remember the points I just played. You could ask Agassi about a point he played in 1988 and he'd be able to tell you what was going through his head, how fast the serve came at him, the sequence of shots, what someone in the crowd shouted out, what the temperature was, the humidity, the wind speed. He mentions in the book how he seems to notice the most trivial things, and once he notices them they forever stay in his mind. I'm sure if his memory was somehow measured, it would be found to be in the very upper tier in the populace. This combined with his deep, empathetic ability to notice and understand human behavior creates a truly astounding read. It is rare to find an athlete as intelligent as Agassi, and if his father hadn't been so anti-education, I believe he could have had a brilliant academic career and flourished in some intellectual field. Perhaps psychology. Sports psychology would have been an easy fit, certainly!
You don't have to be a tennis fan to enjoy this book, although you will certainly get a little bit more out of it. Similarly, a sports fan will be able to get more of it than someone who doesn't care much for any sport. However, there is not a person out there who could not gain something from reading this book. This is not simply a tennis story, or a sports story. This is a human story.
In regards to the crystal meth revelation, I will say this in his defense:
1. Testing positive for a recreational drug (crystal meth is a recreational, performance inhibiting drug, NOT a performance enhancer) in 1997, the year that he started and stopped taking the drug, had the penalty of a 3 month suspension. 3 months. That's like a nice little vacation to get rested and refreshed for the rest of the season.
2. In 1997, Agassi won nothing. He was losing in the first round of every tournament. He was playing challenger events, the minor leagues of tennis, and even losing in those. It is true that he won a few matches, and he did have a surprising run at the US Open when everyone thought he was going to quit tennis any minute. This was not fair to the players he beat - he should have been suspended at the time. However, when you really think about it, it just speaks to his talent that at his absolute lowest, when he was quite literally disabled physically, when he went out in front of that New York crowd and felt the magic and realized that he wanted to win, he was still able to muster up the game to beat world class players. At the end of the day, the only person hurt by his drug use was himself. Andre has said in recent interviews that he would happily have 1997 thrown out of his career. Have all of his results from that year blacked out. It makes absolutely no difference to the total number of titles and championships he won.
3. For the past decade, Agassi has been the most admirable person to ever come out tennis. What he's given back is remarkable. What he's done for the sport is unmatched. Tennis is an unpopular sport in the United States, but people would always tune in for Agassi, and this book is selling like hot cakes. People love Agassi, and for good reason.
This doesn't justify him lying to the ATP, but we need to keep this in perspective. It's important to understand that this doesn't diminish his legacy in the slightest. He is still one of the best tennis players of all time -- and as you'll see in this book, he may have achieved twice as much if he hadn't stumbled and fallen and beaten himself for so much of his life. He hated tennis, he admits it. His father, a man who would make Joe Jackson quiver with fear, thrust him into it as a toddler. He makes a strong argument for why it is the loneliest sport in the world, the sport most likely to produce insanity in its players. On the other hand, look at what it gave him. He loved holding up trophies and gold medals. He would never have met Stefanie without it. There was a duality to his life that I'm sure we can all relate to in some way.
Wonderful November 15, 2009
Cristina Mauro (Austin, TX United States)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
This is a wonderful book. Many people have tough childhoods and suffer at the hands of their parents (often well intentioned) abuse. But it is a rare person that has the capacity and bravery to recycle their own suffering in order to grow and learn. Agassi may not have made it past 9th grade but he is an avid and relentless student of life. I did a lot of wincing while reading this book and sometimes felt caught up and unsettled by the whirlwind as it unfolds, but there was always the anchor of Agassi's unblinking candor and his drive to tell the truth.
Throughout the book, Agassi has a knack for describing painful relationships and encounters without sounding shrill or judgmental. There is a curious objectivity in his descriptions of the brutal treatment he endures from his father...he sticks to the details and the facts and steers clear of editorializing. There are occasional lapses into self pity but they are brief, rare and, in some cases, justifiable.
I was particularly interested in Agassi's early observations of Pete Sampras. A few short years before Sampras started on the road to becoming a legend, Agassi and his brother watch him play and bemoan the early disintegration of a talented player. It is a reminder not to pass early judgement on a developing athlete (or a developing anyone for that matter). Sampras re-builds his game and goes on to become one of the greatest players ever. As their rivalry and tentative friendship unfolds Agassi's descriptions of Sampras' character come dangerously close to being petty (i.e. revealing that he gives lousy tips) but you get the sense that Sampras wouldn't care....that the two men are such polar opposites they are immune to each other off the tennis court.
It is interesting to compare Andre's early and brutal training regimen (which started in the crib) to Roger Federer who didn't start tennis until he was eight years old. Agassi is clearly a physical genius with great gifts but you wonder if he made it in tennis despite his early training rather than because of his early training. It also makes me uncomfortable and aware of the strange urgency and anxiety I feel during my eight year old's soccer games...why?
Despite the shallowness of the topic, Agassi's personal style (hairpiece, earrings, pink shorts) is one of the more compelling aspects of this book. He unwittingly creates a culture shock in the tennis world and sports culture as a whole by revealing his personal vanity and 'girly' side while maintaining a strong masculine presence. Ironically, despite his lack of personal identity he is a slave to his uniqueness and can't seem to do anything in a 'normal' mainstream way. He even overturns the Sampson myth growing stronger after a beautiful woman shaves his head. Go figure.
Agassi's philanthropy and commitment to his school and foundation comes across as grounded and sincere because it evolves over time as a product of his own suffering. He discovers the satisfaction of helping others as a survival mechanism rather than some sort of 'moral' or 'intellectual' decision.
At several junctures in this book I wondered if Agassi has undiagnosed dyslexia...he seems to have many of the stumbling blocks of dyslexia (slow learning to read, agonizing pain in the classroom, inability to learn other languages) as well as many of the strengths (creativity, charm, sensitivity and an almost freakish ability to see things in three dimensions). Dyslexics are often forced to develop their memories beyond the normal scope as a compensatory learning mechanism which helps explain his uncanny ability to remember the smallest details of every tennis match.
Agassis's romance with Steffi Graf helps to soften the book's relentless anguish. Like many of Agassi's accomplishments you get the sense that it had to be earned using his trial and error learning style. It has the elements of a fairy tale romance replete with serendipity, timing and Agassi pursuing her like a medieval knight; alongside a modern edge with Graf being an accomplished woman and very much his equal (if not superior) in many ways.
I have family members and friends that have lived in the public eye and been misrepresented by the media in ways that are both ignorant and cruel. Agassi, shares the disturbing fun house mirror aspect of being in the public eye without sounding bitter. By the end you get the sense that the public humiliations and misunderstandings forced him into a corner and ultimately made him stronger and more resilient. By the end of the story he learns to leverage his fame rather than fall victim to it.
One overarching theme in Agassi's life is his 'luck.' He is a walking contradiction...a lucky guy for whom nothing seems to come easy. There seems to be an unseen force measuring out his luck and his suffering to keep things balanced.
Another theme is lying, and again, it is full of contradiction. Although you can argue that Agassi's whole life is built around a lie (he hates tennis), Agassi comes across as a compulsively truthful person who forces himself to lie and pays a steep price for it.
Agassi offers himself up to the reader with unblinking candor. You may, or may not, like him but when you are done with this book you will know him...more than you know many of your relatives and friends. Any time a person allows himself (or herself) to be known with such depth and vulnerability it binds us closer and highlights the connections we all share. My favorite poet says it better: 'If you don't know the kind of person I am/and I don't know the kind of person you are/a pattern that others made may prevail in the world/and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.' (William StaffordThe Way It Is)
Andre Agassi (and J.R. Moehringer) have pulled off one of my favorite literary stunts...they have written a tough important book cleverly disguised as an entertaining book. Nice work.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 430
|
|
|
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED ‘AS IS’ AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME. | |
