Open — Andre Agassi

 Tennis and life, tennis is life

Photo taken by me

Reading this book, especially in the first chapters in which Agassi talks about his childhood, it doesn’t seem like a true story at all. It reads like one of those literary fiction novels whose protagonists live such strange lives that they can only have sprung from someone’s imagination.

A father so obsessed with tennis who forces all his children to practice and play until one of them becomes a champion? But what the hell is this?

It is true that sometimes reality is so incredible that it far surpasses fantasy.

Agassi’s story is interesting, beyond his particularly troubled youth and the great successes he had in his career (after all, he was one of the greatest tennis players in history). What makes it truly compelling is that it offers the reader, and especially the tennis fan like me, a window into the mind of a tennis player. In fact, we who love to watch this sport observe the players during their matches and suffer a little with them, but we have no idea what goes on in their minds. Not really. We can only make assumptions based on their actions, their looks, their body language. We hear and read their interviews, but even then, we don’t know what they are really thinking or whether it matches their words or not.

Being able to access such intimate aspects of Andre Agassi’s mind gives us an idea, even if only from a single point of view, of what we cannot see about our favourites, of what it must mean to find yourself alone on that court, facing an opponent and struggling with your own emotions, your concentration that tends to get lost, your body that sometimes betrays you, your hopes and disappointments.

At the end of the reading, not only has Agassi become almost a friend, as far as we have got to know him, but we feel a little closer and more aware of anyone who plays tennis at a high level, who does it for a living, who continually fights against the worst of opponents: themselves.

Regardless of how much one loves tennis, I think “Open” can be an engaging and informative read for anyone.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️