Open - Andre Agassi

Andre Agassi was not my favorite tennis player growing up. I actively disliked him for the years that his playing career overlapped my hero Ivan Lendl’s. I didn’t identify with Agassi’s raw talent and brash American-ness. I thought success and fame came too easy to him. Lendl embodied what I admired in my youth. A strong work ethic. I liked that he embraced his lack of charm. I liked that he installed an exercise machine in almost every room of his house. Importantly, everyone seemed to like Agassi and not Lendl. That appealed to my rebellious, contrarian mind as a kid.

My view of Lendl hasn’t changed. But I see Agassi very differently after I read his autobiography. His relationship with his father, coach, fame, baldness (he wore wigs!), his not-so-great relationship with Brooke Shields, and finally, his coming together with another legend, Steffi Graf.

I read the book when it came out in 2009 and it changed my ideas about famous people. I became less enthralled by fame and more curious about the process that got them where they are. Invariably, beneath the surface, talent and passion mixes with angst and suffering. Some inflicted by others, others self-inflicted. In the final analysis they were as human as can be, but with extraordinary achievements.

I hope to write a book about my life one day. It won’t have stories of winning grand slams, but may have references to wigs. I want it to come from strength, like it did for Agassi. The strength of knowing who you really are and be okay with every bit of it. To be truly open.