Kim Carducci, Founder of Everything Athletes, reviews Professional Tennis Player Andre Agassi's autobiography, Open. We look at the book's thesis, summary, strengths, and weaknesses. contact@everythingathletes.com
Open: An Autobiography
Author: Andre Agassi
Buy Open on Amazon
Link to transcript of the full book review: www.everythingathletes.com/everything-athletes-book-reviews-open-by-andre-agassi
Favorite quotes from the book:
Page 8 - “Tennis is the sport in which you talk to yourself. No athletes talk to themselves like tennis players. Pitchers, golfers, goalkeepers, they mutter to themselves, of course, but tennis players talk to themselves - and answer...why? Because tennis so damned lonely. Only boxers can understand the loneliness of tennis players - and yet boxers have their corner men and managers…Tennis is the closest to solitary confinement.”
19 - “...he plays with desperation, a more powerful drug than cortisone.” (about his opponent)
20 - “I win the next point. Deuce again. Elation. I give him the next point. Backhand into the net. Advantage Baghdatis. Depression.”
25 - “People often ask what it’s like, this tennis life, and I can never think how to describe it. But that word comes closest. More than anything else, it’s a wrenching, thrilling, horrible, astonishing whirl.”
29 - “I like the feeling of hitting a ball dead perfect. It’s the only peace. When I do something perfect, I enjoy a split second of sanity and calm.”
38 - “...I’ll now have a loss on my record - forever. Nothing can ever change it. I can’t endure the thought, but it’s inescapable: I’m fallible. Blemished. Imperfect. A million balls hit against the dragon - for what?”
62 - (after losing) “I look into the stands for my father, and he’s staring down, concerned. Not angry - concerned. I’m concerned too, but damned angry also, sick with self-loathing...I say hateful things to myself as I pack my tennis bag.”
90 - (talk with his friend about rigged carnival games to win a teddy bear prize) “Nah. You just have to toss two rubber rings around the neck of a Coke bottle. We’re athletes. We’ve got this.”
127 - “What if today wasn’t a bad day, but my best day? I think I’d rather die.”
130 - “People, I think, don’t understand the pain of losing in a final. You practice and travel and grind to get ready. You win for one week, four matches in a row. Then you lose that final match and your name isn’t on the trophy, your name isn’t in the record books. You lost only once, but you’re a loser.”
132 - “I laugh more than I’ve laughed since I was a boy, and even though it’s tinged with hysteria, the laughter has healing properties. For a few hours, late at night, laughter makes me feel like the old Andre, whoever that is.”
206 - “I’ve always noticed the way players silently anoint the alpha dog in their midst, the way they single out the one player who’s feeling it, who’s likeliest to win. At this tournament, for the first time, I’m that player. I feel them all watching me in the locker room. I feel them noting my every move, the little things I do, even studying how I organize my bag. They’re quicker to step aside when I walk by, eager to give up the training table. A new degree of respect is directed toward me, and while I try not to take it seriously, I can’t help but enjoy it.”
218 - “Every day this loss feels new. Every day I tell myself to stop thinking about it, and every day I can’t. The only respite is fantasizing about retirement.”
231 - “This is the only perfection there is, the perfection of helping others. This is the only thing we can do that has any lasting value or meaning. This is why we’re here. To make each other feel safe.”
255-256 - “A look of pure relief, and gratitude, and joe, washes over her face, and in this look, in this courageous little girl, I find the thing I’ve been seeking, the philosopher’s stone that unites all the experiences, good and bad, of the last few years. Her suffering, her resilient smile in the face of that suffering, my part in easing her suffering - this, this is the reason for everything. How many times must I be shown? This is why we’re here. To fight through the pain and, when possible, to relieve the pain of others. So simple. So hard to see.”
226 - “Besides, it’s always easier psychologically to lose in the semis than in the final.”
272 - “I’ve been cheered by thousands, booed by thousands, but nothing feels as bad as the booing inside your own head during those ten minutes before you fall asleep.”
304 - “I raise my arms and my racket falls on the clay. I’m sobbing. I’m rubbing my head. I’m terrified by how good this feels. Winning isn’t supposed to feel this good. Winning is never supposed to matter this much. But it does, it does, I can’t help it.”
304 - “Without Nick I wouldn’t be here. Without all the ups and downs with Brooke, even the misery of our final days, this wouldn’t be possible. I even reserve some gratitude for myself, for all the good and bad choices that led here.”