Open

Open is the autobiography of world-famous tennis player Andre Agassi in which he details his struggles and successes on the way to self-awareness and balance while he was also trying to handle the constant pressures and difficulties that came from being one of the best tennis players in the world.

When Agassi was only seven years old, he spent every day playing tennis against a tennis ball machine his dad had built in their backyard. Agassi hit up to 2,500 balls a day as his father yelled directions on how to improve his technique.

It’s easy to understand why Agassi would resent the sport. His father was an aggressive and violent man, and Agassi didn’t dare resist. His dad was determined for his son to succeed, and Agassi did what he asked.

Agassi’s dad had dreamed of being a famous tennis player himself as a young child in Tehran. Sadly, he had no one to play with and took up boxing instead. He went to the Olympics for Iran but never won a medal. Because of his own failure, he was obsessed with ensuring his son would receive an Olympic medal.

It wasn’t long before Agassi was competing with people much older than himself. He beat his father at nine. Soon he won youth tournaments. The tennis academy he entered at 14 felt more like military school. Kids slept on bunks and played tennis all day long, cut off from the world.

Agassi began to rebel. But smoking weed, wearing jeans for practice, and a pink mohawk weren’t enough to get him in trouble. The teachers knew Agassi was one of the most talented tennis players to ever grace the school.

Agassi was just 16 when he placed second in the final of the Florida Masters tournament, but he struggled with his feelings about tennis. For one, he hated it, and he would have to face that for the rest of his career. Soon came sponsorship and tours, and the fame. Though he was gathering some big wins, he felt hollow inside. Young Agassi stood out with his denim tennis shorts and spiked mullet, but he never really felt like he had his own identity. Though he had many big wins, he had lost to some pretty big giants in his early years. One of these, Ivan Lendl, dismissed Agassi as “a haircut and forehand.” There were many accusations in his early career that he was all style and no substance. But all of this changed when he landed a Wimbledon title in 1992. The press erupted with his first grand slam win, and finally, people recognized him for the talent he had. Even Agassi’s overly critical father was finally…