Books of The Times Agassi Basks in His Own Spotlight
By Janet Maslin
Published: November 8, 2009, New York Times

OPEN An Autobiography By Andre Agassi Illustrated. 386 pages. Alfred A. Knopf. $28.95.

Andre Agassi often says in “Open” that tennis is a lonely game. But the writing of this autobiography was a team sport. Mr. Agassi’s memoir was put together by J. R. Moehringer, who wrote “The Tender Bar,” a shapely and expert memoir of his own. The same gift of gab that colored Mr. Moehringer’s tales of being a boy in a barroom now magically finds its way onto the tennis court and into Mr. Agassi’s much-analyzed, follicularly challenged head.

Right - Photo of Andre Agassi by John C. Russell

Inevitably one wonders which of them actually wrote “it’s the main reason for my pigeon-toed walk” about Mr. Agassi’s troublesome bottom vertebra. The ease with which Mr. Moehringer slips into telling someone else’s story is both consummate and spooky. As for Mr. Agassi, he uses his writing partner in the same way he uses his tennis support staff: as talented individuals in a universe where he, Mr. Agassi, is the one and only sun. (He said that he offered to put Mr. Moehringer’s name on the book, and that Mr. Moehringer declined.)

Welcome to Mr. Agassi’s world. As described in “Open” it is lively but narrow, since Mr. Agassi’s curiosity does not extend far beyond tennis, more tennis, the misery of tennis, the way sportswriters misunderstand tennis and the irritating celebrity that tennis stardom confers. The biggest extracurricular events in Mr. Agassi’s life have been prompted by episodes of “60 Minutes” (one of which inspired him to open a charter school for at-risk children) and by friends’ predictions about which women he would meet, court and marry.

The bullet-point highlights of “Open” have been given the tabloid treatment in advance of the book’s arrival. Its biggest headline maker is a very brief account of Mr. Agassi’s use of crystal meth in 1997, the worst year of his career. Second biggest: that Mr. Agassi has spent years lying through his teeth to interviewers about his love of the game. Third biggest: those frosted mullets might have been part toupee. Shaving his head and liberating himself from fake hair seems actually to have been one of the few joyous things that the otherwise glum and weepy Mr. Agassi has done.

Given the anticlimactic nature of these revelations, what exactly keeps “Open” going? Somebody on the memoir team has great gifts for heart-tugging drama. And through some combination of Mr. Agassi’s keen memory and Mr. Moehringer’s narrative skills, “Open” is cleverly bookended by two all-important tennis matches. It begins with the 2006 United States Open, Mr. Agassi’s last tournament, and with a you-are-there tour of the weary champ’s psyche. “This will no longer be tennis, but a raw test of wills,” the book says with gladiatorial bravado.

Then, mid-showdown at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Mr. Agassi’s mind is “forcibly spinning” into the past, as if it were a whirling tennis ball. And as the book moves into full flashback mode: “I see everything with bright, startling clarity, every setback, victory, rivalry, tantrum, paycheck, girlfriend, betrayal, reporter, wife, child, outfit, fan letter, grudge match and crying jag.”

Cut to childhood. Mr. Agassi is 7 and forced into tennis servitude by a father so tough that he pulls out his own nose hair. For that and many other reasons little Andre is afraid to resist his father’s indomitable will. And his father, himself an ex-athlete, is so determined to make his son succeed that when Andre wins a trophy for sportsmanship (i.e., for something short of winning), his father smashes it to pieces.

Years later, as a tennis star married to Brooke Shields, he’s irritated as he watches her film an appearance on some television show he’s barely heard of (“Friends”). He stomps out of the studio, goes home and smashes his trophies himself. This is what passes for adult behavior during much of his grueling yet cosseted tennis career.

Among the more genuinely startling elements of “Open” is its scornful depiction of Ms. Shields as shallow, materialistic, dense and not sufficiently interested in Mr. Agassi’s career. (Though she does, damningly, show some interest in her own.) Mr. Agassi does not easily forgive, and his book is larded with extremely backhanded compliments for those who have crossed him. “I envy Pete’s dullness,” the book says of Mr. Agassi’s frequent rival Pete Sampras. “I wish I could emulate his spectacular lack of inspiration, and his peculiar lack of need for inspiration.” And yet Mr. Sampras is one of the more highly regarded opponents in Mr. Agassi’s story.

“Open” devotes a lot of space to thumbnail descriptions of matches and opponents, a litany that would drone on without dynamic, writerly flourishes. “The second set turns into a street fight and a wrestling match and pistols at 50 paces,” the books says of a first-round match at the French Open against the Argentine Franco Squillari.
Janet Maslin's full review at NYT.
And for a review from the other side of the Atlantic this from Sunday's Observer.