I've always been an Andre Agassi fan. He made me get more
interested in tennis. He was flashy and had a great personality. He
was very charming and interesting. I've been lucky enough to see
him play in person (and WIN!).
How shocking to read that Andre hated tennis! This is not just an
in-depth look into Andre's life, but also into the 'secret' world
of tennis. There's some juicy stuff here: the 'nice' Jimmy Conners
was really a first-class pr*ck; the best tennis player who ever
lived - Sampras, lived-up to my assumption of being boring,
extremely uninteresting and kinda douchey; Brooke Shields was a
broke, lonely and washed-up has-been when she met Andre; Andre wore
a hairpiece (he recounts funny memories of that!); he hung out with
David Foster and Kevin Costner - and somehow, Kevin's kids made a
real, lasting impression on him; and the list goes on.
What I liked most about this book was Andre's honesty. He wasn't
afraid to say things that made him look bad. He shared lots of
details that many celebrities would NEVER do. It was VERY
well-written. He did have help with the writing and organizing of
his thoughts, but these are his memories - and are very
comprehensive.
What I missed was 'the other side' of the story. While I understand
that most autobiographies are just the authors' thoughts, I would
have liked to have known WHY his fellow tennis players seemed to
dislike him so much. Was he considered a 'snob' because he simply
didn't associate with them? Was he ostracized because of his weird
clothing and wild hairdo? Sure, he had a smart mouth when he was
young - but why couldn't Connors even seem to have some emotion for
this guy when he retired? Did Agassi steal Connors' thunder? It
left me with too many unanswered questions.
Agassi is very candid about his girlfriends, but doesn't go into
too many embarrassing details. I can't say that his descriptions of
Brooke Shields are flattering. She comes across as controlling,
overbearing, self-centred, and very extroverted. Steffi, on the
other hand, comes across as the EXACT opposite - complacent,
agreeable, humble and extremely shy.
This book really read like a novel about a boys journey to manhood.
About a boy with an overbearing father who had to learn how to know
what he wanted and know how to express it.
I was deeply, deeply moved most of all by his extraordinary
relationship with his trainer, Gil. Gil was like his surrogate
father. The father who pushed, but did it in such a supportive and
lovable way. Rarely do we, as human beings, get to experience such
a close friendship/kinship to someone that we meet along the way in
our lilves. The loyalty between those two men was quite inspiring.
I have my spouse and my family, but I gotta say, I'd like to have a
Gil, too (and his magic Gil Water!).
Agassi is also a very emotional, passionate and giving man. Sure, a
lot of celebrities give to those that are unfortunate...but hearing
him recount the times he 'gave' and how it made him feel was quite
inspirational.
I can't help but wonder what Shields, Sampras, Connors, Chang,
McEnroe and his Dad think of his book, since I think these people
stand out as having been portrayed negatively in some way. I
suspect that only Shields would actually READ the book (I think the
other males wouldn't give his book the time of day - which probably
justifies the negative comments in the book), but I am sure they'll
all hear what was said about them.
This was truly a delicious read...and I will never, ever feel the
same way about a shower again!