Andre Agassi- a very OPEN book about world no. 1 Tennis player who hated tennis the most

First I heard of Agassi was in early 90s when he refused to play in Wimbledon because they mandated white clothing. Since I was cricket buff, which was still mostly played in white, and have always believed in traditions of sports, I didn't think much of Agassi. who does he think he is? My favorite was Boris Becker and at most I can watch Ivan Lendl at that time, because he was no. 1 and never won the Wimbledon. Remember those were the days when most homes in India still relied on DD to show some matches of Wimbledon from London in evening time. Steffi Graf was another favorite because she started beating Martina Navratilova. So both my favorite players were Germans..

After that whenever I have seen or heard of Agassi, he was always with long hair and earrings.. always playing Pete Sampras. and loosing half the time. which meant he won half the time as well but that I didn't realize then. and he was no.1 for some time as well. but then he fell of the radar...

Then he was in news again when it became common news that Agassi and Stefi Graf are couple now. I was bit surprised though, couldn't think of any other tennis couple who were both world no. 1 at some time and Grand Slam champions... It was bit odd to see Stefi in Agassi's box during his matches..but anyway, I have never cared about sports people's personal life, I only watch them play...

Then Becker retired, Sampras retired, and then Agassi was no. 1 again. I thought every one else must be very bad.. I stopped following much of Tennis from 2002 onwards, India was doing so well in Cricket those days..

2005 onwards it was time for Federer and Nadal. Their 2008 Wimbledon final was epic and I was in London, lucky to watch it on TV live..But Agassi was still around and playing mostly US Slams finals.. I started watching his matches..not bad for 35 year old player I thought.. then he retired as well..

I was not following tennis much off late. Nadal and Federer were playing most slams finals and I don't even remember the top 5 seeded players. In 90s, I used to remember top 20. well , then I used to remember match figures of Kapil Dev bowling also from 80s..

Cut to 2011, Infosys was hosting the Annual Sales conference in Las Vegas in Aug 2011. Some of my colleagues were going from Stockholm and I heard about the guest speaker from them.. Andre Agassi.. Hmm, I thought, nice idea to call in a sports person as key note speaker and for motivational talks. and rightly so as he lives in Vegas. Still, I thought , It will be good for every one to hear a world champion speak. They always have nice stories to tell...

After couple of weeks, I asked Reza (Infosys colleague) about the Agassi session, I am glad that I asked him as he was the one who attended from Stockholm team, and he was impressed. And he said that Agassi opened his speech with statement, "I hate Tennis". Everyone laughed. Everyone thought it's really funny way of open his speech as most speaker try to do, coming from legend of Tennis, its really funny. but then Agassi was serious and he explained why. My colleague was so impressed that on his way back , he bought his book at the airport to read.

Interesting, I thought. Few days later, I got hold of his autobiography (and rightly named as OPEN) as well, in Kindle format. I realized, ok, This will be the first book I will read electronically. I have always preferred to read books traditional hard copy way, because that's the way I have always read it.

After few weeks (and after completing the mammoth biography of Steve Jobs, which i will talk about in my next blog), I got to it. and I just finished last week.

What a nice book it was, to be honest, I was bit skeptical as some of the earlier autobiographies I had read were in 2 categories, one where the sports person was a hero, bragging about his talent and efforts through out his life, or the other kind where there was no story, just details of person's match records, results and his travel log. Also, this was the first autobiography I was reading who was not a cricketer, last one I read was of Steve Waugh, 970 pages, but that's for another day...

This book is engaging, as if Agassi is talking through his life with you, written as first person in conversational style, with short and sharp sentences, funny at most times but insightful none the less. it keeps you engaged and entertained throughout. and also tell you about Agassi the person as well as the player..

It starts with a day before one of his matches of later years..with kids and stefi around..how he prepares and goes about his schedule, glimpses of discipline of top class sports person.. then he cuts back to the age of 7, early days of his struggle with his father pushing him to hit harder..there is dragon, which spits tennis balls..through the eyes of 7 year old, looks real.

then some stories about his early playing days, and his dad pushing him.. playing tournaments, winning most, loosing some, his first loss was due to cheating, and he will get back to that..

then moves to academy, meets some of his long time companions, some by fate, some by chance and some by choice..

life goes on.. winning, loosing and playing..some times not playing and finding meaning of life..then playing again..some funny incidents and some when he cried.. off the court struggles, first commercial deal with Nike, and loosing all the money in 2 years.. first affair..called off by girl..meeting Brooke shields.. and getting married.. and getting divorced.. mention of "Friends" TV serial shooting episode which started problem between them. I have seen that episode few times and now to think this has started ground for Agassi and Brooke shields moving away is shocking.. and then he mentions, he hates Boris Becker.. I am shocked again, Agassi hates my favorite tennis player... he portrays completely different picture of Becker.. but then, they were competitors.. I am ok. They had their reasons..I only watch them play..

Agassi also mentions that first time he approached Stefi even before he met Brooke, but there was no response.. his whole story of his courtship with Stefi, sending flowers and waiting for days for phone to ring, it doesn't seem that these 2 people involved are world champions and no. 1 players.. I am sure he will have great time telling this story to his kids in "How I Met your Mother" TV serial kind of way..

Though the book moves at fast pace, if you look closely, the struggles of champion comes out, the discipline, hard work and dedication is hard to miss.. and another important point that he makes it clear that no one makes it to top alone. He met right people and he kept them, they stayed together. Without them, Agassi would not have played 1000+matches, highest in tennis history.. and would not have become World no. 1 twice, first time because his father wanted him to, and second time because he himself wanted it... for once he wanted to be no. 1, and he did..

He has called some of the key moments of his matches in so much details that I had to go to you tube and watch the videos.. its great to see the action knowing what player was thinking at that time.. especially the one he played and defeated Becker in 95 US open semifinal.. he almost didn't shake hands after the match.. and its shown in the video as well on You Tube.

So I finally read my first real book on iPad, and that brings me to topic of my next blog, Steve Jobs..but that's next week...