Brooks on Books: Open by Andre Agassi.

Wow. This is an amazing, amazing memoir. It's so well written that while reading it, I kept asking myself, "Did he really write this?" Not that I think Andre Agassi is a dunce (though he does admit regret over his own lack of formal education as a youth), but it's really surprising to consume a book of this caliber by a celebrity and not see an "as told to" or "with" on the cover. Well, it turns out Agassi did get help, as we find out all the way at the end in the acknowledgements. Friend and award-winning writer J.R. Moehringer collaborated with the tennis legend, and while this doesn't diminish the work in any way, the news does kind of give you, "Ahhhh, that explains it."

First let me say that any tennis fan needs to read "Open," and even Agassi haters should enjoy it. The guy's memory is awesome, and while telling his life story, he relates so many compelling details about all aspects of the sport that "Open" becomes a vital read about tennis itself, not just this particular player. There are often-hilarious comments on players like Jimmy Connors (who comes off as a real prick) and Pete Sampras. You get sharp insight into match strategies, the mental aspects of the game, and the routines of everyday life on the pro tour, all delivered in the overall entertaining package of Agassi's saga.

As for the writing, what makes it so absorbing isn't necessarily the prose itself. In fact, the constant "I do this. I do that. I then do this..." style of present-tense narration is routine, and it could even get tiresome if the ideas and stories weren't so interesting. The fact that there ARE ideas in "Open" is what makes the book such a revelation. Agassi (and Moehringer) have a great knack with metaphor, with imagery, with the telling detail. In addition to funny and sad anecdotes from Agassi's remarkable childhood and career, you get thoughts on various aspects of life, and they come without pretension. Sometimes the stories themselves reveal truths, like Agassi's portrayal of the deterioration of his marriage to Brooke Shields, which over time paints a devastating picture of how people can drift apart. There are also meditations on loyalty, desire, work ethic, and, yes, education.

If you accept Andre Agassi's version of his life as credible--and I do find this book credible--then you will come away with a totally different view of the man. He makes a convincing case that he was never the rebel he was assumed to be as a youngster (his account of the "image is everything" Nike campaign's genesis is typical), nor the wizened, mature statesman he became much later. Reading his autobiography kind of makes me regret that I followed his career without all this insight--but, then, he couldn't have written this, obviously, without having lived this life. But I never realized how insecure he was, how crappy his childhood really was, how much he really did hate tennis. Even when he did press to promote this book, I didn't quite grasp him as I feel I do now.

The one thing I question relates to one of the attention-getters of this book, the confession that he used crystal meth for a while and even lied to the ATP after failing a drug test. Agassi's account of the situation seems forthright, but after he gets off with the ATP, the drug disappears from the text, and we never hear about it again. Did he totally clean up? Was meth the only drug he used? For his sake, I hope so. But reading about the intense self-pressure he felt and about his struggles to cope with aspects of his reality, I can't help but wonder if he really was just scared straight and stopped.

I haven't read a lot of tennis books, so it's not inherently high praise to call this the best I've read. But "Open" is so good it rekindles my interest in the sport and makes me want to seek out more. It's a remarkable autobiography, and collaborator or no, it gives me a whole new respect for Andre Agassi.