That narrative and its sentiment has ready acceptance in our culture. I play tennis for a living, even though I hate tennis, hate it with a dark and secret passion and always have.Īs horrible as this sounds there will no doubt be some fathers who read such a story nodding with approval, agreeing that this is what it takes to build a champion.

Once built, Agassi spent his childhood hitting thousands of balls a day while his education went neglected. One of Agassi’s childhood memories is of house-hunting with his father in Las Vegas, his father rejecting everything they saw until settling on an isolated ‘shack’ surrounded by desert, his main criteria being that it must have a yard big enough to build a tennis court. Its familiarity comes from that story of a domineering, tyrannical, violent-tempered father who had determined before his son was born that he would be a champion and forced him to become one. Few would have predicted an autobiography by Agassi would be this good.Īndre Agassi’s description of his childhood is bizarre enough to not be a stereotype, yet will be recognisable to those who hear it.

From rebel to saviour, washed-up to rejuvenated, reviled to adored, Agassi went on this journey with confusion and understanding, petulance and acceptance.Ī good book about Andre Agassi was always going to be worth a read. Alongside the bumpy performance on the court were rises and falls in his standing with the public. It was far rockier with rises, falls and durability that surprised fans and critics. But his career did not follow the familiar trajectory of young prodigy to world beater before decline as age and injury catch up. Andre Agassi is undoubtedly one of the greats of modern men’s tennis.

Agassi biography