When I saw tickets for ‘An Evening with Andre Agassi’ advertised in my Sunday Times a few weeks ago, the opportunity seemed like too good a one to miss given the furore surrounding his recent autobiography, Open.
Despite the title of the event, which sounds more like some sort of talent showcase than a literary talk, I was expecting a small intimate venue, where I would be surrounded by fellow journalists and be almost close enough to touch the great man himself.
However as I arrived at London’s Institute of Education on Wednesday evening, I saw that what I had imagined could not have been further from the truth.
Despite me arriving around half an hour before the 7.00pm kick off time, the lecture theatre-esque Logan Hall was already filling up to its 900 seat capacity. However being alone I was lucky enough to squeeze into one of the few remaining seats near to where Andre would be sitting.
I had also expected the audience to be a certain type of people, most likely those like myself with something to gain from paying the £15 entry fee.
But I soon realised that the clientele was much more varied than that, from sports fans, to bookworms and to those much more fascinated by the man himself.
And as Andre made his way onto the stage that was set for him, (about ten minutes later than scheduled), he was greeted with a rapturous applause and a standing ovation from some of the audience. I was half expecting him to start blowing kisses and bowing to the four corners of the room.
The talk
Introduced by The Sunday Times Sports Editor Alex Butler and interviewed by Chief Sportswriter David Walsh, the discussion about the book soon got under way.
At times Walsh’s carefully crafted questions were lost as Andre went off at tangents about his colourful life, recounting anecdote after anecdote, most of which those who have already read the book, like myself, would have known.
However Walsh’s presence did provide the star with some direction in the proceedings, guiding him to talk predominately about his personal life, beginning with his parents, following on to his marriages to Brooke Shields and Steffi Graf and his rivalry with fellow American Pete Sampras.
His tales of the great champion proved to be some of the most entertaining of the night, as he went as far as impersonating Sampras’ service action, much to the amusement of the packed crowd.
The drug scandal, which has been well documented by the press, was of course also mentioned. Although as Agassi himself pointed out “drugs only make up about one and a half pages of the book and the book is 400 pages”, and so consequently the topic was not given much weight.
The only thing he did say was that he was happy that not all players had come out in support of him, but he criticised those such as Federer and Nadal who had commented on the situation without having actually read the book. Which is something I confess as I did as the news broke, having only have read the book earlier this week.
Another well documented part of the book was that as successful player as he was, Agassi did not actually like tennis, in fact he hated it, something which is enforced throughout the manuscript. And this is the thing that a lot of people, me included, found the most difficult revelation to grasp than the drugs.
Elaborating on this, he said “I did not choose tennis my father chose it for me” he added, “However at the age of 27 I realised that I didn’t hate it any more. I could have quit but I chose to keep going for myself. I took back ownership of my life.”
As advertised the session ended with a question and answer section, where the enthusiastic audience were given the free reign to pose questions to the legend. However as everything had overrun, mainly due to Agassi’s inability to stick to the story in hand, there was not a lot of time for this.
Despite sticking my arm up as far as I could reach, my solitary position in the corner of the room did not catch the eye of the two men on stage and I was not able to ask my question.
Although this is probably a good thing as I’m not sure what my question would have been. Only to say that I’m sure it would have been a great deal more insightful than some of the banal questions that were put forward by some overexcited and starstruck fans.
Review
But anyway…I’m glad I made it to the event as the chance to hear the unedited thoughts of such a big personality is surely a rare one. And not for a moment did I feel that Agassi had been told what to say by his management, he came across as natural and sincere, and very funny, something which I was not expecting.
However if I must make one criticism, which I must I want to be a journalist after all, then I do not feel like I have actually learnt anything from being there that I didn’t know already. Occasionally it felt more like a promotional tool for the book, which was strange seeing as it was released weeks ago and I Imagine most people there had read it.
And I did find it cheesy though when he kept saying “It’s so good to be back in London. You guys have taught me a lot and I cherish the memories.” He certainly knew how to get woops and cheers out of his adoring audience. Things haven’t changed that much then.
One thing is now clear to me, like I assumed when the revelations came out, Agassi’s adoring public have unconditionally forgiven him for his sins.
Finally, for anyone who hasn’t read it, I would actually recommend it. I wouldn’t go as far to say it is extremely well written but it is certainly an entertaining read.
Agassi said himself that he didn’t like people, players such as Federer and Nadal included, that had formed an opinion his because of the extracts of the book that were publicised by the media. And I must confess that it what I did having only read the book earlier this week.
But he is right. The shocking confessions only make up a minority of the book and they do need to be read in context, whatever your opinion may or may not be of them.
Personally I found the passages which put you inside the head of a professional tennis player are far more revealing and interesting to read. But I guess this isn’t what makes a good headline,and I suppose elements of his personal life are more universally interesting.
As Alex Butler summed up, “This isn’t a book just for tennis fans or just for sports fans either.” I suppose he is right. After all Agassi himself is neither.








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