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Post by freudo on Nov 10, 2009 18:37:29 GMT -5
I think a lot of the press miss the point, AA was a jerk/troubled soul whatever you like, and his life fell apart, as well as his tennis while he was depressed and taking drugs. He got off them and fought back and has built a good life, enjoys his money, but does really good stuff with it too. It's a story of redemption. I think Bill Simon in IT this week got it pretty close: here's the url www.insidetennis.com/2009/11/transformation-andre-agassi
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Post by janie on Dec 28, 2009 12:21:04 GMT -5
I finally got the book. And it's GREAT! Well worth the wait. What a fun read, well-written and wryly funny, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. What a trip his Dad was/is. I'm only up to the part where AA gets to Bollettieri's, which sounds like a lot worse place than it does in Nick B's own book, surprise, surprise. Really happy to have so much of the book still to look forward to! Now I understand why it's a bestseller, and I definitely recommend it to everyone who enjoys a good read.
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Post by freudo on Dec 29, 2009 9:59:56 GMT -5
I am going to read it, too. Glad to hear you recommend it. A freind got it as a Xmas present, and after his wife reads it, I get it.
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Post by janie on Dec 29, 2009 11:09:36 GMT -5
Great, freudo! I'm sure you'll like it. We can then discuss the book here. Again I was LOL last night, reading about Andre's kid-view of his French and then his Spanish class at the private school the Bollettieri kids all get sent to. Nick B. let Andre drop out at age 14! Nice work, Nick. I think what's special about the book isn't the way Andre was treated by his Dad or at the NB Academy but that there's no bitterness coming through; he waited to grow up and get some perspective before writing the book. Nobody wants to read the poor-me whinings of an über-rich guy, so this was pretty important. And AA is just as hilarious writing about his own goofy young self as he is about these pretty monstrous adults.
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Post by freudo on Dec 30, 2009 10:25:34 GMT -5
Sounds good. AA's a smart fellow and chose a good co-author, so I expect I'll enjoy it. Will let you know when I have it in house
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Post by janie on Jan 1, 2010 17:13:57 GMT -5
Finished the book today. Nice acknowledgment of the co-author at the end of the book; apparently the guy refused to allow his name to be listed as co-author, but of course it's obvious that a very good professional writer was involved. Really a great collaboration, as good as the Cahill-Agassi collaboration. Good book about a good man and I feel like I understand a lot more about the kid Agassi was earlier in his career, back in his Hair days when I couldn't stand him. Turns out he couldn't stand himself much, either; go figure.
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Post by leelee on Jan 2, 2010 1:13:03 GMT -5
Hrmph, you're making me want to read this now, janie. As I was THE biggest Andre hater back in the day.
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Post by janie on Jan 2, 2010 7:52:52 GMT -5
Wow, you must have been a hater as a little kid, then! Agassi won Wimbledon way back in 1992. I was so MAD he managed to pull that out! It makes me laugh now, since I came to really love him much later, as the geezer player with wife & kids. But that's bizarre, too, because when I first started following tennis (as an already-old person) I hated Steffi, too, but that was only because she won EVERYTHING. It was news whenever Stef lost a SET. But I slowly started to love Stef during Monica's stabbing absence. Such is sports-hate; guess it doesn't always run real deep.
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Post by Bruguera's heavy balls on Jan 2, 2010 17:35:33 GMT -5
His French Open victory is really underrated, he defeated Medveded playing as good as he could play, Moya in his prime, and Franco Squillari, who only won like 3 titles, but had a gigantic forehand and was very tough for 2 years and a half on clay, he made the semis the next year. I think in his book Agassi mentions his match with Squillari.
Beating Medvedev, Moya and Squillari is more than what Fed did this year to win the French Open. I am only impressed by his victory over Del Potro, and then, Delpo was not far from beating Fed in straight sets.
I am not saying Fed isn't a better clay courter than Agassi, if it wasn't because of Nadal, he would be a multiple Champion. Fed now is like Lendl in 89, past his prime but still number1
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Post by janie on Jan 2, 2010 17:37:30 GMT -5
Yeah, he mentions Squillari as a very tough opponent on clay.
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Post by :rolleyes: on Jan 2, 2010 23:38:58 GMT -5
I'm gonna disagree with Janie about the book being "good." Simple pleasures for simple minds.
I, like Leena, am also am/was an avid Agassi hater. But, once I heard about the book, I began to like him more for saying he hated tennis and that he took meth. But after I read it, I pretty much hate him again. Everything past page 100 is pretty damn boring except for the story about Sampras being a shitty tipper. What I didn't like is Andre's string of excuses for almost every loss he has and the way he mentioned the Kucera USopen thing. Basically, all these years after it happened, Andre still thinks Kucera was using gamesmanship/doing it intentionally with the caught ball tosses, and he wrote as if there was nothing wrong with mocking Kucera and throwing up moonballs.
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Post by :rolleyes: on Jan 2, 2010 23:41:06 GMT -5
The good part of the book was the beginning when he talks about his shitty dad, the shitty Bolleteri Academy, and the shit that is Jimmy Connors
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Post by Traveling Man on Jan 13, 2010 4:59:03 GMT -5
I bought three tennis books - The Rivals (which is fucking fantastic), Agassi's autobiography (which I have to start) and "On the Line - Queen of the Court" by Serena Williams (which is God awful - I can't read beyond chapter three).
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Post by The Chloe on Aug 18, 2013 18:23:58 GMT -5
I've just now taken the time to read this.
I thought it was okay, but like Agassi no more or less than before. He sure does whine a lot, doesn't he? Even through a ghost writer.
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Post by The Chloe on Aug 18, 2013 18:25:13 GMT -5
I enjoyed the parts where he hated Chang and outed Tarango as a life-long asshole. Those parts were great.
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