Agassi’s Grudge List: Dad, Bolletttieri, Sampras
Beyond the stories of crystal meth and his mullet toupee, here is the serious tennis fan’s summary of what Andre has to say: His dad was an insane tyrant (this is the most convincing, believable part of the book); Nick Bollettieri took over as warden/slave driver (and doesn’t really know jack about tennis strategy or coaching); Pete Sampras is dull and stingy (even as he drubbed him in all the big Grand Slam matches); and Andre’s gushy love for Steffi Graf is mildly nauseating (bringing to mind the Drive by Trucker’s song, “Don’t Be in Love Around Me.”) For you celebrity obsessed, by the way, the relationship with Barbra Streisand, 28 years his senior, was platonic (he says); the least surprising information is that Brooke Shields was a shallow, solipsistic actress who didn’t care about his career.
Unlike all other sports biographies that give the ghostwriter credit for transcribing the recorded interviews and molding it into a book, Agassi instead takes a standalone byline. But J.R. Moehringer’s literary stamp, whom Agassi gives a cursory thank you in the acknowledgements, is all over this memoir, according to an excellent review by Janet Maslin in today’s New York Times. Whatever you say about it, on day one the $5 million presidential level advance is paying off thus far. It sits at #4 on the Amazon top seller list (one spot behind Sarah Palin’s still unrealeased book) as of this writing.
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Nov 10th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Great summary, Sam, except I must have been absent from SAT prep class the day the word “solipsistic” was introduced – what does that word mean?
Nov 11th, 2009 at 2:11 am
Self-absorbed or inward looking.
Here’s the dictionary definition: a theory holding that the self can know nothing but its own modifications and that the self is the only existent thing; also : extreme egocentrism
Nov 14th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
For some reason, mullets and meth seem to compliment each other.
Nov 15th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
I enjoyed the book – got a kick of how he trashes Brooke, very funny, Becker, Chang, and Sampras – the tip story was classic.
Btw, their fact checker s/b fired – I checked one score and it was wrong.