Agassi book readers? I need to share my dissapointment with somebody!!

[Oldracquet27]

I just finished it!, The book is very interesting and engaging, maybe interesting because of the fact that Agassi shows a person that maybe none of us did know...

1-) How he constantly attacks and puts down a lot of players!, especially Pete Sampras, his bitterness againgst Sampras is outrageous!, who does he think he is?

2-)How The hell somebody that walked out of the court at almost 40 years old and just because his body could not take more, can say that he HATES tennis, what is he trying to accomplish , to sell more books? If is not the case, he needs a therapist to help him to find out what it is that he hated in his life, as per the book, a lot of things might be, many none his fault though....
The guy trained like a warrior, loved to hit tennis balls and WIN, hired the best people to help him to go to the top!, athletes that get to the top of the sport like that need to absolutely be IN LOVE with what they do, otherwise there is no way they can make it, he could have walk away when he was a teen and was not under his father supervision and never did, so don't give me that crap that you hate the sport. Actually is very contradictory how he talks about his game and later says that he hates it. WHAT A DISRESPECT TO ALL THE FELLOW PLAYERS , AND BAD MESSAGE TO TENNIS LOVERS, AND KIDS WHO ARE WORKING TO GET TO THE PRO TOUR.

3-)The Agassi image i had before this book is totally different now, the guy is just an idiot kid.

Sorry , i had to get this out of my chest, What do you think people?

[ace58]

Originally Posted by Oldracquet27

I just finished it!, The book is very interesting and engaging, maybe interesting because of the fact that Agassi shows a person that maybe none of us did know...

1-) How he constantly attacks and puts down a lot of players!, especially Pete Sampras, his bitterness againgst Sampras is outrageous!, who does he think he is?

2-)How The hell somebody that walked out of the court at almost 40 years old and just because his body could not take more, can say that he HATES tennis, what is he trying to accomplish , to sell more books? If is not the case, he needs a therapist to help him to find out what it is that he hated in his life, as per the book, a lot of things might be, many none his fault though....
The guy trained like a warrior, loved to hit tennis balls and WIN, hired the best people to help him to go to the top!, athletes that get to the top of the sport like that need to absolutely be IN LOVE with what they do, otherwise there is no way they can make it, he could have walk away when he was a teen and was not under his father supervision and never did, so don't give me that crap that you hate the sport. Actually is very contradictory how he talks about his game and later says that he hates it. WHAT A DISRESPECT TO ALL THE FELLOW PLAYERS , AND BAD MESSAGE TO TENNIS LOVERS, AND KIDS WHO ARE WORKING TO GET TO THE PRO TOUR.
3-)The Agassi image i had before this book is totally different now, the guy is just an idiot kid.

Sorry , i had to get this out of my chest, What do you think people?

Ive heard alot tennis pros talking about them being forced to play from a young age and disliking it, I don't understand why people get so offended when agassi goes a step further and says he flat out hates it. if your trying to exel at any profesion their is someone who already has that doesn't like what they are doing because they where forced into it or wanted to do something else but they couldn't for what ever reason. Heck with your logic I can easily say that 30 year olds that work at mcdonalds and hate their jobs are being disrecpectful to millions of poor people in 3rd world countries that would love haveing that job.

[thejackal]

musical or theatrical prodigies who get pushed into it as kids turn out much worse and much more bitter than Andre. read the book, loved it and don't think any less of him. in fact it must've been very cathartic for him, so Im happy he's finally able to get it off his chest.

[Oldracquet27]

Originally Posted by ace58

Ive heard alot tennis pros talking about them being forced to play from a young age and disliking it, I don't understand why people get so offended when agassi goes a step further and says he flat out hates it. if your trying to exel at any profesion their is someone who already has that doesn't like what they are doing because they where forced into it or wanted to do something else but they couldn't for what ever reason. Heck with your logic I can easily say that 30 year olds that work at mcdonalds and hate their jobs are being disrecpectful to millions of poor people in 3rd world countries that would love haveing that job.

[robow7]

I read the book and found it very informative and interesting but...... I found I didn't care for Agassi the person any more (and probably less) than I did before.

[egn]

I am almost done with it and as much as I hated it at points I like it. If Andre Agassi wasn't a real person the story would of course be better but in a way Andre was just telling all. This is me. I don't care. So at least for that much I appreciate it, and it was an interesting read. The part about Brad Gilbert was great. A lot of the book I liked.

[Pwned]

Read it. Great book. But the overall tone of the book was very negative.

[FD3S]

Originally Posted by Oldracquet27

I just finished it!, The book is very interesting and engaging, maybe interesting because of the fact that Agassi shows a person that maybe none of us did know...

1-) How he constantly attacks and puts down a lot of players!, especially Pete Sampras, his bitterness againgst Sampras is outrageous!, who does he think he is?

2-)How The hell somebody that walked out of the court at almost 40 years old and just because his body could not take more, can say that he HATES tennis, what is he trying to accomplish , to sell more books? If is not the case, he needs a therapist to help him to find out what it is that he hated in his life, as per the book, a lot of things might be, many none his fault though....
The guy trained like a warrior, loved to hit tennis balls and WIN, hired the best people to help him to go to the top!, athletes that get to the top of the sport like that need to absolutely be IN LOVE with what they do, otherwise there is no way they can make it, he could have walk away when he was a teen and was not under his father supervision and never did, so don't give me that crap that you hate the sport. Actually is very contradictory how he talks about his game and later says that he hates it. WHAT A DISRESPECT TO ALL THE FELLOW PLAYERS , AND BAD MESSAGE TO TENNIS LOVERS, AND KIDS WHO ARE WORKING TO GET TO THE PRO TOUR.

3-)The Agassi image i had before this book is totally different now, the guy is just an idiot kid.

Sorry , i had to get this out of my chest, What do you think people?

He did seem to hate the sport for a long time (personally, I also got the feeling that he hated the fact that due to the training that was forced on him, he was literally qualified for nothing else in the grand scheme of things. Such is the reality of being a ninth grade dropout). However... well, the quote on the page right before chapter 21 starts sums it up:

"So what if you hate tennis? Who cares? All those people out there, all those millions who hate what they do for a living, they do it anyway. Maybe doing what you hate, doing it well and cheerfully, is the point. So you hate tennis. Hate it all you want. You still need to respect it - and yourself."

I think he learned that respect in the second half of his career (barring the meth lie, which was undoubtedly a dick move), and it at least diluted the hatred, somewhat. He seemed to genuinely enjoy hitting with Graf at the end, anyway.

[Datacipher]

I completely understand why he says he "hates" tennis.

But yes, I lost a lot of respect for him as a person...if you think past the entertaining, and engrossing writing, you do start to see the incredible hypocrisy of his judgments and many of his attitudes.

Their are also many little "fudges" and "white lies" and glossing over of significant incidents. We did have an extensive thread about that. So, definitely he did a fair amount of history rewriting.

[Puma]

Sadly, watching him in that match with Sampras, Fed and Nadal, is very enlightening in regards to his mindset about Sampras.

What a classless thing to do. In front of a crowd no less!

[subban]

Originally Posted by Oldracquet27

I just finished it!, The book is very interesting and engaging, maybe interesting because of the fact that Agassi shows a person that maybe none of us did know...

1-) How he constantly attacks and puts down a lot of players!, especially Pete Sampras, his bitterness againgst Sampras is outrageous!, who does he think he is?

2-)How The hell somebody that walked out of the court at almost 40 years old and just because his body could not take more, can say that he HATES tennis, what is he trying to accomplish , to sell more books? If is not the case, he needs a therapist to help him to find out what it is that he hated in his life, as per the book, a lot of things might be, many none his fault though....
The guy trained like a warrior, loved to hit tennis balls and WIN, hired the best people to help him to go to the top!, athletes that get to the top of the sport like that need to absolutely be IN LOVE with what they do, otherwise there is no way they can make it, he could have walk away when he was a teen and was not under his father supervision and never did, so don't give me that crap that you hate the sport. Actually is very contradictory how he talks about his game and later says that he hates it. WHAT A DISRESPECT TO ALL THE FELLOW PLAYERS , AND BAD MESSAGE TO TENNIS LOVERS, AND KIDS WHO ARE WORKING TO GET TO THE PRO TOUR.

3-)The Agassi image i had before this book is totally different now, the guy is just an idiot kid.

Sorry , i had to get this out of my chest, What do you think people?

I really think he hates Tennis. But the fact is he probably likes money and being famous even more than he hates tennis. It was probably too much money, girls and fame to give up as a teenager. This kid was featured on magazines and dating famous models as a 16 year old with his whole Rebel is Everything marketing scheme. How do you give that up, even if you hate playing tennis, at least winning keeps the gravy train going for you.

[hoodjem]

I haven't read the book; don't plan to.

I love tennis, so hearing someone announce that he hates tennis is at best too bad, or worse kinda pathetic.

Never cared much for Mr. "Image is Everything" as a player or personality.

Even less now after his "carthartic revelations."

[Bhagi Katbamna]

In a search for more book sales and more money(from the book sales), Agassi trashed his own image as an Ambassador and an elder Statesman for the sport of tennis.

Usually, tell-all type books are written by hangers-on and friends rather than the person themselves. I was amazed that Agassi did this to himself.

[Dedans Penthouse]

Informative comments above. AA sounds like a b.s. artist with a little bit of 'greasy hustler' in him what with his self-serving spinning and such.

That said, are there any "fun reads" in the book, e.g. anything from the "Zen Master" about what it was like banging Barbara Streisand?

[ga tennis]

I couldnt put the book down. I read it in two days.I enjoyed it.

[TennisBeginner]

Great book, the best I've read in my opinion. Also he doesn't actually hate tennis,the book shows how he grows to love it so much. He says so many times he wants to quit but he can't, why? Because he loves it too much. Anyways great book overall, highly recommended.

[Joe Pike]

Originally Posted by Oldracquet27

... The Agassi image i had before this book is totally different now, the guy is just an idiot kid.

Sorry , i had to get this out of my chest, What do you think people?

My Agassi image I had before also has changed.
The guy is simply admirable!

[Joe Pike]

Originally Posted by FD3S

...
I think he learned that respect in the second half of his career (barring the meth lie, which was undoubtedly a dick move), and it at least diluted the hatred, somewhat. He seemed to genuinely enjoy hitting with Graf at the end, anyway.

Yes, he said it for all to hear (and read) when Graf wanted to stop:

I want to play just a little while longer.

[Joe Pike]

Originally Posted by Bhagi Katbamna

In a search for more book sales and more money(from the book sales), Agassi trashed his own image as an Ambassador and an elder Statesman for the sport of tennis. ...

To the contrary, he enhanced this image.

[Big Dave]

I read the book in a couple of days and thought it was a great book. It gave alot of insights. I feel as though Andre hated tennis intially because it was forced on him, but he's grown to appreciate it as the years have gone on. I highly reccommend the book. I don't think any less of him.

He's a pretty good guy, and a great statesman for the sport. Sure he took Meth, he made a mistake, owned up to it (much later ) and moved on. He's contributed so much to charity and philanthropic efforts, the guy is a class act.

I don't put much weight on what happened in Haiti...i think the whole thing is majorly blown outta proportion...and i also feel like Pete was as much to blame as Andre was.....anyways...

...the book is great.