The Agassi Book

[Flashy]

i read a long excerpt...it is really kind of sad:


i never liked Agassi,i thought he was a total cheeseball, i thought he was lazy, unappreciative of his talent, squandered it and had little passion for the game... that he didn't care at all about tennis prior to 1997, and, after reading the excerpt, i now understand why.

i never knew he used the crystal meth, but i do know he smoked cigarettes and smoked pot, since i personally saw him do both, when he was spending the weekend at his friend's house, which happened to be next to my family's house in the hamptons. frankly i do not care, that is his choice and since i was a smoker of both tobacco and marijuana, i can't fault him for that...

but then the post 1998-1999 Agassi redeemed himself in my eyes...i never became a fan, but i admire how hard he worked after 1998-1999...i always wondered how much he would have won, if, as Mats Wilander said he hadn't "thrown away the first 10 years of his career"...

i may just have to pick up the book...though i am loathe to spend $31.99...he should have been banned for his crystal meth use, and frankly, if you are going to come clean to be forgiven etc. does contrition look as good if you are charging 30 bucks a pop for it?

I always kind of figured Agassi hated tennis, because of his father, so i might still get it...what is ironic is how Steffi Graf hated it too, and how they wound yup together...in the excerpt, there is a fascinating account of the first time Graf's father and Agassi' s father met...

that being said, i have alot more sympathy for Agassi now...

Agassi offers candid look at tennis career - The Bonus - SI.com

 

[Gl3nn]

Good way to sell more books. I'm with Roger on this, he has done a lot of good with charity and his school, so I'm fine with it. But I don't agree with the ATP looking the other way. They were hard on Richard Gasquet when he was accused of having used drugs and turned out that he didn't use it (hair sample proved that). Hardly fair.

 

[Flashy]

Good way to sell more books. I'm with Roger on this, he has done a lot of good with charity and his school, so I'm fine with it. But I don't agree with the ATP looking the other way. They were hard on Richard Gasquet when he was accused of having used drugs and turned out that he didn't use it (hair sample proved that). Hardly fair.

true...Gasquet got crushed, while Agassi got off scott-free...then again, the procedures were different back then so Andre would have been totally busted nowadays.

as for the whole drug issue, i don't really care if players use recreational drugs, for me, the worry is performance enhancers...recreational drugs tend to be negative on performance, so the players are only hurting themselves...

 

[luka82]

I think he should have kept his mouth shut!

 

[Gl3nn]

But he has to sell books!