Agassi a Complete 180
I was fortunate enough to find two tickets (one for the wife who made me get them) to go hear Andre Agassi speak on Wednesday night at the New York Times Theater. Thank God some guy couldn’t make it and posted his seats on craigslist, or my wife would have chopped my nuts off.
Agassi was being interviewed by New York Times long time writer George Vescey. I can’t tell you how much I despised Agassi when he burst onto the scene back in the early 90′s. Remember the “Image is Everything” campaign for Cannon? I really thought he was a punk. I guess Jimmy Connors did as well. Agassi shared a story about how he was playing Connors during his first US Open. He grew up watching and idolizing Connors. In awe when he ran into him in the locker room prior to their match. Agassi went over to him, Connors started calling him a punk and then actually started cursing at him. Agassi was shocked and taken for a loop, he said it continued during change overs in their match. It didn’t stop there, Connors just continued to be a dick. Agassi said in his lifetime he has probably spoken to Connors for seven minutes and this incident made up five of them. Well I always knew Connors was a jerk. That one is easy to see but I must admit I was completely wrong
about Agassi.
With his new book Open now hitting stores we all know he was putting on a facade in his early days from the hair to the attitude. That was not the real Andre. The real Andre seems like a great guy. He seems really comfortable with himself and completely honest. I can’t imagine how much therapy the guy has had to have coming from the dysfunctional grip of his over bearing father but it certainly has worked.
I don’t understand how, with his recent acknowledgment of taking drugs (not performance enhancing drugs) that several players like Martina and Sampras have slammed him. Wouldn’t you think they would understand the pressures and loneliness of the tour? This was a guy who was at the bottom and made a mistake. He only hurt himself. The good news is he dug himself out of it, which gives hope to all who have been at the bottom especially in sports.
