Andre Agassi: “I’ve had the opportunity to be angry and disappointed at myself for a long time and so I’ll just give people a chance to absorb it and to understand it within the body of work which is my life.”
November 12, 2009 – 12:43 am by Bunk
Unless you’ve been living under a rock this past few weeks, you’ve certainly heard about the stir in the tennis world caused by Andre Agassi’s new, tell-all autobiography titled ‘Open’. In the book, Agassi discusses his upbringing and how he was molded in to a tennis prodigy by his over-bearing father. Agassi, who won 8 Grand Slam titles in his illustrious career, also admits in the book to using crystal meth back in 1997, the year after winning Olympic Gold. And not just using the potent drug – but lying about it to the ATP Tour as well. Agassi’s ranking fell to 141 in the world and he quickly sunk deeper in to depression. Since the news broke, current and former players have been quick to respond. Martina Navritilova sounded off against Andre. Most recently, former #1 Marat Safin said he should forfeit his prize money and titles from the time period he was using drugs furtively.
It’s all fascinating stuff really, and Agassi’s interview on The Dan Patrick Show provides lots of revealing commentary from the American tennis legend about the whole ordeal.
On if he has been surprised by the backlash he’s received since the Book came out:
“Well it didn’t really surprise me I got to say. It took me years to process this, you know, I can’t certainly expect anybody else to process it, especially through a headline. I mean the anger and the disappointment is an easy thing to expect. But I’ve had the opportunity to be angry and disappointed at myself for a long time and so I’ll just give people a chance to absorb it and to understand it within the body of work which is my life. And to be clear, I knew I had a lot more to lose than to gain, no question.”
On why exactly he wrote the book if he knew he had more to lose than to gain by doing so:
“You know, I had a second chance in my life, Dan, a second chance. I mean, most people don’t get a second chance. I’ve lived a pretty powerful life for so many reasons, and from that day that I had a second chance, I wanted to make the most of my life. And I tried and there was an atonement that was happening every day. And I think to some degree this book is part of that atonement. I believe that people – millions who I’ve never met and who I’ll never meet – millions who possibly aren’t even born yet, will be inspired and will have the tools to avoid some of my pitfalls, to help get through some of my pitfalls that I’ve been in. I think there are millions of people in this world that wake up in a life that they didn’t choose, they wake up in the life they find themselves in; millions of people who wake up in a marriage they don’t want to be in, teenagers who get labeled and get stuck in boxes and express themselves in radical ways because they don’t have the tools to understand themselves. So you know, I started looking at just what kind of platform this is, and if the price to that is somehow the truth of me and what some may think of me one way or another, to me that was a price I did have to pay.”
On if his rocky relationship with his father was worth all the success he would have down the road in his tennis career:
“As a father, I think the most important decision you make is how you’re going define success for your kids. And my dad was always clear, if anything he’s consistent. And he felt like to give us choice in our life he had to give us no choice in our childhood. And he saw through that. And I think he wears this book, if he did read it which he told me he’s not, I think he’d wear it with pride. And it also lists out all these other ways that I made you a champion. But again, some of those have been sensationalized. I feel like I’ve reconciled who he is and who we are together as a father and a son.”
On if his father is angry at him for the book:
“No, no, he’s not at all. I asked him, I said Dad, they’re going to sensationalize a lot of things, one of which is going to be you, because there’s some harsh stories about how I felt as a 7-year old. I mean, this book – just for anybody listening – this book is written in present tense. So I’m a 7-year old describing my father; I’m an 8-year old describing an incident that’s happening right in front of my eyes. These are formative memories, and through those 7-year old’s lens, they’re powerful, powerful moments. But that doesn’t mean that’s who my father in his entirety. And I try to bring around the full perspective of kind of who he is. But I told my Dad, I said Dad, listen, it’s going to be sensationalized, you need to understand how I’m going about this. And he said to me straight out – I’m here today I’m gone tomorrow, I don’t care what people say about me. Here’s what I know, if I could do this all over again, I would do it all over again. And I would do it all over again except I wouldn’t let you play tennis. I’d make you play baseball or golf. Because then you could have a longer career and make more money.”
On if he’s had the urge to do crystal meth since claiming to quit over a decade ago:
“You know, I always felt, and it was always curious to me just how quickly I turned my back on it. You know, I don’t know much about addiction and can’t speak to when or how someone’s addicted. I mean, obviously the extreme cases are pretty easy to define. But I never felt I was walking away from something. I always felt like I was walking towards something – towards a life that I’m going to choose. It was a very positive feeling for me – moving towards this life. And I think that’s part of the reality of drugs, Dan. People have talked about what’s this mean when kids hear this. What about parents, how are they going to feel, you put this in and people look up to you. Here’s the thing – a role model teaches you two things in life. They teach you what to do and they teach you what not to do. And there is a truth about drugs. Drugs are a problem for many reasons, but the biggest reason why it’s a problem is it has this appearance that it’s going to offer you something before it destroys your life. And I spoke about this depression I was in; I spoke about how somebody gave me an escape and I took it and I fell in to the trappings of that. And unless you’re willing to confront that reality with drugs, you’ll never be able to honestly look your kids, or anybody else in the face and tell them how to avoid it. And I wrote this book with my kids on the forefront of my mind above anything. Above the kids at my school. I wrote this for and to my children.”
Listen here to Agassi on The Dan Patrick Show
Tags: Andre Agassi meth use, Andre Agassi's new book, drug use in sports, drug use in tennis, Open by Andre Agassi, Tennis, The Dan Patrick Show
