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Andre Agassi

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3 min read

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4.8

· 109 Amazon ratings
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Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi Review: A Searing, Landmark Sports Memoir

Open: An Autobiography, written by Andre Agassi with co-writer J. R. Moehringer and published by Alfred A. Knopf on November 9, 2009, is a candid memoir from one of tennis's most complex figures — an eight-time Grand Slam champion and former world No. 1 who, by his own account, spent nearly three decades trying to escape the sport that defined him. Drawing on verified critical reception from major outlets, this review covers the book's content, significance, and genuine strengths and limitations as reported by published sources, not from hands-on reading.

LuvemBooks Verdict

Best for

Readers drawn to confessional literary memoir — particularly those interested in identity, the psychology of prodigy, and the price of external pressure — who want a sports book that functions as something far richer and more unsettling than a victory lap.

Worth it if

Worth reading if you're fatigued by self-mythologising sports autobiography and want a candid, literary memoir that reframes athletic success as psychological ordeal rather than triumphant destiny.

Skip if

Skip it if you're primarily seeking tactical or match-by-match analysis of Agassi's Grand Slam career — the book's dominant register is emotional and psychological interiority, not on-court breakdown.

The New York Times called it "one of the most passionately anti-sports books ever written by a superstar athlete — bracingly devoid of triumphalist homily," while Bookmarks Reviews synthesised critical consensus describing it as "an honest, substantive, insightful autobiography" that vividly recounts a lost childhood and a chaotic struggle to establish identity.

“One of the most passionately anti-sports books ever written by a superstar athlete — bracingly devoid of triumphalist homily.”

— nytimes.com
Sources: The New York Times, Bookmarks Reviews
4.8from 109 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
Trending Now
Cultural Resurgence

Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi is Trending

Wimbledon Season Brings Agassi's Gripping Memoir Back into the Spotlight

With Wimbledon underway in early July, tennis is front of mind for sports fans everywhere — and that's sending readers back to one of the best sports memoirs ever written. Andre Agassi's Open is raw, honest, and surprisingly hard to put down even if you're not a die-hard tennis follower.

Every July, Wimbledon takes over the sports conversation, and this year is no different. That annual spotlight on professional tennis naturally gets people curious about the legends of the game — and Agassi is one of the most fascinating figures the sport has ever produced. Open has been a reader favorite since it came out, but it reliably picks up fresh attention whenever the grass-court Grand Slam rolls around.

What makes this book worth picking up isn't just the tennis. Agassi is remarkably candid about hating the sport he dominated, his struggles with identity and fame, and — perhaps most famously — his admission that he used crystal methamphetamine during a low point in the late 1990s and narrowly avoided a career-ending ban. It's the kind of confession that still shocks people when they hear it for the first time, and it's a big reason this book has staying power well beyond the sports memoir shelf.

If you've been watching Wimbledon and finding yourself wanting more than just match scores, this is the book to grab. It reads fast, it's genuinely surprising, and it gives you a completely different picture of what life at the top of professional tennis actually looks like.

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Updated Jul 13, 2026
In This Review
  • What Works & What Doesn't
  • What the Book Is and What It Argues
  • Significance and Place in the Genre
  • Craft and Voice
  • Genuine Limitations
  • Who This Book Is For

What Works & What Doesn't

What Works
  • Major critical acclaim from Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, and the New York Times, among others, praising both the writing quality and the book's emotional honesty
  • Co-written with J. R. Moehringer, producing what reviewers described as an arresting, muscular literary voice well above the typical sports memoir
  • Unusually candid treatment of Agassi's resentment of tennis, drug use, and psychological struggles — earning it the description 'bracingly devoid of triumphalist homily' from the New York Times
  • Named a critical coverage Notable Book and a best book of the year by Forbes, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Washington Post, and winner at the 2010 British Sports Book Awards
  • Broad crossover appeal as a literary memoir beyond the sports audience, addressing themes of identity, pressure, and selfhood
What Doesn't
  • As a memoir told entirely from Agassi's own perspective, it presents one side of relationships and events involving many other named figures, with no independent counterpoint within the text
  • Readers seeking detailed tactical or match-by-match tennis analysis may find the book's dominant focus on psychological and emotional interiority less suited to their interests
Open: An Autobiography is a memoir that defies the triumphalist arc most sports books follow — critics called it "one of the most passionately anti-sports books ever written by a superstar athlete."
Open: An Autobiography by Agassi, Andre (2009) Hardcover_main_0

What the Book Is and What It Argues

Open covers Andre Agassi's life from a financially pressured childhood in Las Vegas under the supervision of a moody, demanding father who groomed him relentlessly for tennis stardom, through his rise as a teenage phenom on the professional tour in the 1980s, across the full arc of his career including a comeback to the world No. 1 ranking, and into his retirement. The central argument is not one of gratitude or self-congratulation: Agassi's announced theme, as critics noted in its review, is that the game he mastered functioned as a prison he spent some 30 years trying to escape. The memoir confronts his resentment of tennis head-on, alongside a frank account of a period in which he used crystal methamphetamine. This admission generated significant pre-publication attention and public controversy, including a response from fellow player Marat Safin calling for Agassi to relinquish titles — reported by critical coverage on November 10, 2009. It was named a critical coverage Notable Book and a best book of the year by Forbes, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Washington Post.
“a wrenching chronicle of his lifelong search for identity and serenity, on and off the court.”

Significance and Place in the Genre

The memoir arrived as a genuine disruption of sports autobiography conventions. Where the genre typically offers inspiration and curated legacy, Open delivers what critics described as "a wrenching chronicle of his lifelong search for identity and serenity, on and off the court." Critics observed that the book confirms what Agassi's admirers had long sensed — that beneath the garish Nike-sponsored image of stone-washed denim and "Hot Lava" compression shorts, he was not chasing attention but conducting a private struggle to reclaim selfhood from a sport that threatened to consume him. Esquire later included it among the 30 best sports books ever written, and it won at the British Sports Book Awards in 2010, as reported by The Daily Telegraph. Its willingness to reframe athletic success as something other than fulfillment distinguishes it from nearly all its peers.

Craft and Voice

The memoir was written with J. R. Moehringer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and memoirist, and the collaboration produced a voice that drew consistent praise for its literary quality. Sports Illustrated called the writing "exceptional" and the book "can't-put-down good." Critics described it as "literate and absorbing." A review aggregated by Penguin Random House noted it delivers "an unvarnished, at times inspiring story told in an arresting, muscular style." The prose does the work of making a sports career legible as an emotional and psychological ordeal — Agassi's comeback to No. 1, as one source notes, registers as less remarkable than his sheer survival, his emotional resilience, and his humor in the face of difficult circumstances.

Genuine Limitations

Open is a book shaped by a single, controlling perspective: Agassi's own. As with any memoir co-constructed for maximum narrative effect, the account of relationships — with family members, former coaches, and public figures named throughout — reflects one side of events that involved many others. The drug admission, which dominated early coverage, also carries a contextual complexity the book necessarily addresses from the inside; readers looking for independent corroboration or counterpoint will not find it within these pages. Additionally, the book's intensity of focus on Agassi's psychological suffering can at times overshadow the tennis itself: readers primarily seeking match-by-match analysis of his Grand Slam victories may find the memoir's emotional interiority a more dominant register than the tactical.

Who This Book Is For

Open is designed for a broad readership that extends well beyond tennis fans. Its themes — identity under external pressure, the price of prodigy, the search for meaning in work one did not choose — give it genuine crossover appeal as a literary memoir. Readers who engage with sports writing as a lens on human psychology, as well as those drawn to confessional autobiography of real consequence, will find it substantive. It is "bracingly devoid of triumphalist homily," as critics put it — a quality that sets it apart and makes it a strong recommendation for anyone fatigued by the self-mythologizing that the genre too often produces.

Sources & Further Reading

The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.

  1. Cited in this review
  2. 1
    Open: An Autobiography - WikipediaHigh-authority source

    en.wikipedia.org

  3. 2
    Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi, Paperback | Barnes & Noble®

    barnesandnoble.com

  4. Further reading
  5. 3
    Amazon listing (bibliographic data, cover & pricing)

    Amazon

  6. 4
    Open Library work record

    Open Library

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