“Why?” the sports pundits wail. “Why have you done this to us!” Andre Agassi’s recent admissions, in his book Open, that he took crystal meth for a year during his professional tennis career, lost matches on purpose, hated tennis, wore a wig during major tournaments, and, perhaps most importantly, didn’t wear underwear for the last ten years of his career, have rocked the sports world. Many pro tennis players, such as Martina Navratilova, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Marat Safin (most recently) have been critical of Agassi, mostly for the drugs and tanking. It is, however, the outcry from sportswriters and talkers that interests me most.
Mostly, they seem saddened by the fact that Agassi has sullied his amazing reinvention of himself. Early Agassi was a classic me-first athlete who dared to challenge the all-white dress code at Wimbledon. Then, Agassi bottomed out (due, we know now, to a crystal meth addiction) and his world ranking fell off the table. In a true humanist dream, though, Agassi came back. Hair shaved (or wig removed) and focus restored, he climbed back to the top of the tennis world, and retired as one of the most popular athletes in the world. If this sounds like an exaggeration, you’re underestimating tennis’ international popularity.
Agassi was a poster boy for our pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps ideal. And then, post-retirement, his philanthropic work is unparalleled. And now, people are seeing all of this as undermined by the admissions in Open. “Wait,” pundits seem to be asking, “Could Andre Agassi be…a bad person?” They are angered for having loved someone who may not have deserved it.
The biggest question coming up on the sports talk shows, and I saw it again on Mike and Mike (on ESPN 2) this morning, seems to be: Why jeopardize your standing and perception by admitting to stuff that you’ve, to date, gotten away with? Why not just keep it bottled up? If you had to let it out, why not hire a shrink? Why spill it on us? Sigmund Freud, as you might imagine, is pounding on the inside of his coffin, reminding us of what he said about the human psyche.
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14 responses to “The Id of Agassi”
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Nick,
This is so good. Thank you for it! Agassi has been one of my favorite athletes for years, and this book has done nothing except like him more. You really nail our desire to deny the reality of our lives and, in this case, the reality of the lives of our heroes. Agassi became truly relatable because of his book. He became human.
Some of his accounts of his inner thoughts while he was playing hit home in a powerful way. At one point he remembers getting ready to return a serve and he thought, "Rip this one. Rip it! Rip it you f___!" Man, that is intense, but it is also familiar. I can relate to that kind of anger and frustration. I had a harder time relating to the guy that never lost his cool (in the "second coming" of Agassi of course). Agassi's book is a word of permission to all of us to risk the light in our dark places, to let the cracks show, to be human.
Anyhow, your post is awesome.
Did you catch his self-atonement language in the Katie Couric 60-Minutes interview? He pretty much said that he's grown out of that and would rather inspire from his brokenness. Amazing.
Good interview – don't miss it. And good piece, Nick, thanks.
Oh, and I wish I had read your last paragraph before preparing my sermon this week on the Widow with Two Coins. Philanthropy covering up for his true self… BAM!
Great overview of Agassi, and good analysis, Nick, of the broken story line of a man–one, in fact, we all share.
Great, great post. Loved this: "Sigmund Freud, as you might imagine, is pounding on the inside of his coffin, reminding us of what he said about the human psyche."
When I read Freud in college, I found his ideas strikingly similar to what I had read in the writings of another thoughtful Jewish man: Saul of Tarsus.
I too have noticed and been baffled by the public outrage over Agassi's admission. It seems that all the taking heads- PTI, tennis analysts, talk radio hosts- cannot imagine WHY Agassi would "tarnish" his legacy in such a way. One common theme that you did not bring up is their belief that this will somehow encourage drug use and is therefore an irresponsible act.
As I told my wife, I don't get the outrage. What none of these talking heads seem to be realizing is that Agassi has revealed for us THE TRUTH. Agassi had been living a lie, but now, by his own choice, he has revealed the truth for us to see. This is a good thing! And rather than being grateful, we are mad at him for it! It is hard for me to imagine that, in a situation like this, having the truth revealed is not always the best thing. Just goes to show the nature of our depravity, that we would knowingly prefer a lie to the truth.
"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:32
But why would the truth entail a planned collaboration with a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist that costs US$25 a pop, a US$5million up-front cut (which was like his FOURTH book), and most alarmingly, his need to tell everyone on earth about it rather than just a truthful confession to his beloved Stephanie makes one wonder where this vanity is going to end
As much as we might want this to be a beautiful sermon illustation, I am afraid that, sadly, "Happy" is right.
obviously, Agassi's methods of confession may be (and possibly, should be) questioned. He is certainly still driven by an urge toward fame and notoriety. He doesn't seem (though I haven't read the book) to be claiming to be in any way reformed. He's confessing in his own, me-first, self-aggrandizing way. But he confesses nonetheless. And it's his need to do it that interests me, not his admittedly pompous (including the cover pic) way of doing it.
Happy, I'm not defending Agassi's motives or methods. What strikes me most about this case is the universally negative reaction he seems to be getting from the sports world. However, I haven't heard any of the commentators say what you said; instead, they all seem dumbfounded as to why he would confess these things and angry at him for ruining his image as a positive role model. An image that was not reflective of his genuine self.
There is definitely greed and vanity at play here, no doubt. I agree with your points. But no one else (that I have heard) is harping on these points. They are too baffled by and angered by his decision to "come clean" (cf Hillary Duff).
Another home run, Nick! What insight you had here.
Great post!
Agassi is one of the best tennis player.
Thanks for a great article!
Reminds me of a movie I saw recently; 500 Days of Summer. Tom's tirade against the greeting card industry is about the same kind of struggle.
TOM: It’s these greeting cards, Sir,
these cards, these movies, these
pop songs. They’re responsible for
all the lies, the heartache,
everything! We’re responsible!
I think we do a bad thing here.
People should be able to say how
they feel, how they really feel,
without some strangers putting
words in their mouths. The truth.