Andre Agassi: Imperfect Perfection

By Sandra Harwitt


I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting when I headed south on Florida’s boring turnpike towards Miami to go to an Andre Agassi book event on Monday, November 16th, 2009.

Actually, that’s not true.

It was a ticketed event (buy a ticket, here Agassi, receive a book and a guarantee it would be signed by AA) being held by Books & Books (if you’re a book lover and long for the days of independent bookstores then this mini-chain with three stores in Miami and one in Grand Cayman is a must stop if you’re in South Florida). I knew it would be a larger crowd than the store could hold as they moved it off-site to Temple Judea in Coral Gables, where Books & Books chief guru, Mitch Kaplan, is a member.

As I started to get closer to Granada Blvd where the temple is located, I got the full picture. People – a lot of people – were more than willing to pay advance entry to see Andre. Cars were parked all over the upscale Coral Gables neighborhood and people, many with kids in tow urging their parents to walk faster, were anxiously hustling into Temple Judea to see the tennis great.

Agassi did not disappoint.

There were 850 or so people who crowded the room – there were seats for 800 and people standing around the perimeter – all wanting a glance, to hear a word, to have a book signed.

Throughout his career, whether in his punky teen stage, or his mature philosopher stage, or anything in-between stage, Agassi was a dynamic personality. He draws people to him and he knows how to keep them captivated. Flawed or not, Andre is the type of guy who sells tennis, a sport that’s had difficulties in recent years drawing a strong, and consistent, fan base. (No matter what surveys tell you, tennis is not flourishing like it did in the past and at many events there are empty seats and that’s a shame).

Edwin Pope, considered the “Dean” of South Florida sports journalists, was the moderator of the event. An octogenarian, Pope, who still writes columns for The Miami Herald, admitted to Agassi that his forthright autobiography is the greatest sports memoir he’s read in at least 50 years! Seriously! And after their q & a session, Pope told Andre how impressive he finds him as a person.

Anyone who knows Edwin Pope knows he’s a no-nonsense, old-fashioned journalist, who doesn’t offer compliments freely if not warranted.

Agassi received constant applause for the answers he gave, including his thoughts on the use of Crystal Meth. When Pope suggested that he could’ve written the book without the mention and no one would’ve ever known, Agassi said he felt he had to put the whole story out there. That’s what he wanted to do, and he had the support of his wife, tennis great Steffi Graf, who he always refers to as Stefanie or Stef.

The hour-or-so event concluded with some questions from the audience – a few people didn’t have questions, but for some reason felt it necessary to just compliment Andre, or say they or their children or someone was inspired by him, which honestly could’ve been left unsaid and seemed to make Andre a bit uncomfortable. Afterwards, Andre took a brief few respite in the rabbi’s office before heading out to sign books for everyone in attendance. His publicist, Sonia, had a few of us (Pope, his lovely wife, (Ilene or Eileen, I apologize as I don’t know the correct spelling), Miami Herald writer Michelle Kaufman, who interviewed him earlier in the day, and her husband, humorist Dave Barry, and myself, back to say hello. When Andre came into the foyer area, he seemed happy to see friendly faces, had a hug for all his media colleagues, but clearly was exhausted from the full day of media responsibilities and the book event.

There are those who see Agassi’s admission to using drugs as sad, but most of us feel it is part of a book that honestly exposes Andre’s demons and warts – he made it quite clear that he wasn’t going to do a book if it was a glossed over, unrevealing tome. There are those who believe he should have to give back his prize money for 1997 (does anyone remember the name Marat Safin, the guy who wasted years by not being focused on his game, although many thought he was the most talented guy to give Roger Federer a run for his money early on in their careers). Crystal Meth did not enhance Agassi’s performance on court. Crystal Meth is an upper and being fidgety did not add up to success – between 1987 and 2005, Agassi won at least one title at least one title, while in 1997, his Crystal Meth haze year, he neither won nor reached a final.

The bottom line is while taking Crystal Meth is NEVER a wise choice, it’s a place a depressed Agassi felt he needed to go (as low as possible) to attempt to dull the pain of dissatisfaction for his living life for someone else’s dream (that would be dad, Mike Agassi) instead of making his own choice as to what path to journey. Sometimes you need to hit rock bottom to dig yourself out – a cliché, but one that seems to be true.

I’ve known Andre since he was 16 – he’s had many imperfect moments because, well, like most people, he is imperfect. I remember him calling former ITF President Philippe Chartrier a bozo, spitting in the direction of a linesperson, and all that jazz. But he’s matured, has work to self-educate himself, and he’s made peace with tennis, the sport he hated, but has given him so much, most notably a family to adore.

I can say that Andre is one of the truly special people out there and it’s great that he’s found his place and his peace with Stefanie, the kids, and his incredible charitable endeavors. Last year his charter high school successfully graduated its first class of kids who were considered at-risk youth. Agassi, who is no stranger to showing up at the school throughout the school year, said he chose education as a cause because he left school in 9th grade and that left him with fewer choices in life. The first Agassi Charter School graduating class – 100 percent of the class are now students in college today.

Agassi is “good people” and if tennis had more Andre’s it would enjoy a higher profile than it does today. Anyone who watched how 850 people listened intently to what he said on a mild, Monday night in Miami would know that was the truth.