Fears are like gateway drugs, you give into a small one and soon you're giving in to bigger ones. ~ Andre Agassi

Reading about a match from the perspective of a player is great fun! You feel like you're in the ring yourself duking it out with his opponent. Yes, Andre does compare tennis to a boxing match among other things. He tells tales of growing up in Vegas and his experiences at, tennis boot camp, as he calls it.

His father's temper and heavy handed antics are not entirely dissimilar from stories I've both told and heard about my own father. I still remember summer holidays spent in Texas, in particular a near death experience, while riding in the backseat of Dad's gold Cadillac with my two younger siblings. We were not far from his home (in gangland) when a truck full of punks honked at him for driving under the speed limit in a residential area. Dad breaked for the stop sign and as he did yelled out the window, "Up your ass with a piece of glass." Our stepmother who Dad lovingly referred to as Edith (Bunker) was riding shot gun. My siblings and I looked at each other the way you do when the world feels surreal. I craddled my head in my hands and silently prayed. To our great relief and astonishment we heard laughter coming from inside the cab as they passed us. 

My only disappointment while reading OPEN is the realization Andre Agassi chose to let someone else write his story, despite being told by one of his school teachers that he possesses a talent for writing.