Jane Heller

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author

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What I’m Reading: Andre Agassi’s "Open"

March 13, 2011

I’m not a fan of celebrity memoirs but I am a fan of professional tennis, so Agassi’s bestseller was one of the first ones I downloaded on my new Kindle. I’m about half way through it and I just have to say I get why it has garnered such great reviews. I really do.

Most books in this genre are very “And then I did, and then I said, and blah blah blah.” There’s very little self-exploration or even an attempt to understand why an action was taken or an emotion was felt. Not so in Agassi’s story. It’s as if we’re embedded in his brain as he tries to deal with his angry, abusive father, climbs his way up the pro tennis ladder, wins matches, loses matches, sets fire to things, rebels against authority. He never makes excuses for himself; he simply reveals himself, for better or worse.

What really amazes me is how much self-loathing he experienced as a young player. I always thought professional athletes – especially champions – had nerves of steel, unshakable egos, one-track minds. Agassi lets us see just how insecure he really was, even as he was beating the best in the world.

I haven’t finished the book, as I said, but I’m already recommending it to everyone I talk to. There was a time when I thought Agassi was all about “image” (his Nike ad slogan was “Image is everything”). But there’s nothing superficial about this guy. Nothing at all.

Oh, did I mention that the book is really well written? That’s no small thing, either.

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Mainly Jane, Sports Tagged With: Andre Agassi, bestseller, Open, tennis

If Andre Agassi Were A Baseball Player, Would He Get Into The HOF?

January 23, 2011

I ask the question because Agassi IS getting into the Tennis Hall of Fame, according to Yahoo Sports. I’ve been watching the Australian Open lately, so tennis has been on my mind. When I heard about Agassi, I was happy for him but I started to think about the different sets of standards that sports have for their Halls of Fame. Agassi, you remember, admitted in his book that he used drugs and lied about it. Here’s the pertinent quote from the Yahoo article.

“Agassi revealed in his 2009 book “Open” that he was depressed in 1997, when he was using crystal meth and failed a drug test. The result was thrown out, he said, after he lied by saying he took the drug unwittingly.”

If Derek Jeter took crystal meth, failed a drug test and lied about it, would that disqualify him from – or, at the very least, hurt his chances of – getting into the Hall? I can’t imagine anything disqualifying him, but the baseball writers are pretty tough when it comes to drugs, aren’t they? Or do they just draw the line at steroids? All I know is that Agassi was such a fun player to watch and his matches against Sampras were great for the game. Talk about a rivalry.



Federer vs. Nadal is always exciting, but I thought Agassi and Sampras brought out the best in each other, given their completely opposite styles and personalities.

As for the women’s side, I miss Evert vs. Navratilova too. I mean do I really care about Wozniacki against Clijsters? At least the really noisy grunters are out of the tournament. I can’t even watch Sharapova anymore without muting the TV. Ugh.



Filed Under: Confessions of a She-Fan Tagged With: Andre Agassi, Australian Open, Caroline Wozniacki, Chris Evert, Derek Jeter, Hall of Fame, International Tennis Hall of Fame, Kim Clijsters, Maria Sharapova, Martina Navratilova, Pete Sampras, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Yankees

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About Jane Heller

Jane Heller is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Her fourteen breezy, witty novels of romantic comedy and suspense are now entertaining millions of readers around the world, along with her two books of nonfiction.

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