Andre, thank you for being "Open"

Let’s just get this out of the way. I still love Andre Agassi. I think he has done a lot for tennis and continues to contribute to society in positive ways. I think Andre is brave and sincere. He didn’t write a book for our forgiveness. If he was sensitive about what the public thought, he never would have admitted to his severe and deep unhappiness with playing tennis, his brief addiction to drugs or his affinity for image to the point of wearing a hairpiece on court. Writing the book was cathartic. His life was full of control, none of which was his own. He was constantly in relationships and situations which didn’t feel right but which he stayed in nonetheless. It is a wonder he didn’t do more damage than a year of drugs and wear a hairpiece.

The one point I think we should focus on is that Andre was blessed with a second chance and he made it work. He turned his life around. Here’s a man with no more than a 9th grade education who is more mature, articulate and sophisticated than some with a PhD. He knew he had this chance and, ironically, he chose tennis as a way to dig himself out of a hole. He ended up #1 in tennis and on top of the world. He retired with style and grace.

Andre founded the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy (http://www.agassiprep.org/), a charter school in Las Vegas, to make sure children in underserved areas got a chance for the best education. He wants to see children go past the 9th grade.

Many have criticized Andre for lying… for taking drugs… for wearing a hairpiece. I ask those people, “Have you ever been so low you didn’t know which way was up?” “What would you have done?” “Would you have been strong enough to turn your life around?”

My point: We should thank Andre Agassi for being open about his life and for giving people, who might think there’s no way out, an inkling of hope that there is. He took the first step – he was honest with himself. That made it possible for him to then be honest to others. On the Academy’s Web site, it quotes Nelson Mandela, “For to be free is not to simply cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”