Tom+W

Tom W's page Recently I read, 'Open' which is the autobiography of Andre Agassi, the famous tennis player. This book, was a real eye opener to me regarding how stubborn some parents can be. It showed me this when Andre continuously repeated that he hated the sport and that the only reason he played in the end, was because he wasn't good anything else. The reason he started playing tennis was because his dad forced him to play when he was younger. Agassi said that as a child, he almost hated his father! This is an extremely interesting point of view to show how far a parent will go to assure their child's success. Although Andre Agassi did gain immense success, the experiences from his past have affected him immensely. I found it most intriguing how the first chapter of the book is called 'The End' because it is describing the last match of his career, then the second chapter of the book goes back to when he first started playing tennis, as a child. However, I was even more interested when I discovered that the last chapter of the book is called 'The Beginning' because it is about the start of the new school that he has created, for socially disadvantaged children. He made this school after his career had ended. I also found his memory of how different matches felt was very impressive.The descriptive language about his life experiences is incredible and I definitely recommend it to anyone above 10 years of age!