Open

… is the name for Andre Agassi’s autobiography. I found it in my landlady Christina’s bookself here and I have been completely taken by the book. It’s so interesting to get inside a professional tennisplayer’s head. I don’t know anything about tennis (I can’t even count the points), but that book has taken all my attention. And I am not that interested in his personal life, relationships with Brooke Shields and Steffi Graf. That book is just so honest, brutal story about growing up and being athlete.

I am amazed, how important mental coaching is in tennis on that level. For me it sounds that players are pretty much on the same level and then the guy, who has the strongest focus, capability to block everything else out and just focus on game, is gonna take the trophy home. And then next day, your consentration is totally lost and you are going to lose for a player, who didn’t even dream about winning a point against you.

I never thought, how much tennisplayers hate their opponents. How crazy the training and travel routine is. How important your team is for your game. How you can irritate your opponents during the game. What happens in the locker rooms before and after the game? What is going on in player’s mind, when he decides to skip the press conference and pay a fine instead of that? What makes them to swear so much during the game that they are almost kicked out from the tournament? And what makes them play and what makes them finally retire? Open is a book about these questions, but most of all is a book about one man’s mind. And I was surprised to find so many similarities with this man.