Book Notes | Open by Andre Agassi

I read Open by Andre Agassi at a surreal moment in my life.

From the outside, Andre Agassi was simply a decorated tennis player to me. I don’t know anything about tennis. Reading Open, I realised Andre Agassi was not just writing as a champion looking back on victories.

At one point, he had fallen from world No. 1 to No. 141, battled injuries, and gone through a period of career fog where he felt unhappy and lost. From the outside, it seemed as though his career had reached its end.

He had to rebuild by competing in smaller Challenger tournaments before climbing back to world No. 1. He later became the oldest men's world No. 1 at the time, competing against a younger generation of players.

The milestone and the book

This week, the company I worked for reached a major milestone.

Over the past month, I had occasional periods where I survived on four hours of sleep (I couldn’t sleep), and very little food. It helped me endure some genuinely uncomfortable stretches. I found myself oddly surprised by my body's ability to endure.

While I held up physically, I found stress and emotional management tough. Only a few weeks earlier, I started feeling a familiar pressure in my chest. It sometimes appears during sustained periods of stress and deadlines. Breathing itself required effort. The feeling only eases with muscle relaxant medication.

So, the book came at a time when I needed mentorship and advice. Rather than summarising the book itself, I'm sharing quotes and reflections that resonated with me.

“More, I hope it will be one of many books that give them comfort, guidance, pleasure. I was late in discovering the magic of books. Of all my many mistakes that I want my children to avoid, I put that one near the top of the list.”
- Open by Andre Agassi

Open gave me insight into Agassi's personal battles: his desire to win despite hating tennis, his endurance through injuries, and his process of emotional growth and self-regulation.

Preparation, locus of control, and growth

Walking into a room full of people to discuss a specific business agenda has never felt comfortable to me. However, this month, preparation helped. Consistently putting in the work without excuses made things feel more manageable.

Reading Open, these quotes stood out to me:

"I'm wholly unprepared, so I become unpresent."

“just keep your head down and keep working and keep trying. Face it at its worst and realize it’s not so bad. That will be your chance for peace. “

I also read The Courage to Be Disliked, which made me realise that I often lacked courage and conviction.

I knew that by working on this, I could become someone who takes greater responsibility for my decisions and direction, ignores noise, and builds a more meaningful life.

Control what you can control.

“No matter where you are in life, there is always more journey ahead. And I think of one of Mandela’s favorite quotes, from the poem Invictus, which sustained him during those moments when he thought his journey had been cut short: I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”

Along the way, I have realised there is always more to learn, both about the work itself and the business I am part of. I keep discovering gaps in my ability. Things I never knew, limits I never understood, risks I need to manage, and stress and emotions I need to learn to regulate better.

After the big milestone finally passed, I truly felt that the value had always been in the journey itself and in the growth that comes through challenge.

I was reminded to stay curious and positive, trust in my ability to adapt, and remain humble enough to contribute to something meaningful.

Courage, discipline, integrity, and heart

In May, I had also been struggling with the passing of someone I loved.

Near the end of Open, Agassi writes:

"On the eve of my final tournament, I enjoy that sense we all seek, that knowledge we get only a few times in life, that the themes of our life are connected, the seeds of our ending were there in the beginning, and vice versa."

That line reminded me of something I had written previously here, as I reflected on my own mortality:

“I hope I'm blessed with patience and luck to illuminate a positive path forward and grateful eyes to recognise it.”

On listing day, as I reached out tentatively to rub the decorative bull horns on the listing ceremony gong, I felt undeserving of the opportunity to witness the moment live. I had given my employer less than two years of my life. I knew this milestone must have carried much deeper meaning for everyone who had been part of the journey for longer, having endured years of effort, uncertainty, and difficult decisions...

Nonetheless, I was grateful to witness and experience the moment.

I wondered: how many times in my life would I get to touch something like this?

Perhaps the next thing is this compass:

“May I have the courage to choose risk, the discipline to act, the integrity to communicate simply, and the heart to only say what matters.”

Press on.

Endnote

While reading the book and living through the ups and downs of May, I also came across this song while watching viral cha-cha-cha dance videos online.

"Life's a journey and not a sprint to first place"

The lyrics stood out to me when paired with a dancesport video, because sport can sometimes feel like a race against time, with a relatively short window of health and physical performance.

But I liked the song's upbeat reminder that much of life is simply about enjoying the journey.