Book Excerpt: Facing Andre Agassi

By Raymond Lee | Wednesday, March 18, 2026
Photo credit: Scott Barbour/Tennis Australia for Laver Cup

Andre Agassi’s excellent memoir Open opened the curtain on what of the most charismatic champions in Open Era history.

Now, author Scoop Malinowski has taken a deep dive into Agassi’s life and career with the new book Facing Andre Agassi.

It’s a collection of interviews and anecdotes from players and tennis figures about playing the eight-time Grand Slam and 1996 Olympic gold medalist Andre Agassi. The iconic showman from Las Vegas also won the Miami Open six times (1990, 1995, 1996, 2001, 2002, 2003) back when the tournament was played at Crandon Park on Key Biscayne, widely regarded as one of the most scenic spots on the pro circuit.

While Open is strictly from the Agassi point of view of his life and tennis career, Facing Andre Agassi expands on the phenomenon, taking the perspective of his peers.  There are no shortage of interesting stories involving the International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee.  

“For all the players and tennis world figures who were lucky to have close encounters with Agassi, it’s clear how much they respect him and all the experiences were uniquely special. It was a blast to do this book and I believe and hope all readers will love every page of it,” said Malinowski, who has also authored Facing Federer, Facing Novak Djokovic, Marcelo Rios: The Man We Barely Knew, Facing Marat Safin, Facing Bjorn Borg, Vitas Gerulaitis Portrait of a Champion, Facing McEnroe, Facing Nadal, Facing Hewitt, Facing Guillermo Vilas, Facing Steffi Graf/Serena Williams double book, Facing Andy Murray, Facing Sampras and The Sarasota Open Experience. 

You can order your copy of Facing Agassi now from amazon for $10.99…

Facing Andre Agassi excerpt is here:

Johan Kriek: “Somewhere around 1986 or so my agent called me and said he has an easy gig for me in Tallahassee, Florida. I would be playing a good junior in an exhibition match. Well, at first I was like, “A junior?! Come on man! I am top 10 in the world and you want me to play against a junior in an exhibition match?”

“My agent was Lee Fentress at that time from Advantage International. He said, ‘It’s a 16-year-old from Nick Bollettieri’s Academy and his name is Andre Agassi.’

“I had a few weeks off so I said, ‘Sure, I’ll do it.’ I drove from Naples, Florida to Tallahassee to play this ‘junior.’

“It was scheduled for a late afternoon start, so I showed up about an hour before the start of it. As I walked into the locker room, I saw this entourage of people huddled in one corner and I saw this very hairy guy with a huge mullet. A guy with a suit stood up and introduced himself as Mr. So and So from IMG, ‘I am Andre’s agent – please come and meet him’ …So I extended my hand and that was the first time I was introduced to Andre Agassi.

“Niceties and pleasantries later I was getting dressed in tennis gear and this guy who said he was ‘Phillip and I am his brother’ starts sliding down the wooden bench my way and says, ‘Hey Johan, we have a plane to catch for the trip back to Sarasota so why don’t we make it whoever wins the first set will make sure the winner wins in straight sets as we really need to get back to Sarasota.’

“I thought to myself ‘Wow, I am top ten in the world and this junior’s brother is asking me to roll over as if he is going to beat me!?’…. NO * way!

“So we play in this huge indoor basketball auditorium in front of about 5,000 college kids and the place was decked out in black curtains. It was like playing in some gothic chamber….. suiting Andre’s scene to a tee!

“I quickly went up 5-1 in the first set and I thought to myself, ‘Well, he is about to get smoked easily in this set so I will make it like 6-1 6-3 and he will make his plane.’ I have by then played exhibition matches for almost ten years and I knew how important it is to play well but also a bit of show to go with it!

“Suddenly Andre rips a few big forehands and starts fist pumping and these college kids are getting behind this long-haired, fist-pumping kid! He suddenly pulls up to 5-4 and is just being the showman he is!

Suddenly I am forced to be “super serious” because he is really playing well. It ended up being a long match. I think I ended up winning in tough two-setter, as far as I can remember. During the match I thought to myself, “Well buddy, it doesn’t seem like the plane ride is that pressing, so let’s play for a while.”

“And yes, Andre missed his plane.

“But I didn’t miss the fact that this ‘kid’ was already a great player. It was about a year later when he came to Stratton Mountain, Vermont and had that amazing run and lost to Lendl.

“I played Andre a few times when he was great in his “first career” of the “two careers” he played. One year he beat me in four sets at the US Open on center court (Louis Armstrong Stadium) when he was about no. 3 in the world. But I got revenge on him at the US National Indoor Championships in Memphis in 1989 when I beat him and Michael Chang back to back.

“What a career and what a character he was on the court back in the days.”

Head to head series tied 1-1
1989 Memphis R16 Indoor Hard Kriek 67 75 63
1988 US Open R32 Outdoor Hard Agassi 63 61 26 60

Novak Djokovic: “Andre Agassi is a huge inspiration to many people including myself. It was a great opportunity to have him alongside me and learn. He was very supportive of me in media. When he would speak in public about me it was always positive and nice. Even when I received a lot of criticism, he was one of the few people that kept believing in me and talking nice about me so I just gave him a phone call wanting to thank him for that. And to say I appreciate his kind words.

“It turned out to be a 30-40 minute discussion and then it evolved to where we were together as friends but as player and coach as well (2017-2018). I was honored to have him on my team. He asked a lot of questions, which is great because he was trying to get to know me as a person, a player, my family, my team. He really wanted to give his best to help me to become even a better player and a better human being. I definitely see him as a great inspiration.”

Andy Roddick: “There has never been a player with such a transcending effect in the sport over such a long period of time. Hundreds of players have jobs because of the fans and sponsors that he has brought to the game.”

Heidi Kitchen: “I had three pictures on my bedroom wall – Tom Cruise, Bobby Catalano from Dance Party USA and Andre Agassi.”

Luke Jensen:  “We were in shark infested waters on a rented boat in Australia before Australian Open. Andre got an offer to play an exhibition somewhere in Asia for five or six figures and he declined the offer. I said, Andre, that’s only two hours, you’ll get paid a fortune for a workout session. He said he didn’t want to do it.  Then he told me, he would pay me $25,000 to jump in the water and swim around the boat, but really swim around the boat, not with my hands on the sides of the boat. I said, No way, these are Great White shark infested waters. And then Andre said, and I will never forget it, “See, it’s not always about the money.”

That was a lot fun to hang out with Andre back then. He’d pay for everything and he’d always bring some kind of celebrity along.

The girls were everywhere. When I was with (Agassi), you’d see panties, naked pictures with notes.

Andre was the man on the Tour. He was the man that drove this train. Pete Sampras was the world’s No. 1, a great player. Michael Chang – great player. Thomas Muster – a great player, but (Agassi) is the man who sold the game. He’s the one who’s on the Wheaties box for our game.

I beat him one time at 1996 Memphis indoors. He was ranked 2 in the world then and had a chance to regain no. 1 that week from Pete. I was ranked 419 in singles.  I served really well that night, he had trouble seeing the ball on the fast court. I got him that night but he kicked my butt so many times in juniors and pros.

Series tied 1-1

1996  Memphis R32  Indoor Hard  Jensen 62 64 

1987  Stratton Mountain  R64  Outdoor Hard Agassi 36 63 63 

Mark Harrison:  “I never played Andre in juniors. I played Jim Courier three times and won all three. At one of the junior tournaments in Florida, I was watching Andre play. I think it was 14s. He was on the baseline ready to return serve. And suddenly a ball from another court, hit him in the head. For a second Andre, didn’t know what happened and then he realized it was a mishit ball from the next court. And as soon as he realized what happened, he refocused and locked in… as if nothing happened.” 

Peter Haggar:  “I remember playing Andre in a junior tournament at Sarasota Bath & Racquet. It was a very cold morning about 25 degrees. I remember Andre played the whole match with a hooded sweatshirt with the hood tied up so all you could see was his eyes. He won the match 60 60 in about 25 minutes!”

Margie Zesinger (IMG Head of Female Tennis): “I went with Fanny Stollar to Las Vegas to train with Andre and Steffi and Gil Reyes for a week when she was turning pro. Andre gave her a lot of advices and tips but the main thing he emphasized is that she really had to love what she was doing, she had to love playing tennis, practicing and playing all the tournaments. I will never forget when he was telling her this he started to cry. Andre is very passionate about helping people, he takes mentorship very seriously.”