"He had an eighth-grade education": Agassi had 'profound respect' for academically gifted people

Andre Agassi's memoir 'Open' is widely considered one of the best ones in history and its ghostwriter J.R. Moehringer recently talked about the tennis legend.

Agassi was known for tennis and some other things however not many are aware of his deep admiration for well-read people. Agassi has always been a fan of literature pursuing J.R. Moehringer after reading one of his books. The writer spoke about Agassi and how much he admired people who write books:

"Andre Agassi and I were very different, but our connection was instant. He had an eighth-grade education but a profound respect for people who read and write books. I had a regrettably short sporting résumé (my Little League fastball was unhittable) but deep reverence for athletes. Especially the solitaries: tennis players, prizefighters, matadors, who possess that luminous charisma which comes from besting opponents single-handedly. But Andre didn’t want to talk about that."

Moehringer further said:

"He asked why I’d organized my memoir around other people, rather than myself. I told him that was the kind of memoir I admired. The same almost painful gratitude that I felt toward my mother, and toward my bartender uncle and his barfly friends, who helped her raise me, Andre felt for his trainer and his coach, and for his wife, Stefanie Graf."