"Andre Agassi had an 8th-grade education but a profound respect for people who read and write books" - Ghostwriter J.R. Moehringer

Andre Agassi might not have been the most academically accomplished tennis players of all-time, but the American had a "profound respect" for well-read people, according to ghostwriter J.R. Moehringer.

Moehringer worked in collaboration with the eight-time Grand Slam champion on his autobiography 'Open,' which went on to become one of the most well-regarded sports memoirs in recently.

Recalling that experience in a recent interview with The New Yorker, Moehringer revealed that he and Andre Agassi developed an "instant" connection despite being "very different" from each other. While the former World No. 1 had a fondness for readers and writers, the pulitzer-winning novelist had the same reverence for athletes, especially those like Agassi who had a certain "luminous charisma."

"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," Moehringer said.

"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," he added.

Recalling how Agassi entrusted him to write his memoir after reading Moehringer's own - 'The Tender Bar' - the American novelist explained to Agassi at one point that he liked to organize his memoirs around other people rather than the person in question themselves.

That attitude was what drove Andre Agassi to prefer Moehringer when it came to choosing a ghostwriter for his autobiography, as the American seemingly had an "almost painful gratitude" towards his trainers, his coaches, and his wife Steffi Graf.

"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," Moehringer said.

"He made countless fixes, and I made fixes to his fixes, and together we made ten thousand more" - J.R. Moehringer on how Andre Agassi's 'Open' came about

Andre Agassi Off Court At The 2019 Australian Open

J.R. Moehringer disclosed during the interview that his inital draft of 'Open' did not go down well with Andre Agassi, who, thankfully, did not overreact. Instead, the eight-time Grand Slam champion made "countless" fixes alongside Moehringer till they arrived at a draft both were happy with.

Admiring that particular patience exhibited by the former World No. 1, Moehringer declared that the final product was a "hybrid" of both their voices, although it was all Agassi's story.

"Maybe the Germans have a term for it, the particular facial expression of someone reading something about his life that’s even the tiniest bit wrong. Schaudergesicht? I saw that look on Andre’s face, and it made me want to lie down on the floor. But, unlike me, he didn’t overreact," Moehringer said.

"He knew that putting a first serve into the net is no big deal. He made countless fixes, and I made fixes to his fixes, and together we made ten thousand more, and in time we arrived at a draft that satisfied us both. The collaboration was so close, so synchronous, you’d have to call the eventual voice of the memoir a hybrid—though it’s all Andre," he added.