“Say my name! Say my f**king name!” - Andre Agassi's autobiography ghostwriter recalls being snubbed by American during talk show

JR Moehringer, who ghostwrote Andre Agassi's autobiography 'Open,' recently opened up about the time he was snubbed by the American during a late-night talk show. Moehringer also claimed it was an experience that inadvertently ended up helping him.

In an interview with The New Yorker, Moehringer recalled a night where he turned on the TV to see Agassi appearing on a talk show and being his usual charming self. This was right after the publication of Agassi's autobiography, which invited a lot of praise from the show host.

"There was Andre Agassi, on a late-night talk show. The host was praising “Open” and Agassi was being his typical charming, humble self. Now the host was praising the writing. Agassi continued to be humble. Thank you, thank you," Moehringer said.

Secretly, Moehringer was hoping that Andre Agassi would mention his name during the interview. After all, the former World No. 1 had offered to put the novelist's name on the cover of his book, which Moehringer had declined.

Nonethless, Moehringer was frustrated when Agassi did not correct the host on the night and mention that it was the ghostwriter who had done most of the writing. Agassi's snub even led Moehringer to yell obscenities at the TV.

"But I dared to hope he might mention . . . me? An indefensible, illogical hope: Andre Agassi had asked me to put my name on the cover, and I’d declined. Nevertheless, right before zonking out, I started muttering at the TV, “Say my name.” I got a bit louder. “Say my name!” I got pretty rowdy. “Say my f**king name!”" Moehringer said.

However, J.R. Moehringer regretted his outburst almost immediately, as he believed it had shone a light on his own "creeping narcissism." The realization gave him a newfound "clarity" - that it was time for him to get back to his first love of writing his own books.

"I took it as a lesson. NyQuil was to blame, but also creeping narcissism. The gods were admonishing me: You can’t be Mister Rogers while ghosting the book and John McEnroe when it’s done. I drove away from Vermont with newfound clarity. I’m not cut out for this ghostwriting thing. I needed to get back to my first love, journalism, and to writing my own books," Moehringer recalled.

Andre Agassi later recommended J.R. Moehringer for ghostwriting Nike founder Phil Knight's memoir

Off Court At The 2019 Australian Open

After their own collaboration, Andre Agassi recommended J.R. Moehringer to Nike founder Phil Knight when the latter wanted to publish his own memoir. After three years of being in the works, 'Shoe Dog' was published in 2016. It reached the top 5 of the New York Times Best Seller List for business books later on.

"Then one day the phone rang. A soft voice, vaguely familiar. Andre Agassi, asking if I was up for working with someone on a memoir. [It was Phil Knight, the founder of Nike]. A business book didn’t seem like my thing. But I needed to do something, and writing my own stuff was out. I went to the initial meeting thinking, It’s only an hour of my life. It wound up being three years," Moehringer said, recalling the incident.