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In March 1975, Philly drove his brother to a tournament at La Quinta in his old car. They subsisted on potatoes and soup, and Andre won the first game in the main draw. As an amateur, he was entitled only to reimbursement of his expenses. Consequently, he and Philly created a fictional list of costs totaling $2,600. Pointing out that the expenses equaled the prize money, the tournament director gave him $2,000. Andre insisted on splitting it with Philly.

In the spring of 1986, Andre reached the final of a Florida tournament. The prize was $1,100, but Andre would officially become a professional player if he accepted it. Andre called his father, who pointed out that he had dropped out of school and had no other options. He turned professional on his 16th birthday, and Philly became his full-time tournament companion. Andre accepted a lucrative sponsorship deal with Nike and was ranked among the world’s top 100 players.

Sporting a spiky two-tone mullet, Andre entered his first US Open in 1986. He was knocked out in the first round and then lost several successive tournaments. Perry assured Andre that he would soon be on the cover of Sports Illustrated and would date Brooke Shields (recently voted the world’s most beautiful woman). Andre reached the quarterfinals of the Japan Open and the finals in Seoul. Upon returning to Vegas, he hugged his father; Mike froze, and Andre vowed never to hug him again.

Playing for the first time at the Italian Open, Andre disliked the clay surface. He repeated his second-round loss at the French Open. At the Louvre in Paris, Andre and Philly admired a painting of a naked young man clinging to a flimsy branch on a clifftop while holding onto a woman with two children and carrying an old man with a sack of money on his back. Andre commented on how tight the old man’s arm looked around the young man’s neck. Philly told him to hang on.

In June 1987, Andre played Wimbledon in London. He immediately disliked the formal atmosphere, the requirement that players wear white, and how the slippery grass surface deadened the ball’s bounce. In Andre’s first match there, Henri Leconte annihilated him on the “Graveyard Court.” Andre vowed never to return.

By the time he reached a tournament in Washington, DC, Andre was exhausted from travel and again lost in the first round. After the match, he gave a group of unhoused men his tennis rackets, worth hundreds of dollars each. Later, realizing he had little money left, he accepted a request to play in an exhibition match for $2,000. He bought new rackets. In the exhibition match, Andre beat Michael Chang but noted that his opponent’s game had significantly improved. He continued to Vermont, where he defeated Luke Jensen, the top-ranked junior in the world. His next opponent was recent Wimbledon champion Pat Cash, and Andre was astonished to win again. When he reached the semifinals against Ivan Lendl, his father came to watch. Beforehand, Lendl strutted around naked in the locker room. Andre lost the match but won a set and felt happy with his performance. Afterward, Andre read Lendl’s description of him in a newspaper: “A haircut and a forehand” (110).

At the end of 1987, 17-year-old Andre won his first professional tournament in Brazil, where he was treated like a hero. He returned to his parents’ home in Vegas and bought a $37,000 Corvette. His father insisted on accompanying him to the dealership and was furious about the $50 paperwork fee, threatening the manager and beating his fists on the desk. Mike’s behavior spoiled the excitement of the purchase, and Andre resolved to control his money and life going forward.

Noticing how fans dressed like him in denim shorts and with mullet hairstyles, Andre was both flattered and embarrassed. Newspapers criticized his attire, claiming that he was trying to draw attention to himself. However, like any teen, Andre was experimenting with his image. More importantly, he was prematurely balding and wore his hair long to conceal this. Philly, who had the same issue, wore toupees, and Andre asked his brother to buy him one.

Andre celebrated his 18th birthday while playing at the Isle of Palms tournament and won. Next, he played in the Tournament of Champions in New York City and again faced Chang. Chang’s habit of thanking God when he won, suggesting that God had favored him, irritated Andre. After beating Chang, Andre won the tournament. In May 1988, Andre was defeated in the third round of the Italian Open. At the French Open in Paris, the smell of smoke during matches distracted him: The venue allowed the crowd to smoke cigars and pipes. Andre reached the semifinals but had cramps and lost to Mats Wilander. Skipping Wimbledon, he hired Pat, a Chilean trainer, to improve his stamina and conditioning.

In July, Andre was a US Davis Cup team member in Argentina. During a game against an Argentinian opponent, he reflexively caught a serve with one hand. The crowd booed him, believing he was being deliberately disrespectful. The press criticized him, and instead of explaining that he caught the ball unintentionally, Andre claimed he did it on purpose.

Now ranked fourth in the world, Andre delighted in beating Jeff Tarango in a small New Jersey tournament, exacting revenge for his cheating Andre when he was a junior. At the US Open, Andre reached the quarterfinal, facing Jimmy Connors. Before the game, Andre reminded Connors how he delivered rackets to him as a boy. Connors claimed not to remember and then ignored him. Andre beat Connors but lost to Ivan Lendl in the semifinal.

Andre sought support from Perry, who was studying business at Georgetown. He began attending a nondenominational church with Philly. The pastor, John Parenti, insisted that the congregation call him J. P. and dressed like a “surfer.” One night, Andre had an emotional crisis and told J. P. his life story. The pastor pointed out the contradictions in Andre’s life: He still lived with his parents and did not yet know who he was; meanwhile, strangers interpreted his image as the real Andre Agassi and thought they knew him.

Andre enjoyed playing for his country and invited J. P. to the Davis Cup in Munich. However, he lost to Boris Becker. Back at his hotel, he confided to J. P. that he would rather die than do his best and discover it was not enough. The next day, he played Carl-Uwe-Steeb and lost. A team member and a sportswriter accused Andre of “tanking.”

After easily defeating Pete Sampras in the Italian Open, Andre felt sorry for Sampras and did not expect to play him again. In the final, Andre reached match point against Alberto Mancini but then crumbled and lost. In the French Open, Jim Courier beat Andre in the third round. After the match, Courier went for a run, implying that playing Andre had not provided an adequate workout. Chang won the tournament.

In mid-1989, Andre agreed to appear in an ad for Canon. The final shot showed him getting out of a Lamborghini, and he was required to say, “Image is Everything” (130). A crowd of spectators gathered, including Wendi, his childhood crush. In the following weeks, Canon’s slogan haunted Andre: Newspapers suggested that it summed up his identity. Angry and resentful, Andre gained a reputation for hostility. He took refuge in the company of Philly and J. P., who had quit his job as a pastor to become a composer. While magazines and newspapers continued to criticize him, Andre received a deluge of fan mail, including photos of naked women. He played up to “the role of villain-rebel” (121).

At the University of Nevada, Andre met sports trainer Gil Reyes, who agreed to help him meet his fitness goals. Gil said Andre’s current training regimen would likely injure him and shorten his career. Though not a tennis expert, Gil pointed out that the game involves continually starting and stopping, so the key was to do this efficiently. Gil quickly improved Andre’s fitness and became a father figure to him. He often had dinner with Gil’s family and stayed overnight. In the 1989 US Open quarterfinals, Andre beat Jimmy Connors in five sets.

The press criticized Andre for the constant presence of his “entourage” (Perry, J. P., Nick, and Philly), suggesting that it was a sign of egocentricity. Gil carefully monitored Andre’s condition, nutrition, and hydration, making him “Gil Water” to drink before matches for stamina.

In February 1990, Andre was pulled over twice for speeding while driving to Scottsdale with Gil. On the second occasion, the officer instructed him to return to Kingman Municipal Court to face the judge. The judge, a tennis enthusiast, asked Andre for his autograph and instructed him to go to Scottsdale and win. During the tournament, Andre and Gil went to a restaurant and overheard a group of men mocking Andre’s appearance. Before leaving, Gil confronted the men, towering over their table, taking bites from their burgers, and pouring soda on the table. None of the men challenged him.