Grace for Andre

I just turned off a 60 Minutes interview with Andre Agassi.  Agassi recently released his autobiography, which sent waves through the tennis world as he admitted to hating tennis for most of his life. He was forced into the game by his fanatical father, who taped ping pong paddles to his hands as a toddler and had Andre practicing 4 or 5 hours a day by age five. The pressure built as the push to be the greatest compounded over the years. He felt trapped in a life he never chose.

I remember Agassi well – long hair, bright pink and black clothing. He was young, cool, and all over television. I was eight or nine at the time and mimicked his moves on my neighborhood courts. While he strutted confidently on the court, his personal life slowly began to disintegrate. He had everything, yet nothing. Empty. Hollow. So when his personal assistant offered him crystal meth, he figured nothing could make him feel worse, and his drug use continued for about a year. He was hurting and desperate, accepting a temporary chemical facade of life rather than choosing to truly live.

Agassi tested positive for a drug test that year, and ashamedly wrote a letter of lies explaining away the findings. Then, after an embarrassing loss on the court, his coach told him to either quit or start over completely. In that moment, Agassi made the decision that changed the direction of his life. He chose to start over, choosing tennis for himself this time, leaving the drugs and the shame, and winning like never before.

The 60 Minutes interview spoke of his book, Open, and being just that, Agassi tells all.  As usual, people have their opinions. Katie Couric commented on harsh words spoken towards Agassi from today’s tennis stars Rodger Federer and Raphael Nadal. Couric then read particularly heartless words from 1980s tennis champion Martina Navratilova: “Shocking,” Navratilova said in a phone interview. “Not as much shock that he did it as shock he lied about it and didn’t own up to it. He’s up there with Roger Clemens, as far as I’m concerned. He owned up to it [in the book], but it doesn’t help now.” Tears welled up in Agassi’s eyes – he knows his shame and regret – but there is still a sting when people lash out at past mistakes. Agassi responded by saying that people who use recreational drugs [usually performance inhibitors] do so not to improve their forehands, but because they are hurting. He said condemnation is not needed. Compassion is more fitting.

Few things piss me off, but arrogance and the refusal to show grace to a broken person is at the top of the list. I think about the time the Pharisees carried a woman caught in adultery in front of Jesus. A crowd gathered, holding stones, ready to kill the sinful woman. And then Jesus spoke words Navratilova needs to hear, ““If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7).

As I sat on my couch with anger towards Navratilova, the heartless, horrible lady, I began to wonder about the person behind such a comment. I wondered about how hard her heart must be toward her own brokenness, and the arrogance one must have to not feel compassion for a repentant person. Perhaps I’m wrong completely, and she is sitting at home regretting her words the same way Agassi regrets his use of crystal meth. I think the Lord is saying Agassi is not the only person in this story needing grace. Perhaps Navratilova needs grace as well. Perhaps there is not one of us able to throw a stone.