Andre Agassi’s Open is, without doubt, one of the finest — if not the finest — sporting autobiographies ever written. It charts his meteoric rise, his rebellion against tennis’s hierarchy, his follicular rebellions and acceptance, his flirtation with mind-altering substances, the father-son dynamic with his trainer Gil, and his epochal comeback after tumbling out of the top 100. It captures the glory of completing the Golden Slam and the romance of wooing the greatest female tennis player of all time. And above all, it lays bare his profound hatred of tennis — making it a must-read not only for fans of the sport but for anyone seeking insight into the indomitable spirit that drives humans.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!The book ends with Agassi’s US Open swansong in 2005, where he comes up against a Swiss maestro with a twinkling style, coiffed hair, and the kind of ethereal elegance that was almost alien-like on a court of grunts.Agassi wrote: “Federer comes onto the court looking like Cary Grant. I almost wonder if he’s going to play in an ascot and a smoking jacket. He’s permanently smooth, I’m constantly rattled, even when serving at 40–15. He’s also dangerous from so many different parts of the court, there’s nowhere to hide. I don’t do well when there’s nowhere to hide.”He concluded: “In the tiebreak, he goes to a place that I don’t recognize. He finds a gear that other players simply don’t have. He wins 7–1… Walking to the net, I’m certain that I’ve lost to the better man, the Everest of the next generation. I pity the young players who will have to contend with him. I feel for the man who is fated to play Agassi to his Sampras.”
Twenty years later, déjà vu struck as Carlos Alcaraz clinically dismantled Novak Djokovic — chasing a 25th Grand Slam — who might in time be tempted to write a similar passage about meeting this generation’s Everest.

A Bumptious SavantThere’s an almost endearing joy about Carlos Alcaraz’s insouciance, like watching a savant meander his way through everyday life, a bumbling fool until suddenly he has a racket in his hand. And he has been the heart and soul of Flushing Meadows after the Great Balding — a watershed event treated with as much fascination as David Beckham’s experiments or Agassi’s own liberation.It’s almost ridiculous to watch him play, dropping out of the cameras while chasing a ball, evoking Sir Alex Ferguson’s epic description of a young Ryan Giggs: floating over the ground like a cockier spaniel chasing a piece of silver paper in the wind.The Djoker’s Counter-NarrativeBut this is Novak Djokovic. The man who once gate-crashed the Federer–Nadal duopoly, snatched their trophies, and rewrote their mythology. He might even have overtaken Nadal earlier if not for his refusal to compromise on vaccines — a stubbornness on par with Ali’s stand against the draft.Even in 2025, he has reached the semi-final of every major, falling only to Alcaraz or Sinner. Now, in New York, he faced the mirror image: could he disrupt the Alcaraz–Sinner order before it calcified into its own duopoly?The Arc of the MatchThe opener was cagey. Djokovic imposed his patterns, pushed Alcaraz into long rallies, probing for cracks. But the 22-year-old held firm, broke early, and took it 6–4. His first win over Djokovic on hard courts — a milestone that mattered.The second set was the hinge. Djokovic raised the intensity, stretched Alcaraz corner to corner. Normally, this is where he suffocates belief. Instead, he blinked. Once the master of tiebreaks, he grew uncharacteristically frantic. He rushed a serve-and-volley on the opening point. He pulled the trigger too early in rallies. A drop shot hung in the air like a gift, and suddenly it was 4–1 to Alcaraz.

Djokovic clawed back, but at 6–4 in the breaker he lunged at another volley and sent it long. The set was gone. For a man who once played tiebreaks like Kasparov blitzing pawns, this was speed chess blindfolded. By the third set, the match was theatre. Alcaraz stepped in on second serves, whipped forehands with reckless authority, and Djokovic’s shoulders sagged. He looked, for the first time, catatonic. Alcaraz raced to 6–2, finishing with a wide ace that Djokovic could only wave at in vain.The Everest Test

Agassi felt Federer drag him to a gear “other players simply don’t have.” Djokovic felt the same in Flushing Meadows. But where Agassi’s body shut down, Djokovic’s mind blinked first.“The man who once played tiebreaks like chess blitzed by Kasparov suddenly played them like speed dating.” Against anyone else, those errors would be forgotten. Against Alcaraz, they became epitaphs.“I lost three out of four Slams in semis against these guys, so they’re just too good,” Djokovic admitted. “Best-of-five makes it very, very difficult for me to play them.”Alcaraz, irreverent, still joked about wanting to be a “serve-bot.” But he had just served Djokovic out of Flushing Meadows.Sinner at Base CampFrom 2003 to 2023, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic owned 66 Slams. Generations were bounced out like practice balls into the stands. But dynasties end. Sampras had Agassi. Federer had Nadal. Djokovic had both. Now Alcaraz has Sinner.Djokovic sees it clearly: “It will be very difficult for me in the future to overcome the hurdle of Sinner, Alcaraz… best of five, it’s tough.” That is his Agassi moment — conceding that most men have weaknesses, but these two reveal none when it matters.Sinner is Nadal-esque not just in results, but in temperament. He doesn’t blink. He doesn’t improvise. He hammers depth like a mantra, takes time away, and dares you to crack first.Alcaraz, on the other hand, looks as if he was manifested by watching all three. As Patrick Mouratoglou pointed out in 2022, he moves inside the court like Roger, counter-attacks like Djokovic, and can play long rallies like Nadal. To that, he has added his desire to become what is now also known as a serve bot. As Rafa Nadal put it recently, Alcaraz has a little more magic but makes more mistakes, sometimes playing for the “big shot” — a critique that Brad Gilbert once made about Andre Agassi. Nadal also noted that Sinner still has room to improve, making it clear that both of these young men remain works in progress, even as they dominate.Not Going QuietlyAgassi closed Open with his Federer defeat — his final chapter, curtain drawn. Djokovic is different. He may be beaten, but he is not finished. He will not go quietly into the night.Twenty years after Agassi walked to the net certain he had lost to the better man, Djokovic did the same. The Everest of the next generation has a new name: Carlos Alcaraz. And standing just behind him, ice-eyed and patient, is Jannik Sinner — waiting to make his climb. But unlike Agassi, Djokovic still has gas in the tank. He might yet have one last joke to play.