Agassi Book Bids Pass $4 Million

Matthew Thornton -- Publishers Weekly, 3/22/2007 9:21:00 AM

Bids have topped $4 million for a book by eight-time Grand Slam winner Andre Agassi, sources familiar with the negotiations said, as several publishers including Knopf's Sonny Mehta and HarperCollins's David Hirshey compete for a book that will reportedly be a memoir of Agassi’s life and career, as well as talk about the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy in Las Vegas. Agassi, a native of that city, founded the charter school in 2001 in the economically depressed West Las Vegas. The star athlete has also made headlines off the court with two high-profile marriages, first to actress Brooke Shields and now to fellow tennis pro Steffi Graf.

Agent Richard Pine, who is handling the deal, invited publishers to fly to Las Vegas to meet with Agassi last week and take a tour of his school. One publisher who declined the invitation said that no written proposal had been circulated prior to that. In addition, according to one source, the publishers who did make the trip were unaware they’d all be taking the school tour together. No word on whether a writer has been attached to the project yet; Pine declined comment.