Michael Chang tells Inside Tennis that he’s upset with Andre Agassi due to comments he made in his autobiography, Open, about Chang’s devotion to Christianity. Chang and Agassi grew up playing each other and were longtime rivals.
"I read the excerpts, and it’s hard for me not to shake my head a little bit," Chang said. "I wonder if, to some degree, whether some of the stuff he wrote was more or less to sell the book… It was kind of odd. Andre was very harsh on me for my Christian faith, but at the same time, I believe he understands where I am as far as my faith. We actually used to have Bible studies together early on in our careers. He was upset that I would go and thank the Lord for my matches, which, back then, was probably not as commonplace as you see today. I would have thought that he would know me better than that; that me going out and expressing that has nothing to do with saying, 'I’m better than you, or 'God loves me more than he loves you.' That’s not the case."
Chang added that he was confused that Agassi let another member of their generation, Jim Courier, know what was in the book before it came out, but when Chang saw him a week before its publication at an exhibition, Agassi didn’t say a word to him.
"It was kind of odd," Chang said. "He was pretty harsh on everybody. I’m not really sure what his purpose was. But Andre is Andre. He can say what he wants. I would hope that, deep down inside, he knows what is real. Maybe those were just some of his thoughts at that particular time, what he was going through….I’ve known Andre for a long time, but I can’t say I’ve known Andre to that degree to where I knew what he was doing on a daily basis. I was never that close to him….For the most part, I’ve had a good relationship with Andre. It’s just, every now and then, he says some things. I guess we all know to some degree that Andre has said some things that he’s regretted in his career, but it’s always been colorful."