SUCCESS STORY
Andre Agassi and His 10,000 hours, Split Second Decisions, and Special Opportunities
By Cody Treptau | Business Major, Emphasis in Finance
Andre walks onto the court and hears the crowd roar out praise for him. “It’s louder than I thought it would be, louder than I’ve ever heard it in New York” (Agassi 19). Andre played in 21 U.S Open’s from 1986–2006 and he says that match was the loudest he has ever heard it. It was a clear fall night in September. Everyone that follows tennis knows it will be his last tournament ever. This could be the last match of his career. Andre Agassi was facing Marcos Baghdatis from Cyprus in the second round of the U.S. Open. Part of him hoped to lose but his competitive mindset wanted to win. He walks through the tunnels of Arthur Ashe Stadium at the U.S. Open. James a security guard who has been escorting Andre through this tunnel many times is doing it once again. Even though the two never talked, a special bond was there because Andre knew James would keep him safe. They start the match and Andre breezes through the first two sets against Baghdatis. The tennis balls follow his commands and he’s hitting the ball with ease. Andre needs three sets to advance into the third round. One more set is all it takes. Andre starts to get sore during the third set from a nagging back injury. Marcos takes the third set quickly and in the fourth he wins the set 7–5. The fifth set sets a fight to the finish. Both players are grueling out every point to win. Andre fights until he wins the match at 7–5 in the fifth. He believes this match was “Some of the best tennis I’ve ever played” (Agassi 24). This is because of the hard work and the opportunities he has been given to get to this moment. Andre Agassi is a perfect example of Gladwellian ideas of 10,000 hours, split second decisions and special opportunities to become a successful professional tennis player.
10,000 hours is one of the many Gladwellian ideas. It means that it takes at least 10,000 hours for you to be great at a specific thing. Andre Agassi got his 10,000 hours pretty fast. There have been multitudes of people that have gotten their 10,000 hours as well as Andre Agassi.
The Beatles rocked their way to stardom as one of the most iconic bands in history. At first, they were only playing in an hour or so for concerts. The Beatles had special connections with some club owners in Hamburg, Germany. They went down to Hamburg and started playing all week. They traveled to Hamburg a total of 5 times in less than 2 years. They played 106 nights their first trip, 92 their second trip, 48 their third trip. Throughout all of their trips, they were said to have performed over 270 nights in that time span. That is all before they came to America and became one of the greatest rock bands in history. “They were no good onstage when they went there and they were very good when they came back,” Norman went on. “It was the making of them” (Outliers 50). This is what getting to your 10,000 hours does. When the Beatles first went to Hamburg as Norman said they weren’t good but after all of the nights they played for 5 or 6 hours, they became great when they finished in Hamburg. Then, they went to America and became one of the most iconic bands in history from all the hours they played in Hamburg.
Bill Joy is one of the founders of Sun Microsystems which is a software company. Bill Joy is one of many that got his 10,000 hours at a fairly early age. In 1971, he attended the University of Michigan. The college just opened their new Computer Center. Bill was very smart and never knew about programming until late his freshman year when he found the Computer Center. During his time at the University of Michigan, Bill says “‘at Michigan, I was probably programming eight or ten hours a day” (Outliers 46). Adding to all of these hours, in the summers Bill would work with one of his computer science professors and got a significant amount of hours. He programmed a long time each day throughout his four years and it helped him get to his 10,000 hours faster. In 1975, Bill attended graduate school at the University of California at Berkeley. Once he got to Berkeley, Bill Joy was programming code night and day. He started to know and remember a lot of code he wrote by his sophomore year of graduate school. From 1971–1976 Bill Joy says how many hours he believes he programmed for, “‘so, so maybe…ten thousand hours?’ he said, finally. ‘That’s about right’’ (Outliers 47). In the span of only 5 years he completed his 10,000 hours. From starting at the University of Michigan, not having a clue about programming to becoming one of the founders of Sun Microsystems because of the 10,000 hours he achieved in just 5 years.
Diana Nyad swam her way to be an iconic swimmer to accomplish a record feat. Diana tried to swim from Cuba to Florida five times. She failed her first four times and then finally completed the amazing feat her fifth and final time. At 28, she attempted her first attempt and she attempted her final attempt when she was 64 years old. After her fourth time she failed at age 30, she decided to retire from swimming and went on to become a sport journalist. Diana turned 60 and felt like she needed to try and complete it the feat that has been haunting her for a while. Diana thought, “To swim from nation-to-nation and land in my own country — there’s nothing of that anywhere on the map. I wanted to be the first one to do it” (Viti 31). She started swimming again and started at 20 minutes. She increased it to 10, 15, 20 and 24 hours in a session. That was just for a swimming session. She also trained onshore for stretching, yoga, lower body, upper body but she can’t do an extensive amount of heavy body training. “We come in and it’s 14 hours and 58 minutes and I can touch the dock and we’re done, the trainer says, “That’s great. It’s 14 hours 58 minutes. Who cares the last two minutes?” I say, “No, it’s got to be 15 hours,” and I swim another minute out and another minute back to make the 15 hours” (Nyad). This represents the commitment of someone trying to get closer to her 10,000 hours. She wouldn’t stop until she got in her full hours. She completed her feat on September 3, 2013. It took her 52 hours and 54 minutes (Viti 31).
Andre Agassi is a professional tennis player that swung his way to get to his 10,000 hours. We have discussed about many people and their examples of how they got their 10,000 hours but Andre Agassi is a perfect example of how he got his 10,000 hours. When Andre was seven years old, he played tennis every day. His dad thinks that Andre should hit 2,500 ball a day, 17,500 balls a week, and then he would have hit almost a million balls a year. “A child who hits one million balls each year will be unbeatable” (Agassi 28). Hitting all those tennis balls will result in playing a lot of hours in a day. He was taught not to hit the ball into the net but he ultimately was told thinking is the worst thing to do. His dad says that thinking is the worst thing because if he isn't thinking about tennis than there isn't a point to think (Agassi 31).
Andre Agassi has proved over and over again that his ability and practice was the reason he won many titles. His match record was 870–274 throughout his whole career. A total of 1,144 matches played in his career. Andre won eight grand slam titles, which are the hardest to win in tennis. In tennis, when you reach 30 years they say that you will decline and you are out of your prime. Agassi played unlike anyone else and had a better year end rankings when he was over 30. “In 2005, he competed in his 20th consecutive U.S. Open, reached the finals for the 6th time, and was the oldest finalist in 31 years” (Atkinson and Herro 87). He shows that his experience from playing every day proves he is one of the best in tennis.
Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink writes about split second decisions. Split second decisions are based on your 10,000 hours. “Gladwell seeks to rehabilitate gut feeling, persuading us that humans have a capacity under certain circumstances to reach correct inferences and decisions with little effort and in short time intervals — -around two seconds. Gladwell estimates” (McAllister 126). There are many people who have completed their 10,000 hours who can relate to being able to make viable split second decisions.
Vic Braden served his way to become a world tennis player and coach. He has been playing and watching tennis throughout his lifetime. He completed his 10,000 hours and is an expert of split second decisions of noticing a double fault in tennis. A player gets two attempts to get their serve in. If they don’t get it in the first time, it is known as a double fault. Vic Braden would know instantly once a tennis player throws the ball up or once they hit it, that it would be a double fault or not. There is one instance where Vic said “I was calling double faults on girls from Russia I’d never seen before in my life” (Blink 48). Based on the 10,000 hours of playing and coaching, he became an expert on split second decisions.
Andre Agassi hit his way to making split second decisions. Throughout his entire tennis career he has been making split second decisions. Every time Andre hits tennis balls, he has to decide in an instant where he will hit the ball. For all the balls he hit, every single ball shot was a split second decision. He is one of the 5 men in the world to win all four Grand Slam tournaments (Atkinson and Herro 86). The four Grand Slams include: the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open. Tennis is all about split second decisions and Andre Agassi had to become an expert in making them in order to become a great professional tennis player.
Special opportunities are one of the many Gladwellian ideas. This is when people are given chances that help them succeed. Many people are given these special opportunities but it’s about who uses them to their advantage to become a successful person. Andre Agassi was given multiple special opportunities that he used to his benefit to become a successful professional tennis player. There are many examples of people that used their special opportunities to their benefit as well as Andre Agassi.
Bill Gates programmed his way into becoming the head of the computer company of Microsoft. Bill Gates used his special opportunities into a programming genius. His special opportunities started in seventh grade when Bill went to Lakeside, an elite private school. The second year at Lakeside, they started a computer club. This was a big opportunity because in 1968 most colleges didn't even have computer clubs. Bill Gates started programming in eighth grade. At the University of Washington, they formed C-Cubed or the Computer Center Corporation. Lakeside formed a shared time with the University of Washington and once that happened Gates used that special opportunity to program in the nights (Outliers 50–52). Gates got a lot of hours in as he says “It would be a rare week that we wouldn't get twenty or thirty hours in” (Outliers 52). If he did that since he was a teenager then Bill would get to his 10,000 hours in a shorter amount of time. He used his special opportunities to his advantage.
Bill Joy explored the special opportunities given his way. Bill Joy decided to go to the University of Michigan and they had a time-sharing system for their Computer Center. Earlier with computers, they had a punch card system, which was amazingly slower than the time-sharing system. He lived in the north campus, which was really close to the Computer Center, and they happened to have it open 24 hours a day (Outliers 45). These are many special opportunities he was given and took advantage of to get to his 10,000 hours.
Andre Agassi is a perfect example of being given special opportunities and taking advantage of them. Bill Gates and Bill Joy are good examples as well but it’s interesting to see how Andre Agassi took full advantage of them. His dads’ occupation helped Agassi with a special opportunity. They live a little ways out from the Vegas Strip but his dad did that so he could build his own tennis court at his house. He built the court for his kids and once all of his other kids stopped playing it was Andre’s court. His dad drove Andre into becoming the best. At age four, he was hitting with Jimmy Connors who was one of the best tennis players in the world. Sometimes when Andre’s dad is driving him to school, he turns and goes to the Cambridge Racquet Club to hit instead of going to school (Agassi 32–34). Andre played many exhibition matches with professionals throughout his younger years like with Bjorn Borg. His father invested into Andre by sending him to The Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy. During his time there, Nick Bollettieri saw Andre play and called his dad to tell him Andre is going to keep playing at the Tennis Academy for free because he is so talented (Agassi 77). Every special opportunity he was given, he took advantage of and became one of the greatest tennis players in the world.
A finger sliced off by an ice skate. Tennis practice starts in the morning. Andre plays with a cast on his finger to get in his hours. Andre plays every day no matter if it’s a holiday or birthday. He continually hits to get better. His dad giving him commands after every shot, “Don’t pull the racket that far back, son — shorter the backswing, bigger the pop, like a boxer’s straight right. C’mon, step inside the baseline, hit the ball early, crush it — lower, deeper, closer, farther, more topspin, more — go for broke on every shot!” (Smith). His dad yells these commands while they are either playing at a tennis club or the court in their backyard. Once he listen to his dad he has to makes split second decisions every ball he hits on where it should go in the court. Hard work, split second decisions, and special opportunities lead Andre Agassi into becoming one of the most successful tennis players. Many people work hard to reach their goal but many are not given special opportunities like Andre. Everyone should get chances like Andre Agassi by using their hard work ethic, making split second decisions correctly, and having special opportunities come into their lives and use them to their full advantage to be successful in life.
Works Cited
Agassi, Andre. Open: An Autobiography. New York: A. Knopf, 2009. Print.
Atkinson, Jaye L. and Steven K. Herro. “From the Chartreuse Kid to the Wise Old Gnome of Tennis: Age Stereotypes as Frames Describing Andre Agassi at the U.S. Open.” Journal of Sports and Social Issues 34.1 (2010): 86–104. Academic Search Premiere. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
Collins, Bud. “Andre Agassi.” ATP World Tour. 1994–2015. Web. 5 May. 2015.
Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success. New York: Back Bay Books, 2011. Print.
— -, Gladwell, Malcolm. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. New York: Back Bay Books, 2007. Print.
McAllister, James W. “Malcolm Gladwell, Blink: The Power Of Thinking Without Thinking.” Minds & Machines 17.1 (2007): 125–128. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.
Nyad, Diana “Extreme swimming with world’s most dangerous jellyfish” TED. Apr. 2015. Lecture.
Smith, Gary. “Coming Into Focus.” Sports Illustrated 105.2 (2006): 60–74. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
VITI, LUCIA. “Diana NYAD. (Cover Story).” American Fitness 32.4 (2014): 30–32. Academic Search Premier. Web. 9 May 2015.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cody Treptau, a freshman at Bethel University, Arden Hills, MN, who likes to play tennis felt, inspired by tennis to write this paper. Treptau likes Mountain Dew, Red Lobster, and video gaming.
WHAT I'VE LEARNED
A great sentence should start with a doer, followed by an action, then by the victim. “Bethel President Jay Barnes ate the freshman.”
I should use authentic dialogue that anyone else in the world has not used. We lay on the beach and Sean screams to me “Big Danger, you playing Spike ball?”
College Writing taught me about things that pertained to my life now and not just papers upon papers. I wrote book reviews and learned about proper resume and cover letter styles.
A great writer starts you in a moment that keeps you interested in your paper.
I learned I shouldn't start or end my point with a quote.
I should write a quote, analyze it, and then set up a moment.
At the end of a paper, I should use a kicker and that leaves the reader off thinking about a message from my paper.
In Outliers, I learned the definition of successful as men and women who do things out of the ordinary.
In Blink, I learned the famous tennis coach Vic Braden used split second decisions to decide if a tennis player double faults or not based on his experiences and his 10,000 hours.
Andre Agassi took advantage of many special opportunities in his life to become one of the greatest tennis players.
Great writers have guts to go deep into their writing and be honest.
Great writers gives the reader something to smell, feel, and hear in their writing. The taste of fresh strawberries or running into a spider’s web and getting all tangled up in it.
Open your writing with visuals. The Sun is coming up. Kids running around on the sand yelling and screaming.
For cover letters, write it the same way as a paper and start by setting them in a moment.
In the writing covenant, I learned that there isn't any judging just reading your own piece.
In Outliers and Blink, Malcolm Gladwell ends where he started in each chapter of his books.
While doing a research paper, it will require you to research and not just look at the first article and hope it will work in your paper.
Great writers know what to put in their writings and what to leave out. Gladwell wrote about his mother’s story and not his dad’s story because it happened to be more relevant in Outliers.
Research papers should be 65% from sources and 35% from your own words.
Laughter comes out of AC 321. A College Writing class finishes reading a online article. Chris Stein messes up a couple words which kills the punchline in the article but cracks the class up. Professor Winter says “You messed up the best part.”
