open

“My pugnacious bride.”

—ANDRE AGASSI, OPEN

Why it’s beautiful

That’s it. That’s the entry!

This fragment is from Andre’s memoir. It refers to his wife, Stefanie Graf. Andre is about to play his last winning match at the US Open, and he’s admiring her antsy energy.

Everyone online is so concerned with writing at a sixth-grade level—and sure, sometimes the rules are different for literary writing—but I think we’re doing a long-term disservice to our readers when we simplify all our words. Sentences like this prove that sometimes the right 10-dollar word lands perfectly.