Agassi confession lengthens shadow of doubt
"It was full of lies, interwoven with the truth," Andre Agassi reveals.
He is talking about the gushing letter he claims he wrote to the ATP in 1997 to explain his positive drugs test.
This is the statement which may tarnish the American's reputation more than the doping offence itself. Lies and cover-up, on a sad day for tennis.
Agassi claims he tested positive for crystal meth after taking the drug recreationally in 1997, the year of his dramatic slump in form and slide down the rankings.
He amazingly writes about it in his new autobigraphy, being serialised in The Times this week, and one can only imagine he was trying to illustrate the deep depression he was feeling at the time and highlight the remarkable resurgence which followed this all-time low.
It appears he faced an independent tribunal but was found not guilty after claiming that a drink was spiked. This was never made public because, as the ATP confirmed in a statement today, the authorities always protect the innocence of those who are acquitted.
Agassi bowed out of the 1997 US Open after a fourth-round defeat by Australia's Pat Rafter
The claim of dishonesty, coupled with the fact he was never banned, basically suggests the ATP took his defence at face value and brushed his case under the carpet. The ATP would strongly reject this, arguing it was an independent tribunal which made the decision and that no executive had the authority to decide the matter.
But unfortunately, after this high-profile revelation, more suspicion hangs over tennis than ever before.
How many more cases like this have there been? How much more deception? How many more, like Agassi, simply bluffed their way out and got away with it?
The problem is that in 1997, and until relatively recently, the tennis governing bodies looked after themselves and their own drug testing.
Take the ATP, the men's tour, which is half-owned by the players and half-owned by the tournaments.
A positive drugs test would go to an appeal tribunal - as we are led to believe happened in Agassi's case - and a verdict delivered. Only the guilty verdicts would be made public to protect the anonymity of the innocent.
There is no suggestion of any routine cover-up but there was a clear conflict of interest under the old system. Agassi was basically up in court facing the very people who treasured him: his tour, his promoter.
No wonder a major change was made in 2006 when the ATP, followed by the WTA the following year, handed the testing programme over to the relative independence of the International Tennis Federation.
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Agassi and wife Steffi Graf speaking to Inside Sport in May 2009
The current programme is rigorous, scientific and detailed with players tested frequently in and out of competition.
But the testing is not the issue, it's what happens after a positive test has been found.
The murky Richard Gasquet case haunted tennis during the summer. After a positive cocaine test, a tribunal basically believed the Frenchman's explanation that the banned substance came from a lingering kiss with a Miami waitress.
He received a reduced two-month ban which effectively cleared him to return to action straight away.
Will we learn in Gasquet's autobiography in 10 years' time that this was all an elaborate wheeze?
And what about the true stories behind "The Nandrolone Seven".
Back in 2003, seven players tested positive for the banned steroid in a complex case first revealed by BBC Sport. They were never named because, like Agassi, they were all acquitted.
The case was never fully solved and few people believed the official explanation (contaminated mineral supplements) but because nothing else could be proved legally, the players had to be found not guilty because, cleverly, the lawyers had turned the case on the ATP because they ran the supplements.
But who were these players? At least one of them was believed to be a household name. Will his full story come out one day?
The problem for tennis is that people look in from the outside and come to the not unreasonable conclusion that there is a lot more under the carpet than comes out in public.
Certainly those who dealt with Agassi's potentially explosive case in 1997 have sat on a dark secret all this time. They let him off in good faith - believing his story - but they were hoodwinked by a superstar.
Of course much of the discussion will, no doubt, focus on whether crystal meth can be performance enhancing. But that's not really the point.
The key here is the deception and the dangerous ramifications for a sport like tennis which wants desperately to defend its stars but finds itself deeply hurt by the startling revelations of one of its great champions.
I started as the BBC's tennis specialist in 2003, expecting to see off Henman and Rusedski and then be made redundant. But a lad called Andrew Murray came along, I was made correspondent, and suddenly in 2009 tennis is the most exciting sport to work in - Fred Perry, 1936 and all that. A job was invented to travel the world watching sport. Genius. I do it. Love it. You can also follow me on 
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This is a man who was depressed during the period in question. He made a mistake (like most of us have). Get on with life. What are the ramification for tennis? Well, only time will tell.
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Jonathan has identified the real issue here. How many other positive tests have been swept under the carpet and just how serious has tennis been about ensuring it is clean? As someone who loves road cycling, a sport where there is a huge drug problem despite a much more rigorous testing system, I think I have learned to recognise the signs of doping. And I strongly believe tennis (both men's and women's) has a big problem. Many top players now have the most unnatural physiques and supernatural stamina. Players regulary seme to change shape (women no less than men) in the off-season, putting on a quantity of muscle that any one who has done body building seriously knows is highly suspicious. I notice that the retiring Santoro, without naming names, says it is painfully obvious in the locker room what is going on. And none of this would be possible without the naivety of the authorities. But the Agassi revelations makes me suspect that it is not naivety but collusion.
One piece of good news: Federer recently called for all samples to be stored for eight years and has been fully supportive of random out-of-competition testing, showing pro-active good example. The bad news is that his views have been attacked by certain players who are either in denial about the current situation or possibly have something to hide.
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A very clear distinction should be drawn in these cases between athletes testing positive for recreational drugs and those who have taken performance-enhancing drugs. Agassi was a fool to take crystal meth, but Dwain Chambers was a cheat. There is a fundamental difference, which the media, keen to hype their stories, tend to downplay and blur.
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I wouldn't go as far as to say how clever the Nandrolone lawyers were, given they defended their clients using a fundamental principle of justice (equitable estoppel), which happened to be the same argument Greg Rusedski used to clear his name. And quite honestly, if it is in fact the case that ATP trainers were handing out the contaminated supplements, then it is absolutely correct for the seven to have been acquitted.
What the Agassi situation highlights, quite different from the Nandrolone case, is what can happen when you don't operate a strict liability regime. It's not to say that a strict liability regime is perfect, but you know what sort of job it is going to do.
In terms of Agassi's reputation, I don't think the fact he took drugs and lied back in 1997 to the ATP will hurt him one bit - the Agassi the whole world grew to love this century, at the end of his career, was unrecognisable compared to the wild-child Agassi who first burst onto the scene. This will be seen as part of his disreputable past, from which he has long since moved on.
Also other players, since retiring, have admitted to taking drugs - Mats Wilander is still active in the sport, and Petr Korda is coaching Radek Stepanek - and tennis has never been more popular. So if there's an argument that tennis does have deep-rooted problems in terms of its drugs policy, its image, and its appeal, I don't really see it, and I don't think this Agassi revelation will make any difference.
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"Of course much of the discussion will, no doubt, focus on whether crystal meth can be performance enhancing. But that's not really the point."
I'm afraid it IS the point, Jonathan. Agassi lied and I agree that he should not have but people lie in everyday jobs as well.
Have we just found out he "accidentally(or deliberately)" took steriods or other performance enhancing drugs, to win various tournaments? No.
We've just found out this person is NORMAL. Yes he is a superstar but everyone makes mistakes.
"How many more cases like this have there been? How much more deception? How many more, like Agassi, simply bluffed their way out and got away with it?"
Deception, really? I agree it's deception if he used it to his advantage but I do not think he did. I'm not interested in anyone else if they've had non performancing enhancing drugs ONE time. Why does it matter? Should we not be focusing on those (e.g. Chambers) that have used drugs to achieve greatness?
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This does raise a lot of questions and unfortunately does show off tennis in a negative light. Whilst on the one hand agassi has been brave in revealing it now as it will certainly damage his legacy and puts his position in history into doubt. Whilst his talent and achievements were outstanding he will forever be tarnished, and rightly so as a liar and a drugs cheat.
His revalation has obviously come far too late for the proper punishment to be dished out and it's also disappointing that it's only come to light now to help him sell copies of his book and not at the end of his career. His drug taking does help to explain why he fell down the rankings so dramatically and for a period wasted his talent before sorting himself out to win further slams. Unfortunately people will now question how he did this and was it legal?
At least now that tennis has removed the self regulation then this may not happen again or at least not so easily. The case will certainly cause suspicion as to whether players are telling the truth when they come up with their excuses, gasguet for one may have been dealt with far more seriously as a result and the secrecy surrounding the nandrolone 7 pulls everyone down, unfairly in my opinion
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"Many top players have unnatural physiques and supernatural stamina. Players regulary seme to change shape, in the off season...putting on a quantity of muscle that any one who has done bodybuilding seriously knows is highly suspicious..."
Sorry #2, I don't buy that.
Funny that you had to relate players' physiques with doping, because in case you forgot, this is TENNIS, not PRO WRESTLING or BODYBUILDING. Why would a tennis player want to show off big biceps by taking steroids?!
Moreover you're the first person I've heard being suspicious of players' physiques, coz I think it's not an indicator of whether someone takes PED or RD. What these drugs do is simply to increase performance of make someone 'high'.
I believe physiques are natural, or due to hard work in the gym, which isn't a big secret.
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Please get over yourself Jonathan. As someone has already pointed out there's a world of difference between recreational drug use and performance enhancing drugs. Agassi made a decision he regretted and covered it up at the time. Now he comes clean and I don't see anything in the media coverage praising him for his decision to do so. How can you criticse him for lying back then but not praise him for the truth now when he has no need to tell it?
You say that the nature of the drug he used isn't the point but that is nonsense. There should be a completely different procedure for dealing with recreational drug use to performance enhancing drugs. Or are you suggesting a player who drinks a beer after an exhibition match, in a muslim country where alcohol is illegal, should be banned as a drug cheat?
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
its not like crystal meth helps your performance at tennis
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Oh dear here we go with more hysterical 'what about the children' type of responses. There are very very few humans who haven't tried drugs. And please don't give me the sanctimonious but alcohol is legal argument when it has so clearly does more damage than half of the banned sunstances available today. If he had used to enhance his performance fair enough - he would deserve to have a tarnished reputation. But trying a substance to escape from his preoblems at that time that would have had nothing but a negative impact on his performance - please lay off him and the hyperbole! He played a sport - wasn't auditioning for sainthood. Tries some chemmies which had nothing to do with him winning or losing against anybody - regretted it - came clean - there is barely a story here.
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Why are there comments like number 7?! referring to Agassi as a drugs cheat. Drugs "cheats" are those who use performance enhancing drugs. If anything what Agassi took sounds like the opposite.
What he took was an outlawed substance - that is why he would have been banned...not because he was in any way cheating.
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For goodness sake Mr Overend .. Agassi took a recreational drug which just happens to temporarily give a massive boost to one's self esteem at the lowest pint of his career. Please note .. A RECREATIONAL DRUG ... He was not cheating. Ok .. he lied to the hearing but to have been caught then may have finished him off forever .. everyone is human and is entitled to a mistake ..
The fact that he has come clean about it now is a testimony to the man's enduring self honesty and ability to look himself in the face .. that was the strength of his character to enable him to come back.
For you know to start a scaremongering campaign about untold numbers of other people getting away with such things is just plain stupid and sensationalising for the sake of a story .. This was clearly a one-off.
I wish ALL journalists would stop lumping together recreational drug mistakes with the cheats who systematically take performance boosting products and do their best to avoid detection ..
Agassi should be applauded for his candour .. He is showing to all the depths that can be experienced by even the best when they are going through bad times ... there is no more dignified and honourable person in American sport.
Oh .. and the final point .. Yes crystal meth can be performance enhancing ... for about 1 hour .. so he would have to have had a supply in his Lucozade .. and by the end of the game he would have been looking like a certain deranged south american hand of god.
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Andre Agassi makes this revelation about Crystal-Meth just as he is releasing a new book. Do you think he might be trying to sell more books? And it appears that Mr. Overend fell for it hook-line-and sinker....on dry land. However, he's got plenty of company.
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To anybody who feels compelled to chastise this man in light of this news, I say remove the stick from in between your cheeks, you won't look so stupid when walking without the pickle in your bum. This is a man who won trophies, lied, took drugs, slid down the rankings, came back, won more trophies, started a school, gave back, to his community in Las Vegas, has a charity, and is now one of the game's greats. And today has shown that he is not afraid to be human. I applaud him for his fearless honesty, and the ATP should be thanking him. He didn't have to confess. He could've swept it under the rug for selfish purposes like countless others to save face, but who benefits from that? The ATP has a solid reason to revise testing now, and can work on making the sport cleaner. And that is after-all what the dying generation of "pickle-in-bum pensioners" claim to be after. A cleaner sport. Old people have notoriously short memories, and they conveniently forget in debates such as these that when they were children, sport in the UK was rife with bribing, liquor, horse-tranquilizers, and all sorts of stuff that doesn't shine too brightly on Britannia's "Glorious Sporting History". So, to any cynic who dares slander the name of Andre Agassi I say make sure the person you're speaking to has a puke bucket nearby because you're talking a load of merde (French for poo, I'm cultured) and up close the smell can be quite nauseating. Good day.
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It's a shame that the drugs story is going to be the main point emerging from Agassi's serialisation, because this morning's article in the Times is compelling reading for anyone wanting to understand how people start out in tennis and how they feel about the game.
If you read the article, then to me it is far more shocking that Agassi "hated tennis", yet he continued practising and playing to become the champion he was. And if you want to know what it took to get him to the top, then it's a fabulous read to hear about the way he was treated by his father, how he learnt to deliberately hit shots off the wood of the racket and how he ended up, at the age of 9, potentially playing a game of tennis for which the entire family's wealth was at stake.
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This article is OTT, to say the least. He made a recreational error, he didn't cheat to win a tournament. If everybody who had used a recreational drug and on occasion lied about it were blasted, I reckon it would be a long list....
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There are a lot of people who must have lived in a monastery that this is a story even. Many world leaders and soon to be world leaders have indulged in illegal narcotics. Those in the media who still try and make out some shock horror story here are either 80, lived a quiet life, never worked in an office, never went out or are utterly oblivious to what is around them.
Surely the fake hair now that is sad. He faked a mohawk!
Frankly had this come out then it would have been a blip. Now it would be a longer ban but that is the laughability of the WADA code.
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His life, his choices. Made no difference to his talent or his success. A complete non-story.
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To be fair to Overend, I think his main point is that Agassi lied to the ATP after he tested positive, and this was enough to get him off (so we are told).
What Overend should have made clearer is that players who test positive for performance enhancing drugs aren't able to get off on the basis of their own testimony. Guillermo Canas, Juan Ignacio Chela, Mariano Puerta, Karol Beck, there's four of the top of my head who have recently served drugs bans - and Canas eventually took his case (where he tested positive for a masking agent) all the way to the Court of Arbitration, to give you an idea of how severe the ATP can be.
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Im glad that most people that have replied, like me, find mr overand's article a bit laughable to be honest! He is not a drugs cheat, he didnt "get away with" anything, other than having his career completely ruined due to a desperate act in a moment of depression. It is, contrary to mr overand's surprising assertion, COMPLETELY different to an athlete who takes illegal drugs to enhance his performance.
To suggest they are one and the same is madness. Take a chill pill mr overand, get off your extremely tall moral high horse.
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I don't agree that the sport has been "deeply hurt", it just makes Agassi seem more human. As most people have posted above, taking a recreational drug is completely different than using steroids to improve one's on court performance. Agassi's denial (and the ATP's willingness to accept his story) seem not unreasonable in the face of what the consequences for the player and sport would have been had the real story come out at the time. Look at Martina Hingis - her at times promising comeback ended in an instance when she was accused of using a recreational drug a few years back. Agassi and co aren't employees of the ATP or WTA, and the tournaments absolutely depend on the presence of name stars to be commercially viable.
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Who cares? It wasn't a performance enhancing drug; if anything, it would hinder performance. Agassi was a brilliant player, a true gent on court, humble and, let's not forget, the winner of all four GS events. I just think he's daft owning up to it after all this time. He can't need the money.
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can't say I'm surprised;it's just the fact he feels the need to write about it putting the finger of suspicion on everone from that era and before so was "Super Steff" a user ?
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If the rules say you can not have a substance such a Crystal Meth in your body if you are a Pro Tennis player then you are breaking the rules. Whether it affects your performance positively or not is not the point. The fact the ATP apparently let him off without much of an investigation because he was a big named star is very interesting. It shows a precedence for the ATP to treat top (star) players differently to some low ranked no name, or someone coming to the end of their career. And therefore the end of their earning power for the ATP and sponsors.
It would have been very bad financially for the ATP & Agassi's sponsors for his positive drugs test to have been made public. So they accepted his weak excuse. If they accept flimsy excuses for a positive recreational drugs test, why wouldn't they accept them for a positive PED test?
Very often you hear tennis has the toughest testing system out there, when you actually look into testing you find that they hardly even bother - look at the stats and compare with cycling for instance. Very easy to say you are a clean sport when you don't actually conduct much testing.
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What a storm in teacup.
Did taking crystal meth help Agassi's forehand? Mmmm. Don't think so. If anything his performance probably deteriorated.
Also, it is no revelation that a number of top tennis players have experimented with recreational drugs. It is ugly and sad, but to say Agassi has tarnished his reputation by coming out with this is a joke.
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Andre Agassi always has been and always will be one of my favorite athletes, even if he used or abuse drugs at certain points in his life. Everyone makes mistakes.
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This is sensationalist rubbish, which is being given way too much attention and Agassi is loving every bit of the free publicity. Overend states that "This is the statement which may tarnish the American's reputation more than the doping offence itself. Lies and cover-up, on a sad day for tennis."
Completely disagree with this. Maybe some of the old-timers will choke on their lunch today whilst reading this but frankly that would be a godsend, as these are the very people that are holding the development of the game back in this country.
The guy took a recreational drug that would have more of a detrimental effect on his game in the long run (after prolonged use) than enhance it. I think that recreational drugs shouldn't be tested for in sport anyway as it is more of a moral issue and why should we assume these sportmen have higher moral standards than the rest of us.......oh yes, because thay are role models. Well, they don't ask to be and shouldn't be expected to be. They do there sport because they are good at it, get paid a lot and mostly enjoy it....not to be a role model. He lied just as everyone else would have/does in order to keep their 'job'. His lie didn't have an impact on anyone else other than to get him out of a whole. It wasn't as if by him lying that someone else was being adversely affected.
I think most people will admire his honesty now in admitting what he has done.....but from the sounds of things, you would prefer that he kept quiet so that you could still be choking on the sand.
He will still be regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time who was a wild child/man that grew in to being what appears a thoroughly decent man (much more so than most (including UK's) sportsmen/'role models').
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It is regretable that Andre makes drug taking sound glamorous because it is anthing but.
For those of us who have volunteered for years to stop young people getting involved it very disheartening.
It has long been my opinion that drug use in all sports is much more rampant than we think.
He was lucky that he was strong enough to break away from drug taking but many less fortunate are not.
I like Andre as he has done so much for underprivileged kids but in my opinion he should have left that episode out.
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So he did some clubbing when he was younger...so what
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I wish people would forget about whether Agassi is a "cheat" or not (in my opinion, this doesn't make him one), but Mr Overend's point that "But the testing is not the issue, it's what happens after a positive test has been found."
This is what most other forums are buzzing about
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I have to disagree with nearly all of the other people on this article and side with Mr Jonathan Overend. It doesn't matter one jot if a drug is performance enhancing or not. It is the use of a banned substance which is what really matters.
There are plenty of athletes over the years and sports who have deliberately or inadvertently taken a banned substance and it all comes down to the simple fact that they have broken the rules. Most of these will not even have been performance enhancing (Alan Baxter!), some are (Dwain Chambers), but everyone who is caught should be punished.
Every sporting body has to be as stubborn and hard nosed as possible to really ram home the drug-free message. That's why i really applaud Federer and his campaigning. It really does concern me though that there might be a lot more cases like this.
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#34 you miss most people's points not so much that Overend is wrong about the consequences for ATP & testing but that his and others levels of sanctimony at Agassi are at fault. In fact had he been banned I doubt it would have hindered his career from then as he would have got a 3 month ban - so what. As we saw with Capriati and others in many walks of life cry a few crocodile tears and say you bitterly regret it and move on - see Dallaglio.
As to your wider point about breaking rules that is surely trite and jobsworthy in other spheres of life? Applied to cycling and athletics yes probably best.
Personally I find it ridiculous that people get 2 year bans now like Hingis for something that is not performance enhancing. Whether one believes I kissed waitress stories or not that story and Agassi's here is plausible. As the drugs involved are likely to harm not help I'd be happy to accept a lie and not ban people for a first offence.
Testing for them just highlights in a macabre way the drugs themselves if anything?
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How many more copies will Andre's autobiography sell now that he has "made this revelation" I wonder? How many people now want to find out more details about the story? How are they going to find out?
What happened to "no sex before marriage" Sarah Palin's popularity when we discovered her teenage daughter was pregnant?
This is a world where competition for free airtime is intense. Most of the "news worthy" stories we see about celebrities are manufactured by their PR people.
I would go so far to say that Andre will now be even more popular than he was before.
All hero's need dragons to conquer. Meth is one of Andre's dragons. The fact that he could overcome such an addictive drug and go retrieve his career, marry Steffie, father two kids and set up Education Foundations will now make those achievements seem even greater.
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He's broken the rules... blah blah blah. bshooter are you a head master. The point that's being made by most here is that "the rules" go to far. His life away from tennis is his business and it matters a lot more than a "jot" that Meth a joint or a nice taxable drug like beer can not be viewed in the same context as steroids or any substance that would give him an UNFAIR ADVANTAGE during a competition. If it "concerns you though that there might be a lot more cases like this" , you should be because they are laughing at you and the stupid small minded rules that people like you cling to.
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Reading some of the comments here leads me to believe that there is not much in depth knowledge of just what a ruinious epedemic drugs are in todays life.
Most of the crime and at least half the prison population are due to drugs.
So many lives are ruined and the cost to society is not countable but it is astronomic.
An addict is never cured but in many cases can be controlled, and families are destroyed through lost jobs and hospitalisation.
Discussing drug use is no parlour game it a matter of the utmost seriousness and most certainly in the top handful of most serious dangers in the world today.
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Agassi had no need to reveal this demon from his past (unless someone is threatening to expose him). OK, he lied - and now he's setting the record straight. Seems fair enough to me.
For me, the reaction to this story exemplifies the double standards that we have in sport. George Best (along with hundreds of others) spent decades literally weeing his talent up the wall on alcohol - but because it was a legal drug, that's perfectly OK and he can be a hero. Agassi snorted crystal meth a few times and suddenly he's a villain.
Come off it guys!
I am not a particular fan of Agassi (in fact, quite the reverse) but it seems to me that we need to get these things in perspective.
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Not sure if I am in shock or mild amusment! Why tell all now? Why ruin a reputation?
I admire his honesty even if it is 12 years too late! The drugs taken didn't give him another Wimbledon title or make him world number 1!
I hate the view that Steffi may have taken a drug! She hated taking a headache pill so please leave his wife out the equation. I would add that once she was with him, his fitness and appearance changed for the better! She definitely got him on the right track!
Lets chalk this one up and leave Agassi's place in history unblemished!
Agassi hasn't claimed it was great and is clearing showing remorse for these actions! Lets teach kids to leave chemicals alone.
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Who cares? The guy dabbled in a few recreational drugs. I would challenge anyone to play better tennis on Crystal Meth, if anything a class A drug addiction would hinder performance.
I think Jonathan Overend's sensationalisation of the whole thing, with his gloomy assumptions of the ramifications for tennis, are ridiculous and kind of pathetic.
An ex player admitted to trying a non-performance enhancing drug once. I dont think this warrants such foolish panic.
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I am glad most of the comments here are sensible and taking this news with an unsurprised approach. Yes he did illegal drugs, which effected NOONE ELSE. He did not cheat to try to be a winner.
Are the laws of tennis about morality or the game itself?
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All this means is that it is even more of an achievement that Agassi was able to bounce back out of the gutter and get to the top of world tennis. A story of pure effort and determination.
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The whole story implies that Agassi's book must be a fairly dull read.
Its the familiar strategy of "release a news provoking secret" about the subject of a book just before launch by the Publisher. (
(Amazed that seasoned sports journalists fall head first every time for this,fair play to the Publishers though!)
So- a sportsman of Agassi's calibre has to resort to a narcotic tale to sell his book?? A long turbulent career and this was the best they had? He could have layed into the ATP, former opponents and left this revelation in the closet (where it no doubt belongs)
Either
a)he has been terribly advised
b)he is in dire financial straits needing to maximise book sales (seems unlikely)
c) Released an extraordinary dull book
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The use of this recreational drug probably had the same effect on Agassi's tennis as Gatorade. I have, however, found that 4 pints of John Smiths turns me into Phil "The Power" Taylor down at my local, at least until the 5th pint takes hold. The guy supplying Andre was apparently called "Slim". The guy supplying me is Fat Bob the landlord. Please forward a mailing address for my sample and get a grip on reality!
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He should never have hung out with Whitney Houston
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I think I'm with the general consensus that I don't really give much of a hoot - Agassi was a pretty wild lad - I'd have been more surprised if something like this hadn't happened!
In his defence, I don't think John O is being particularly 'sanctimonious' and probably doesn't deserve some of the criticism on here - I think some might have missed the main point (or it isn't expressed clearly enough). The issue is that it is yet another example that a governing body (be it global, national) simply cannot police itself - just look at all the US sports, which refuse to sign up to WADA codes.
You can't really blame the authorities in a way - they simply made themselves hear what they wanted to hear and carried on. Had it been 'performance-enhancing' I suggest they would have been forced into a more robust response.
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Why did he have to come out and say it now?
Im not condoming what he did but why spoil a glittering carrear by coming out with this spoiling news?
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Jonathan, why are you jumping on the lynch mob wagon ?
You say, "Of course much of the discussion will, no doubt, focus on whether crystal meth can be performance enhancing. But that's not really the point.
The key here is the deception"
No, the key is whether it was performance enhancing or not. Did it make him win slams or other compos after his transgression. The answer is no, if he had taken it on a daily basis, he would not have played tennis any more. The deception is naughty, but not exactly life threatening to anyone is it.
I can't see what harm the ATP will come to, they made a judgement and that's that, why Agassi should be slapped around because he had the decency, finally, to come clean, when we don't really know the whole facts of the case, may be down to his notoriety.
He may rue the day he revealed his dabbling in crystals, but at least it cuts through the squeaky clean persona of the "golden" age of tennis. We now know superstars are human after all.
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#48
This has nothing to do with condoms!
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this is a non story. Agassi admits taking a RECREATIONAL drug. It may be an illegal one but in terms of tennis,its no different to nicotine or alcohol. It certainly would not have helped his performances on the tennis court. The authorities that oversee sport, AND the journalists that report on it , should differentiate between the unfortunate but essentially irrelevant use of recreational substances which actually harm performance.... and the CHEATING that is the use of performance enhancing substances... including some legal ones like creatine. To do otherwise is to revert to the sensational tabloid journalism of the star and sun. IS that your standard MR Overend?
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Why is this such a big deal? As others have said, the point IS that the drugs weren't performance enhancing, so he didn't get any benefit from them beyond his own pleasure. Fair enough its regrettable that he lied about it, but everybody makes mistakes. I think he is to be praised for being truthful about it now. And I doubt he's saying it to sell more books... I can't imagine he needs the money.
All the concern about what it means for the doping system seems pretty strange too, seeing as Jonathan says in the article that the system has completely changed since... is it worth getting our knickers in a twist about the fact that people may have taken drugs and lied in the past? What world and time are we living in?
Agassi has been a hero to many, not just for his tennis but for his personality as well, and I don't think this will tarnish that one bit.
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#17 has picked up on the "revelation" (well, it was to me) that I think has rather more melancholy ramifications than the brief ice episode - that AA always "hated tennis". I regret now that I didn't get the "Times" today - I'd like to hear more about it. Did he mean it was the sport itself that had no attraction for him? Or was it the missed childhood, hype and hassle that went with it (as it might still have done if he'd been, say, a gifted baseball player or concert pianist)? Can anyone shed more light on this?
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The guy won a grand total of zero titles between August 1996 and February 1998. What he did was make a mistake, which was never intended to affect his performance, and had literally no impact on his career. He was wrong to do it, but to say it raises doubts about his legacy is ridiculous.
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Pathetic .. not Agassi .. you Mr Overend. It never ceases to amaze the almost fascist fervour that is exhibited by the anti-drug school of thought. So quick to condemn from a position of personal ignorance (or do they?).
Crystal Meth! .. do me a favour, this is not performance enhancing. In what Universe can you gain an advantage (and thereby cheat) by playing at the top level of any sport when you are having a party in your head?
Middle England .. grow up and smell the coffee.
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Taking crystal meth is extremely stupid, but it is forgiveable. Covering up the fact that you have done so, then admitting it in an autobiography for financial gain at a time when you are outside the penal arm of the ATP Tour, less so. It's hard to look at it as anything other than a cynical, money-grabbing exercise.
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He should be stripped of all his titles, and given a long, long jail-sentence.
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Oh Puhleassee, can you not sensationalize about someone who has been such a gentleman and a joy to watch. As most say here it was a recreational drug taken during a depressed state. IT MADE HIM WORSE NOT BETTER ! Pls BBC you are the front runner for accurate reporting. This is NOT Marion Jones systematically pumping in needles at appropriate times to enhance and avoid. Even a 10 year old can work out the difference. Surely you can?
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most of you obviously have never taken crystal meth before!
crystal meth
cocaine
Ecstasy are all in the same kinda category!
although the effects,and how long they last is different!
i think most of you lot are being so forgiving because of who it is,but if it was a player you didn't like,you'd be slaughtering him or her right now!
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first italian football, then cycling, olympic sports on and off. All these have had some drug scandal come to light which has rocked their world.
Lets see it this has the kind of knock on effect that happenend in cycling a few years back.
I guess its usless to assume that 'rich' sports are fair and just. With so much money and the winning so high stakes a competitor needs an advantage whereever they can get one.
I just hope that The premier league and La liga are next in the firing line.
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I think the jury has returned a verdict on your article, Jonathan.
But Steffi Graf is now looking quite foxy in the photograph that came with it.
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Sadly it seems that a large percentage of people follow our current governments view on drugs, ie. regardless of expert scientific evidence, all drugs (except those we tax) are equally as evil as each other and anyone who takes anything illegal must be a 'bad' person and punished.
Personally I applaud Mr. Agassi for telling the truth, even if it is for financial gain (selling more copies of his book) and feel totally disgusted at the people in charge of professional tennis (as I did at road cycling) for brushing problems under the carpet.
Will anyone ever view a tennis match again, without having that nagging voice whispering 'cheat' in their ear.
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im not sure it will tarnish his legacy i mean when he first burst onto the scene he was the wild child of tennis, some of his outfits were more suited to Grunge music (admittedly music ain't a strong point of mine). this incident happened during that period so if anything this makes him seem normal strangely, it wasn't a performance enchancer so he achievements won't be tarnished as a result.
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I don't know, I like Agassi, and I like honesty. That he admitted this is a show of character. That he lied in order to protect his whole life, basically, is understandable, and I dare anyone to honestly say they wouldn't do the same.
In this instance, I think it's a knee-jerk reaction to say "OMG, drugs!!". Crystal Meth is not a performance enhancing drug - I'd be surprised you could play at all while on it to be honest. At the same time, Agassi was at his lowest raking every, and being written off by everyone. He was depressed. And now he is telling us about it, he did not have to. He could have taken his secret to his grace. I think he should be applauded for his honesty. As for the actual offense, I don't have an issue with players taking drugs so as long as it's not to cheat in games. If they take drugs recreationally, I say: Please, let these people live their lives.
This is not like the bicycle riders to consistently cheat and lie and take drugs - this is a guy who made a mistake.
Agassi - you rock!
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So what you are saying Jonathan is that all players, because of Agassi's actions a decade ago are guilty, even though proven otherwise? On the facts of Gasquet's tribunal and even in the face of medical evidence which supported his claim he may be guilty? Because Agassi said he did something untoward that he wrote about in a book, Gasquet might be spinning a few lies?
Stop trying to make a headline out of this and trying to connect two seemingly distant events under one banner. You are practically a few words away from libel there. I think you better hope that Mr Gasquet can see a lighter side in those comments.
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I'm really angry with the BBC on how they have been reporting this, that Agassi's reputation and legacy is in question; that he's a tarnished character; that he's flawed etc. We're all flawed. What I actually see is a man showing the world the behind the scenes struggle that is ubiquitous to all humans; showing us his vulnerabilities, that he wasn't a machine and had it easy just playing tennis; which we forget when we watch these people not knowing who they are and what is going on inside their heads. For me Agassi will always be great and he has gone up in my estimation because of his honesty and because he decided to tell the truth when a very restrained, half-truth biographical account could have been written. Leave the man alone. If people can identify with him now, it will be through the fact his vulnerabilities are palpable and that he was fighting with pressure, fatigue, fear of failure, expectation, divorce, emotional pain which I think we all deal with from time to time. More understanding please and less condemnation.
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Drug testing in sport was brought in to stop cheating. Taking crystal meth is only cheating yourself. It's not going to enhance your performance on the court, neither is dope smoking, nor snifffing cocaine. If you want to protect any sport, it's about time society admitted that those with money are the ones who turn to drugs and keep it quiet. Those without end up as criminals. There are two distinct types of drug taking. One I believe is not our business, and if you try to legislate against recreational drugs, where is the legislation against alcohol? I am sure many a footballer and rugby player have hit the pitch well over the legal driving limit.
As for Agassi being flawed? How many stones have you got to cast first?
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I have this view from a long time that all the sport gr8s from US are in drugs. Some have confessed, Some would confess & Some would never be known.
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As a huge fan of Agassi, this news has come as a disappointment. However, like many people above, I think that a degree of perspective is needed. A bloke who was suffering from depression took some meth. Its not good, but it isn't a massive deal. Some people drink when they feel down, in the States, crystal meth is pretty easy to come by so that was the poison that Agassi chose.
That said, I do take issue with all the people above who say that Agassi wasn't cheating. He knew full well that if he had told the truth he would likely have received a significant ban. The drug itself may not have been performance enhancing, but Agassi's presence at subsequent tournaments was based on a lie and in my book that constitutes cheating.
A part of me is almost glad he lied, because the way his career was going at the time, it is not hard to imagine that a ban would have led to retirement and we would have missed out on so many of his subsequent achievements. But there has to be a bottom line to these matters and unfortunately as Sports fans we're often not that great at seeing this. As much as we may have loved watching Agassi and as appealing a character as he may be, all fans should be stating that this is an ugly episode for tennis that should be roundly condemned.
As I said at the top of this post, I've been a fan of Agassi for many years and have loved watching him play, but until we genuinely start showing our disgust at this behaviour then we remain complicit in accepting it or at the very least accepting that it will be swept under the carpet.
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Jonathan look to see the list of Victor Conte - BALCO clients for ideas and person's names from all the different sports.
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The majority of people leaving commens seem to have completely missed the point of the article - most likely they can no longer see it from their high-horse, or given the nature of their defence, low horse.
It's not about Agassi per se, rather about the nature of drug-taking, recreational or not, in the sport and more dammingly, the attitude of the governing body toward the implementation of the rules. These blogs can be so frustrating.
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I'm amazed that so many people are brushing this off with the 'it's only a recreational drug' line. The whole point about this article is that it highlights how easily the tennis drug system could be duped. In this sense, Agassi is irrelevant, and so is the type of drug he used, but the fact that the ATP simply cleared him to play on his own word is surely a pretty worrying revelation.
What do (for me) tarnish Agassi out of this is not so much that he took a recreational drug – stupid, but, as has been said, many people make a mistake – but the fact that he didn't come clean and accept his error. If he had, it'd be easier to brush it off as 'just a mistake'. However, by lying to avoid punishment and save himself from personal shame, I personally find it tougher to see him as the role model that I have viewed him as in the past.
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Vcfsantos – fair points, well made.
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ThomThomTiger has it spot on. The main issue highlighted by this incident is nothing to do with Agassi per se. What he has shown is that in the 1990s it was possible, as a professional tennis player, to take a banned substance, fail a subsequent drugs test, lie to the subsequent tribunal, be acquitted and for nobody outside the sport to ever hear about it. And quite reasonably this makes people wonder how many other players did something similar, with either recreational or performance enhancing drugs.
And because we don't know the answer to that question it casts doubt on the integrity of the sport, thereby damaging it. And that's what Overend was saying. It seems a bit rich to pour a load of vitriol all over a blog post that you haven't even read or understood properly.
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The point here is - when he was clean-living he won lots of titles, when he took drugs he won nothing so he cleaned up his act and returned to his former winning ways. Isn't that the perfect "don't do drugs" advert. If you do drugs it makes you a dishonest loser, but all is not lost, you can still turn it around and get back to winning ways if you have the willpower.
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What shocks me is that the majority of the comments about this article are criticizing its content and saying there is not a problem in tennis. Denial is a very dangerous thing - look what happened to cycling because for years 'there really wasn't a problem' - denial of the issue will come back to haunt tennis. Either the sport needs to properly deal with the issue or it needs to accept that drug use will be widespread and just live with it. Other sports do not tolerate 'recreational' use of drugs and would never accept the word of the athlete over the test result - if you fail a test you are banned no matter what. If you don't do this you must accept that many athletes will use the loophole to escape bans. Don't bury your heads in the sand. If you do in a blink of an eye there may be no major sponsors who wish to be associated with the sport of tennis.
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I'm going to add my voice to the chorus of disaproval about this article. So Agassi took a non-performance enhancing drug and lied about it? So what? Either you have a strict penalty, in which case some innocent will definitely be punished: or you investigate claims, in which case some guilty will go unpunished (and some innocent will still be punished).
Mr Overend seems to have the belief that all drug offences are equal, and that the innocent should be punished to ensure the guilty are....
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One point that I think is worth making is that it is very doubtful that the authorities would have taken his word as his bond if the tests had shown traces of a performance enhancing drug. To me it seems they were obviously satisfied he wasn't 'cheating' and decided to believe his reasons for the recreational drug intake shown on one test.
I'm sure he was tested plenty of times since and had he tested positive for this again he would have been punished - it is also possible that the authorities had marked his cards and tested him more regularly than otehrs. It does seem like this was a one-off.
Maybe the authorities made a mistake in not pursuing this, and Agassi obviously did with his lies, but its not a big issue in my eyes.
In any case, a ban would not have affected him as it was likely 3 months or so and he didn't get back on track playing wise for another year or so!!
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Another point, although I don't follow cycling, to an outsider the majority of instances in cycling, like athletics, seems to be for performance enhancing drugs, not recreational ones. That is a different scenario as those users are clearly cheating.
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[Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]
It's not the taking of drugs I am upset about, its the fact he lied to protect his own image. Had he admitted the offence he would have had a 3-month ban and it would have been the end of it. But now he's tainted the whole of the tennis world because who now will believe the accidental consumption stories?
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#4 by eddie-george
Just thought id let you know that your comment, paragragh 3 has been printed in the Times today, so obviously your opinion was valued.
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84. At 10:45am on 29 Oct 2009, chizzleface wrote:
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It's not the taking of drugs I am upset about, its the fact he lied to protect his own image. Had he admitted the offence he would have had a 3-month ban and it would have been the end of it. But now he's tainted the whole of the tennis world because who now will believe the accidental consumption stories?
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I doubt he lied to protect his image. More like he lied to protect his career. He was in a bad place at the time and was in freefall in the rankings, so its not inconceivable he thought a ban may be the end of his career.
When it comes down to it I think most others in that situation would do the similar.....in fact most others do......credit where its due, Dwain Chambers is one of the few who actually admit they took a banned substance after getting caught....others just keep denying it.
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@86
And I bet Dwain regrets it now. What motivation is there to admit the sin when admitting it gets you punished worse?
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The guy did it once; can you imagine how much stress he was under? If anything it would have inhibited him and he still went on to be one of the best players ever. It shows he’s human like the rest of us... and hes also man enough to admit it after all these years, good on him I say.
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What an overblown load of tosh. Agassi's confessed to one incidence of using recreational drugs 12 years ago, not to a lifetime of pumping performance-enhancing steroids into his system. I suspect the episode and the subsequent deception has left him feeling guilty ever since – hence the confession in his autobiography. If there were more to it, he'd probably have said so.
I also think suggestions that tennis is rife with drug cheats – and soft on them – don't really stand up to scrutiny. The ATP probably took Agassi's word for it because an investigation would have been costly and unlikely to confirm anything, given that accidental ingestion is a plausible excuse. The same goes for the case of Richard Gasquet.
I also expect the ATP would have been far tougher if those players – and others, like Martina Hingis – were testing positive for performance-enhancing substances. Crystal meth and cocaine are more likely to harm a player's game than elevate it.
In fact, it's highly unlikely that many tennis players have even considered using performance-enhancing drugs – simply because there wouldn't be much point. Sprinters and other athletes can obviously gain a big advantage by taking drugs that make them run faster or stronger. That might help a bit in tennis, but it's essentially a game of skill and tactical awareness. Nadal won the Wimbledon 2008 final by hitting high-bouncing topspin shots to Federer's relatively weak one-handed backhand. Murray does well against aggressive players because his use of the sliced backhand prevents them from getting into their rhythm. How would steroids make a difference?
I'd also say that anyone who suggests a player is using drugs on the basis of his or her physical appearance knows sweet FA about competitive sport. Lazy footballers aside, these people spend most of their waking lives doing an extreme amount of physical exercise. And the ones who make it to the top tend to have natural height and build advantages anyway.
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I agree with many points that have been made, the fact that signing up to professional sport athletes know the implications for drugs and the like. However crystal meth is not by any means a performance enhancing drug and wasn't taken like the blood dopers or HGR takers to aid his play. It isn't a drug that would have been taken lightly and therefore he must have had underlying issues that led him to this. But his rise back to the top shows strength and resiliance and with him admitting to it know when no damage can be done could give hope or inspiration to those trying to change things round for whatever reason.
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Andre played tennis like a squash player , a game of atrition baseline running his opponents from side to side rather than varying shote etc.
He must have concentrated on stamina to achieve success with this style
Its unlikely that any type of undectectable drug would assist in this only constant advanced training would do it.
However this story has legs, and listening to a discussion on CNN a black comentator said using CM would assist stamina and seemed to indicate that the black athletes were being targeted while whites were overlooked.
Lack of full information on exactly what the drug does or does not do is responsible for so much misunderstanding that the average reader is confused.
What Agassi needs to do is to go on air and publicly indicate his disapproval of drug use not extole its virtues as the damage done is hard to reverse.
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Again, to my forgiving brothers and sisters on this matter I ask: IF IT WERE SERENA OR VENUS WILLIAMS THAT ADMITTED THIS, WOULD YOU ALL BE SO UNDERSTANDING? THE ANSWER I AM CERTAIN WILL BE AN EMPHATIC NO!!!
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I agree with other posts that taking recreational drugs as opposed to performance-enhancing drugs is a whole different ball game. Agassi is still a hero to me....
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@gentlemanalbarudi
YOUR CAPS LOCK IS STUCK
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Must say I am astonished by many of the comments on this blog. I understand that Agassi is a hero for many, but does that mean you're all blind to what's happened here?
#62 thefrogstar - what an arrogant comment. The piece is well written and well argued by someone who covers the sport day in, day out.
And others have said this is a storm in a teacup, fuss about nothing etc etc. Incredible.
Agassi admits he took meth several times. It's a class A drug and is on the banned list. Do you all think athletes should be permitted to take class As?
And then the big question, why did the ATP allow this to be brushed under the carpet? Because Agassi was a pin-up boy of the tour.
Surely this calls into question an organisation that runs the sport and also polices it.
As I said, quite incredible responses. People talking about a player having their own rules because of their status.
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I dont understand what hthe huge problem is.
Players takes recreational drugs, fails subsequent test.
They system worked as it should, the problem came because Andre lied about it & they took his word. What else could they do if they had no other proof? If he had passed the test I would be saying there is something wrong but the system caught him.
I think this is a massive overreaction by people, it is a recreational drug that many people, whether we like it or not, take all the time.
Agassi has admitted his mistakes & it takes nothing away from his achievements.
This case brings up the blurred line is drugs in sport.
Surely it should be a legal matter as it gives him no advantage over other players, I think the only time bans should be imposed by federations is when a performance enhancing drug has been used.
Things like this should be dealt with in the proper channels, i.e. the police. If it is a first offence then a caution would suffice & let the man get on with their career & lives.
Lets not bury heads int he sand over a huge social issue, the guy was depressed & made mistake. he suffered the guilt that went with it but he never cheated an opponent of his sport, jus himself.
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‘Multi-millionaire Las Vegan has tried recreational drugs’
Sorry, what was the story again…?
Taking class A drugs at a low point in your life probably not the smartest move ever, but any damage done is only to the drug-taker personally and possibly his reputation. It’s worlds apart from a conscious decision to take performance-enhancing drugs in a systematic attempt to cheat and gain an illegal advantage over your fellow competitors.
The fact that there are now much more rigorous and independent testing procedures in place, both in and out of competition, means what happened 12 years ago is very unlikely to recur.
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I have followed Tennis as an individual sport and Football as a team sport all my adult life. It was an experience to remember in the early years; Borg winning Wimbledon after Wimbledon, followed by John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, etc. Lendl was a favourite, in spite of his serious looks and his precision baseline play. He did acquire volleying skills and twice reached Wimbledon finals. In 1985, he came across Pat Cash and that was a match to watch. Pat Cash played some astonishing tennis that was almost unbelievable, which was to happen only once in his lifetime. My brother said that it was too good to be real and that Pat Cash was probably helped by some drugs. Pat's climbing up the spectators' seats gave an impression of his being in a state of ecstasy. Although I was rooting for a Lendl victory, I dismissed my brother's comments and said that this was not something tennis players would do at Wimbledon.
Now that Andre' Agassi has confessed to drug taking and I am 25 years older, my memories do return to the way Pat Cash won the Wimbledon final in 1985. There are no repercussions to be expected out of Agassi's confession and there is no chance of any other player coming forward to tell us the truth. I guess that I shall have to keep my feelings to myself, about Lendl's defeat at the 1985 Wimbledon final.
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I dont see what all the fuss is about. He made a mistake when he was caught up in a spiral of depression. He's only human, we all make mistakes but he just happens to be a high profile celebrity.
I think this is a massive overreaction by people, Agassi was an awesome talent and his achievements were not as a result of taking Crystal meth during a bout of depression.
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Because of the hypocritical attitude toward drugs in our society, I think people confuse the taking of recreational drugs- because it is considered 'morally' wrong and stigmatises the user- with the act of taking performance-enhancing drugs- which basically makes you a cheat.
I believe there should be different disciplinary procedures in sport to deal with these two separate issues.
Crystal meth is not performance-enhancing.
I think Agassi deserves credit for turning his life and career around. The fact that people feel there should have been some punishment at the time or some measure taken I think is neither here nor there. Punishment is meant to teach the one who is punished a lesson, not make the rest of us feel better because we're annoyed that someone else got away with something. Got away with what? Agassi gambled with his life and career. He has actually gone up in my estimation for this, not down.
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Some of these replies are hilarious. Yes, it is not a performance-enhancing drug, but it is an illegal drug and it should have resulted in a ban. Some of the apologists here are obviously fixated on the idea of Federer vs Nadal when both are high on crack. Amazing.
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I think this is the kind of article that annoys most ppl as it is so reactionary and it is just an attempt to smear sb who is a nice guy, pity because previous blogs have been quite positive by overrend. The drug is not performance enhancing, was clearly recreational and happened on one occasion shock horror good grief
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Agassi's actions were a reflection of the times in the American sporting nineties, no effort being made to eliminate any misbehaviour in sport, corruption, drug use etc etc all brushed under the table.
ALL major sports as guilty as one another. Exhibit A: Olympic Games, Exhibit B: Major League baseball.
Which doesn't excuse Agassi's behaviour but just makes you want throw up at the millions more he's making from sensationalising the indefensible.
Good article Jonathan, but you should be disappointed, not surprised.
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When all said and done, the best thing Agassi could have done is kept his mouth shut. Creating this mayhem just to sell a book is going too far. Yes, you can criticize the ATP, but whatever safeguards you put in place within any organization will fall prey to human complacency or miscalculation. Let's just let it go and keep our ears pricked in the future. It's all you can do.
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1997? It was so long ago it doesn't tell us anything about the current situation regarding drugs in tennis.
maybe Jonathan overend can write how shocked he is that WWE wrestlers take steroids and how he has now lost respect for them.
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Nadal and Federer may be shocked and disappointed at this revelation - but what is the point of an autobiography if it isn't warts 'n all? I'd like to think that Andre was haunted down the years by the lie he told and owning up to what he did is a way of trying to expunge that guilt. With the violent + abusive father he endured as a child, its a wonder he managed to turn himself around the way he did.
As long as he never took performance enhancing drugs, I don't have much of a problem. Yes he lied .. and the ATP accepted it so I think the problem lies with them.
All I hope is that this revelation doesn't affect in any way the good work he's doing for the kids born on the "wrong side of the tracks" in Las Vegas who otherwise might end up using crystal meth as a way of life.
There are too many people who like to play judge, jury + executioner in this world.
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At the end of the day, he no longer plays and has finished his career so decided to tell the truth in an autobiography.
There are 2 evils here, Agassi using drugs to sell his book and the media jumping on this opportunity to condemn a former legend.
Human beings never change.
My opinion is that this current approach will have one single outcome, no player will ever tell the truth about any drugs they have ever taken.
This way, everyone is happy and we can all go back to living in denial and pretending we are all perfect people, when perfection does not actually exist.
Humans are funny creatures.
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Where did my comment go? Anyway - Larkyjunior has said it all, and I agree 100%. Drug testing is there to catch cheaters, not to control players in their spare time.
For those cynics who think that Agassi wrote this in his book in order to attract more interest - maybe a little bit, he was always a showman. But what he really wants to do is have closure. He lied, and now he set it right. Another reason might be that he would feel it would be pretty insincere if he didn't cover his drug use in his own autobiography. He doesn't need the money, he has plenty.
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What a lot of fuss about nothing.
Agassi has been honest about taking recreational drugs - something millions of people do every weekend.
The repercussions for sport? Nil.
Does anyone seriously believe that one takes crystal meth to enhance one's tennis?
What next - smoking marijuana to enhance your driving???
DOH!!!!
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This is not about drugs. this is about money. Agassi was let off because tennis (and every other sport) is ultimately about money. Every sport needs heroes: funny, human, courageous heroes like Agassi, and the ATP understood this. I'm not condoning it, it's just how it is, and there is a difference between recreational use and systematic drug-enhancement in order to cheat.
Players' excuses around recreational drugs - they took a spiked drink or had a kiss with a coked-up girl - are frankly laughable and wouldn't fool a ten year-old. So we have recreational drugs used by tennis players, footballers, rugby players, the list goes on...
Who does the "Establishment" think it's fooling with the tired old 'what about the children?' argument. Those kids that aren't ALREADY on drugs will hear about their heroes taking them and think no less of them. In fact kids revel in bad boys/girls (look at Amy Winehouse). The tragedy would be if kids thought they had to emulate idiots like Dwayne Chambers in order to win in sport.
It is time for this country (and the US and much of the West) to face up to the real drugs issue corroding our society. The real drugs issue is that ALL drugs can be pernicious and evil, none more so in this country than alcohol, which causes more deaths, violence and crime than any other and yet is still advertised on TV and available in supermarkets.
We as a nation are tired and sick to death of the scare tactics and hypocrisy around drugs, with sanctimonious, out-of-touch politicians constantly ignoring expert advice in favour of headline-grabbing and hypocritic journalists (many of whom have taken or do take illegal drugs, I can tell you...) treating us as if we are children.
If Agassi admitting taking meth (a horrible drug I have lost too many friends to) stimulates debate on this issue I say great. But please, let's not pretend that we the public don't understand what the real issues are here.
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Can't believe Nadal's comments - this from somebody who had whinged constantly this year about having to embark on drug testing prodecures that other sports have had in palce for many years!!!
Professional tennis has had a huge recreation drugs problem for thirty years or more but has constantly turned a blind eye. The authorities have constantly turned a blind eye which has been disgraceful. If they look in the right places they will also find that performance enhancing drugs are not entirely alien to their overrrated superstars.
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Methamphetamine is a recreational drug that is also potentially performance-enhancing. That is why it is on the World anti-doping (WADA) banned list. Admittedly its performance-enhancing effects are not as great as people once thought. Still they are part of the reason it is banned.
The implication from many of the previous blogs is that a viable defence to being caught with a potentially performance-enhancing drug is that it was taken recreationally. It is worth noting that, from Ben Johnson to Marion Jones, the standard response to being accused of doping is to "lie lie lie". And allowing an athlete to claim that a drug was used recreationally is just giving them a whole new set of excuses. How exactly would a court decide what was in a person's mind when they took the drug?
I do not think that it should be up to the anti-doping authorities to explore the motivation behind an athlete taking a drug. Neither does WADA. That is the crux of the argument here and why the tennis authorities are in trouble.
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The BBC's coverage of this story has been somewhat hypocritical. Agassi has admitted taking a class A drug and lying. One of the BBC's rugby pundits allegedly admitted to both taking and selling a class A drug whilst still playing. The BBC was so shocked that it employed the latter.
The ATP and RFU seem to handle these situations in the same way. Is he important to Tennis/England? Yes, light slap on the hand will do since he's a such great guy.
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'The current programme is rigorous, scientific and detailed '
LOL.
The current programme is a flimsy smokescreen that so-called journalists don't even try to see past, but then - your job depends on not looking too closely at certain things and so you are become the thing you criticise in this article.
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For anyone wanting to find out what their favourite athlete is using and how they evade 'detection' - this website is pretty shocking in it's revelatory nature.....
http://www.ergo-log.com/
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Sports and showbiz people are the new age aristocracy. Their wealth and fame confers upon them a priviledged status. That some one of Agassi's stature should be allowed to:
a) break the rules
b) avoid punishment
c) write about it and profit from booksales
is disappointing to say the least.
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Really interesting debate here.
Recreational drugs do not aid performance, that is understood. However, sportmen and sportwomen are role models and have a duty to discourage all types of drug use. Taking that to the extreme, you could argue that Freddy Flintoff set a bad example after the 2005 Ashes by publically being boozed up? They are human beings afterall, and we all make mistakes, but where do you draw the line (terrible marujana and cocaine pun!)?
For Agassi to own up to this now to promote a book is shameful however as it undermines the credability of ATP. Contrast this with the UCI who have stringent testing regimes for performance enhancing and recreational drugs. Just look at what has happened to former World Champ Tom Boonen over the past two years.
Cycling has a bad drugs image? Only because the testing is so rigourous and the governing body is transparent to the public. I suspect many of other sports make use of performance enhancing drugs, yet the detection mechanisms aren't in place. This has been hightlighted by the ATP's incompetance here.
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And where did my comment go as well, there seems a hell of a lot of BBC censorship going on today. I know tennis is a big sport for the Beeb but it must not go into denial.
Tennis has had a very serious recreational drug problem for three decades or more and chosen to turn a blind eye. Just talk too anybody on the circuit
And then Nadal, one of the highest paid sportsmen on the plantet, spends all this year whinging about having to submit himself to occasional random drug testing.
Tennis needs to get its house in order very quickly, they have been turning the Nelsonian eye for way too long
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i agree with the comment earlier about players gaining too much muscle() in off season
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Re Halfwheeler (comment 117). Ergo-log.com is a pretty heavy web page, cataloguing uncritically masses of scientific studies on the effects of all sorts of molecules on all sorts of performance. Most of the studies are on animals and have indirect outcome markers i.e. do not relate directly to sports performance. It actually has some interesting stuff for the aficionado, but claiming that it is "shocking in its revelatory nature" is a bit of a weird statement to make. Of course it is a German-based web page and it might be more provocative in the original language.
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re comments 117 from me and 122 from scienceprof; Apologies to all, that was the wrong link.....
http://www.ergogenics.org/donati.html
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
hopefully the puritans have something more important to be getting on with.
agassis tennis career isn't tainted by this. he didn't take performance enhancing drugs, he's boshed some class a recreationally and surely learned from it.
who hasn't had a cheeky line in their youth? why should a tennis player be any different?
all he did was get high 12 years ago, everybody is entitled to bluff their way out of that one once or twice.
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As a young 20-something (i.e. not a 'middle england' pensioner #55) I'm really rather sad to read the majority of the comments here. Yes, all people are human, yes, people make mistakes etc etc...that's not the point. The point is not that Agassi made the mistake, it's that he deliberatley lied to cover his tracks. An earlier poster said he'd have got a three month ban for this - frankly, if that is indeed the case, he should have taken it on the chin and be done with it.
Whether recreational or PED or otherwise, Crystal Meth is illegal. The use of it is morally wrong and against the rules of tennis. It's illegal because it is highly addictive, unpredictable and dangerous. Anyone in the public eye should know that they have a duty to act in an honourable way and show a good example, it's part of the job and it's why they are paid millions. They might make the odd mistake (we all do) but they should then take the punishment that comes with it.
What make this all the more galling, is the printing of it now, simply to sell more books. Did Agassi seriously think any good would come of it? No? Then why reveal it now - when you've lived with it for so long. What a risk to take, potentially damaging such an amazing sport for the sake of a few more book sales. To what extent these revelations damage tennis, unfortunately, remains to be seen.
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And one further point - frankly, the line 'the vast majority of people have taken drugs at some point' or something similar, is not a defence (although it is an indicment on the unfortunate state of drugs/drink culture in the country)
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All this incident has done is reveal Agassi to be a self-confessed liar.
Why should we believe him when he says he only did this one drug recreationally?
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Re Mackeroo 119. I am afraid you are wrong. The history of performance enhancing drugs is intimately linked with the history of recreational drugs. Sigmund Freud showed that cocaine had effects he could feel emotionally BUT also measured an increase in his handgrip strength (he was one of the first quantitative sports scientists surprisingly enough). The UK and German armies extensively used amphetamine in World War II to improve performance under fatigue conditions. It is likely they now use modafinil instead. Modafinil is a stimulant that is used socially to improve concentration and brain performance but also is abused widely by athlete for alleged performance-enhancing effects.
There is no a priori reason why any new recreational drug could not be performance-enhancing. Hence the problem when making exceptions in cases of alleged doping.
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Can I just add that he isnt using this story to sell a book, he has written a 'autobiography'.
This means he talks about HIS life, this happened to him, he isnt using it to sell a book. The Times have picked this extract as they are serialising it & want to most attention grabbing story to be published in their paper.
I am sure it is a tiny story in a look at the life of a top professional tennis player.
I agree with most people, I would rather have a 100 Agassi's giving their time & money to help underprivaleged children & giving back to the world than some 'clean' sportsman who cares only about themself.
The world is a better place for the work he does away from the court & a personal indiscretion in insignificant in my view.
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I find Federer's reported shock of the ATP's cover-up of Agassi's drug-taking quite astounding. The ATP clearly doesn't like to sanction top players. Federer was the beneficiary of such behaviour when he abused an umpire during the U.S. Open Final (similar behaviour by an opponent of Alex Bogdanovic in a recent Challenger final led to instantaneous loss of the match.) Clearly serious sanctions and shock are reserved for "lesser" players.
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MissFeenee your post fool's noone .. if you are a 20yr old .. then I am a cat loving asthmatic
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There are all sorts of worrying aspects to this story not least the cover up. It was the cover-up that did for Dean Richards and Harlequins in the Bloodgate businesss and it is the cover-up here that hits hardest at tennis How many other cover-ups before and after from the tennis authorities? Top class professional Tennis has enjoyed this wonderfully comfortable homely cache, along with golf, but the wheels are beginning to come off and other past drug incidents and issues to be revisited
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126. At 2:12pm on 30 Oct 2009, MissFeenee wrote:
Whether recreational or PED or otherwise, Crystal Meth is illegal. The use of it is morally wrong
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legality and morality do not go hand in hand.
people will make their own minds up whats right & wrong and so they should. personally, i never agreed to the laws of this land and never signed anything to commit to them. if i want to snort a line of crystal meth, i will do.
anyone who works hard and pays taxes they get nothing in return for is entitled to relax after a hard day as they see fit. if they want a line of crystal meth, who exactly are you to comment on the morality of it?
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When discussing positive drug tests for athelete's, one must make the distinction between performance enhancing and recreational drugs. Agassi tested positive for a recreational drug. GET OVER IT. 50% or more of persons over the age of 16 have tried recreational drugs. Its not behaviour that should be encouraged, but neither is drinking alcohol, but lets not go down that route. Taking performance enhancing drugs is cheating your opponents. Taking recreational drugs is the opposite.
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Try to find any words about this on the ATP or ITF websites and you'll be very disappointed. It's a bit like searching the BBC site for reference to Andrew Neil's blunder when calling Dianne Abbot a chocolate hobnob immediately following BNP Question Time, it doesn't seem to exist.
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The saddest part of this whole thing is Agassi's decision to go public with this drug story. The ATP did him and his career a huge favor by believing his side of the story. As it turned out, it was a pack of lies so he got away with it. Now to come out with the truth for whatever reason and putting the very people who saved his career in such a difficult spot is pretty selfish.
Agassi will always be in the record books as one of the great tennis players and this story won't change any of that. It does however make me think that he has shown himself to be a selfish and an ungrateful person...
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"The ATP did him and his career a huge favor by believing his side of the story."
Maybe the ATP should be less trusting of rather improbable reasons for drug consumption - a suspension might have done Agassi more good at the time.
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Has Andre Agassi tarnished his legacy? No. A legacy is neither inherently good nor bad; a legacy is simply the accounting of a man's or woman's life, the only thing left behind for the rest of us to remember and judge by. Agassi has merely added to his legacy with his admission. It is yet another factor to judge him either "favorable" or "unfavorable." Legacies are for history and historians to decide. But in my own opinion, Agassi has added honesty, integrity and forthrightness to the long list of traits that he exhibited in the public eye. If one were to look back and look at the totality of Andre Agassi, would those virtues connote a positive or negative reaction?
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NO! This is his journey...we all have one.
I applaud Agassi...not because he took illegal drugs which was wrong, but because he now has the courage to reveal his low point and become a testimony of how one can fall, get back up and turn their life around. This is encouragement for many who cannot believe that a mistake or indescretion can be overcome. The truth does set free.
After that period in his life, Agassi won 5 GS's, got married to the great Steffi Graff and has kids who have father who made mistakes, but whom they can admire and be proud of.
For the super righteous, judgemental, glass house owners who put him down...well, go live your own sheltered life. Your glass will shatter at some point. Can anyone spell F.O.R.G.I.V.E.?
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Merv - 140..... 'After that period in his life, Agassi won 5 GS's'
After he takes methamphet (It IS a performance enhancer - maybe not as good as we thought it was when Agassi was taking it, but it IS a performance enhancer) - he wins 5 grand slams. Can you see the irony in your statement?
Spell T.O.U.G.H. L.U.C.K. to the talented people who try to compete clean or can't afford the PEDs in this uneven playing field.
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I'm sorry Jonathan but get off your moral high horse and spare us the sermon. You and bloggers like Halfwheeler are totally wrong on this. Crystal Meth is a NON performance enhancing drug and therefore neither WADA mor the ATP should in any way be concearned about this. The point Jonathan is why Andre was even brought to a tribunal for showing positive on a NON PERFORMANCE enhancing drug in the first place. He wasn't cheating and he did what millions of people do every weeked, a RECREATIONAL drug. Frankly you should be writing about why Gasquet even had to serve a 2 moths drug ban for cocaine. WADA are there to ensure a level playing field not to moralise about lifestyle choices...
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Insele - Crystal Meth.....
Increases blood pressure, dilates the bronchial tracts and increases blood sugar. It increases focus, mental alertness and reduces feelings of fatigue.
So don't pretend it's not a PED because it is. Your obfuscation isn't helpful.
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134. At 11:46am on 31 Oct 2009, polite & respectful_nffc_no more cheekiness....... unless pushed wrote:
people will make their own minds up whats right & wrong and so they should. personally, i never agreed to the laws of this land and never signed anything to commit to them. if i want to snort a line of crystal meth, i will do.
anyone who works hard and pays taxes they get nothing in return for is entitled to relax after a hard day as they see fit. if they want a line of crystal meth, who exactly are you to comment on the morality of it?
________________________________________________________________________
That is a silly argument and actually off topic. No-one ever signs anything to 'agree' with the laws of this country - they live here, therefore they agree to try to obey by the laws decreed by those who lead this country. If you don't like it, move somewhere else.
If someone wishes to take crystal meth or indeed any other drug, then yes they have free reign over their faculties and can do so, but they have to accept that the majority of "anyone who works hard and pays taxes" would consider such dicing with death/injury and relying on the NHS that we all pay for to get them out of trouble when it all goes pear-shaped, morally wrong.
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You'll have to excuse my ignorance but I really don't see what all the fuss is about. He took Crystal Meth. So far as I am aware, crystal meth is rarely marketed as a performance enhancing supplement for the world's elite athletes. Again, and I'm no expert here, I can say with almost 100% certainty that Agassi gained absolutely no competetive advantage by consuming a drug that cites headaches, numbness, diarrhea and hyperthermia as some of its many unpleasant side effects.
If the arguement is 'he took a drug and got away with it' surely it SHOULD matter which drug he took. This takes my mind back to the lad who lost his Olympic Snowboarding medal for testing positive for cannabis. As I am one of the vast number of people who have, in an indulgent youth, experienced the head spinning, conversation stopping power of drawing on a spliff I was stunned when I heard that a medal had been rescinded on the basis that the poor bloke was probably high as a kite. Did this enhance his performance? God no.
If it transpires that Federer has won 15 Grand Slams whilst in the midst of a massive cocaine addiction does that belittle his achievment? I'd go so far as to say it would have hampered him quite severely, in which case I would would feel sorry for him being addicted to Coke, but admire the way he has thrashed the best of the world's tennis players for 8 years despite chasing the dragon.
From a sports fan perspective, I really don't care if a mulit millionaire sportsman or woman goes out at the weekend and takes recreational drugs. I think this is a moral issue and that makes it harder to define. Agassi was loved by people all around the world, looked up to by thousands of youngsters, including Andy Murray. Whether they like it or not, sports people are effectively paid by the public, and therefore they have a responsibility to behave within the boundaries of the law.
Thats the next point, it's illegal to take Cystal Meth. It's a class A drug and is illegal for a reason. So whilst it may not be performance enhancing, he's broken the law and he's gotten away with it. Not the best example to set.
I still don't care and I still don't understand why such a massive fuss is being made of this. Many sports people have commited much more heinous crimes.
Aggasi's biggest mistake wasn't taking cystal meth, it was including it in his book
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Agassi at a low point in his career suffering from depression took a recreational drug. It was actually a drug readily available to him since it was being taken regularly by someone in his entourage in water bottles. This gave him a plausible excuse when he was tested positive. Presumably because this was only a recreational drug, there was a plausible excuse and this was a first positive test, the ATP came to a not unreasonable conclusion to let Agassi off – there was enough doubt of guilt. Even given the admission now (hindsight is a wonderful thing!) – can see why that doubt was reasonable.
Yes and it is important to consider the drug itself – to lump all illegal drugs together and consider them the same is really just foolish and ignorant. The ATP main angle should be to prevent systematic drug cheating in sport.
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Should really point out as well that the ATP were probably a bit pragmatic on this. The positive, showed tests were working and there was as a plausible sounding excuse. A second positive and Agassi would have been punished. Pragmatism is a bit more important with recreational drugs and other illegal but non performace enhancing onees since there are a whole variety of those around. A single positive test by accident becomes all the more possible. Its the "given a positive - what is the chance this was by accident" probability - this becomes greater the more drugs you include in the test
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I would like to say that I think that Agassi was very brave to admit the truth. He was married to a nightmare and was on a downward spiral and I thought that it was common knowledge that he had taken drugs. He was not using them to play the sport and I think that after what a hole he got himself into he should be remembered how he got out of it and regained the no.1 spot again which is unheard of. I think that there is a women player that had a problem with drugs after being number 1 and then returned to regain it. I think that people make mistakes and those that get themselves out of that situation should be given a second chance. As long a he did not cheat which I know that he did not then why is everyone acting so dissaprovingly. I admire him as he still won all those titles and all 4 majors and he still regained the world no.1 sport. They give athletes second chances. He helps disadvantaged kids to be educated and achieve their goals, I still admire Agassi and people need to start tinking that this is not shocking news and that he was dragged down by Brooke Shields. Go Agassi, you are a star and always will be, you just made a mistake. At least you did not hit a ball at a ball girl. Players who do that get a second chance so I do not see why you should not get one.
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If you look at American sport in general it is rife with drug use, we have seen 'scandal' after 'scandal' in Baseball and Track & Field. Who knows what else has been covered up and what else is yet to be revealed. As the USA has been leading the way in most sporting pursuits since the beginning of professional sport it does leave you with a lot of questions and a profound scepticism.
I have long hated the scapegoating of certain athletes as I always believed this was just a smokescreen to hide the bigger picture. It is no surprise to see someone like Marion Jones jailed, when all Agassi had to do was say I didn't do it and he was let off.
The use of drugs in sport always seems to follow cultural trends, we saw it with soviet bloc countries in Eastern Europe, China and various other cultures. The con was that we were tricked into believing western European and American athletes were clean because every time someone was caught it was treated as a one off. As for the ones that got away who knows what substances were used! If Agassi found it so easy how many other 'darlings' were able to bat their eyelashes around a positive drugs test.
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See here for a description of the effects of Meths - the effect on deterioation of the body is most shocking. This can in no way be described as performance enhancing. For someone with depression - the short term euphoria and feeling of more energy (it creates sleeplessness) could be why Agassi took it. But for a professional athlete any significant use of this drug would be devastating.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/meth/body/
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"Of course much of the discussion will, no doubt, focus on whether crystal meth can be performance enhancing. But that's not really the point."
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???
With all due respect, Jonathan, of course it's the bleeding point. It's the *only* point.
If the drug is not performance-enhancing, then it is frankly none of the business of an authority tasked with eliminating cheating in sport. It should not even be tested for.
Which brings me to the other issue. You are someone whose job it is to have researched these things. Why the disingenuous ambiguity about whether it is performance enhancing? Saying that crystal methedrine may enhance your tennis is a bit like saying that drinking ten pints may enhance your driving, or smoking dope may boost your accountancy skills.
Honestly, it could almost be a meth-dealer's ad campaign.
And as for WADA's ludicrous efforts to somehow - anyhow - hurt or punish Agassi twelve years after the recreational event: it really does beggar belief.
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Andre Agassi is a charismatic person who had a lot of talent and many people want to forgive him for this.
Andre Agassi is a drug user and a liar and these things should not be forgiven.
I understand the ban for his offence would have ranged from 3 months to 2 years, the latter of which would wipe out his only Roland Garros win (congratulations Mr Medvedev, you are a Grand Slam winner after all), eradicated his getting together with Stefanie Graf and possibly have prevented him regaining his previous heights at all, leaving him with a Grand Slam title haul of just 3.
Retrospectively taking away two years of titles would seem fair and a relatively small cost to Mr Agassi compared to what could have befallen him. Current players who are now saying "He's still my hero" should be targeted for more frequent drug-testing.
By the way, why are people surprised? He was always a wild character, just how naive are some people? Or just easily fooled by a bit of charm?
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wow! I've only just read all this now (over a week late) and am astounded by the profusion of responses. Certainly the whole fracas has provided for great debate, if not much else, and I have thoroughly enjoyed browsing through the many responses.
On that note, its tempting but difficult to commend multiple bloggers here, but I feel compelled to single out number 44 for his logical albeit somewhat facetious analysis of why this story has been allowed light of day:
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- At 10:21pm on 28 Oct 2009, exiledpolishrover wrote:
Either
a)he has been terribly advised
b)he is in dire financial straits needing to maximise book sales (seems unlikely)
c) Released an extraordinary dull book
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My views are as follows, tempered both by my love of tennis and my medical background:
1. This is not the forum for a debate on the morality of Agassi's actions or confession, charity work and stand-up-role-model factors notwithstanding
2. The issue illustrates the important aspect of failed regulation or enforcement (at least at the time) and Mr Overend is correct in highlighting this.
3. Does it matter, what crystal meth actually does? Yes, if the purpose of discussion is to re-evaluate Agassi's achievements. No, if the intention is to revisit the issue of drug control in tennis.
I would like to make two last remarks. It is enormously heartening to see the overwhelmingly positive response towards Agassi on this forum. I don't think I've ever seen the like, in response to a 'crisis'.
Lastly, I would reserve judgment on Agassi's decision to publish these revelations until I have read the book fully, and until such time as it becomes clear whether he has any intention of following up on his confessions in a positive manner by pursuing better regulation and enforcement in the game he loves.
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Jonathan Overend's article is a perfect example of the hysteria that surrounds anything that happens to a well-known person, in this country. Like Gordon Brown sharing the cost of a cleaner with his brother and claiming expenses for it (who cares?), Agassi's admission that he took a recreational drug has given a bunch of rather poor journalists something to opine over, when really they should be researching properly and imparting useful, factual information to their readership. Who cares about Jonathan Overend's opinions? What is it that has turned Britain into a nation of holier-than-thou judges? I can't understand why Agassi wrote about this in his book - I can't understand why he wrote a book. His achievements were there for all to see anyway, carved in stone. Books packed with 'revelations' are another symptom of our voyeuristic society. And at least Agassi had a life worth writing about, unlike most of the people on the ready-for-Christmas bookstore shelves. But to explain that you were taking drugs (or a drug) while your life and career were sinking is not a bad message to impart. It simply shows how bad most recreational drugs are. They were not performance-enhancing, and yes he lied. And he was wrong to do that. But for Overend to claim that tennis "finds itself deeply hurt by the startling revelations of one of its great champions" is overblown, sanctimonious nonsense. Mistakes are not crimes, they are part of human nature that most lucky humans learn from. And that tennis or any sport can be "deeply hurt" about anything is a ridiculous notion. This is a sport. A sport I love, but it's only a sport. Is it deeply hurt? No. Focus on Roger Federer who has taken the sport forward in every way possible, and pronounced positivley on what should be done next on drugs. Don't be reactive, voyeuristic, focusing on one of the sport's heroes who years ago went through hell in his personal life. Agassi got over it. So should Overend. But then he'd have to write something interesting, properly researched and forward thinking - and like playing tennis well, that's not easy.
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akaTommySmith (#96), if you're still reading,
I fail to see why you consider my comment (#62) arrogant.
Flippant, maybe, but I had a serious and valid point. I'll restate it, and flesh-it-out a bit for you.
I think this article was just a piece of formulaic "shock, horror" journalism, which is not uncommon from the BBC. Drug abuse is a staple ingredient in stories attempting to synthesize public-outrage.
As others have pointed out, Agassi probably doesn't need the money, but the publishers have a book to sell.
Jonathan Overend probably had a deadline to get a story out. Whether he gets a better performance review for lots of blog-replies, I don't know.
At the time of my original comment, it seemed obvious, to me, that the majority of responders considered this to be a "non-story". That was my main point. That is still my opinion (though I haven't counted the responses).
I think a comment by poster #153 supports my view:
"It is enormously heartening to see the overwhelmingly positive response towards Agassi on this forum. I don't think I've ever seen the like, in response to a 'crisis'."
If you re-read my original (short) comment, then you will also note that I have not even offered a detailed opinion on the use of "Las Vegas marching-powder" by Andre Agassi, or about the response of the tennis authorities.
Your comments come across like the classic "Outraged of Tunbridge-Wells" who appears equally angry at others for not being as angry as themselves.
I also stand by my comment on the attractiveness of Steffi Graff.
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People appear to be condemning Jonathan's views without actually taking the trouble to read them, thefrogstar being a case in point. Synthesized public outrage? Shock horror journalism? I'm not sure you've actually read beyond the title. You explicitly say that you're not commenting on the response of the tennis authorities, yet that is the main thrust of the piece!
Of course it is highly relevant to Agassi's reputation that the drug involved was not performance enhancing. But Jonathan's point was that he lied, not that he cheated. The number of people on here who think it's OK to lie is frankly bewildering, and demonstrates that Jonathan is wrong on that point - Agassi's reputation will come out unharmed.
However, the article actually centred on the cloud of suspicion over the whole sport of tennis, for reasons that he enumerates. The fact that the drug was recreational is almost irrelevant to this point. Agassi's account offers no reason to suppose that he would have been less likely to be believed if the drug concerned were performance-enhancing. Which begs the question, "How many other cases were swept under the carpet, and how many of those were genuine doping cases, i.e. cheating?"
That was Jonathan's central point, a point that has beeen drowned out by the deafening howl of indignation at him daring to point out that many people's hero lied through his teeth. For myself, I admire his honesty in bringing this incident to light more than I deplore the dishonesty at the time. I believe his candour makes up for the original deceit, which after all I would not be aware of if not for the confession. That said, I respect Jonathan's view that it does not make up for it, and the scorn from many people on here for expressing that view is simply not justified.
Outraged of Tunbridge-Wells
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Crystal Meth is not a performance enhancing drug, if anything it does the opposite. I do not see what the big issue is. I love Agassi and admire him. He still won all those titles and I think that it is amazing that after a deep depression that he suffered in the hands of Brooke Sheilds that he managed to get back on track and regain the No.1 world ranking again and also achieve the French Open to have all four career majors. He was not playing when he took drugs but if anything it was a disadvantage. Everyone makes mistakes, Tim Henman hit a tennis ball at a ball girl at Wimbledon but was only disqualified from the tournament, not banned for life. Agassi is my tennis hero and I think that he is great. I also thought that it was common knowledge that he took drugs while he dropped out of tennis. I think that it is an amazing story of how someone was on top of the world, sank and then got himself up there again. Hello, he was not taking drugs while he was competing!! Give him a break. Agassi, you are one of the greats and no one can take that away from you.
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Hackenjack, so I suppose that you have never done anything that is unforgivable in your life. The drugs did not help him get the titles he achieved and he was not actively playing when he took the drugs. He Certainly was not winning anything. It was his personal life, nothing to do with tennis and when he returned he was clean and not using so get a life!!
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