Andre Agassi admits in his upcoming autobiography to taking crystal meth while still on tour, testing positive and then duping the ATP into believing his innocence:
Via The Times, U.K.:
Agassi, now 39, relates how he took crystal meth — possession of which carries a maximum five-year jail sentence in the US — in 1997, when his form was falling and he was having doubts about his impending marriage to the actress, Brooke Shields. . .
. . .In his book, Agassi recounts sitting at home with his assistant, referred to only as Slim, and being introduced to the drug. “Slim is stressed too … He says, You want to get high with me? On what? Gack. What the hell’s gack? Crystal meth. Why do they call it gack? Because that’s the sound you make when you’re high … Make you feel like Superman, dude.
“As if they’re coming out of someone else’s mouth, I hear these words: You know what? F*** it. Yeah. Let’s get high.
“Slim dumps a small pile of powder on the coffee table. He cuts it, snorts it. He cuts it again. I snort some. I ease back on the couch and consider the Rubicon I’ve just crossed.
“There is a moment of regret, followed by vast sadness. Then comes a tidal wave of euphoria that sweeps away every negative thought in my head. I’ve never felt so alive, so hopeful — and I’ve never felt such energy.
When an ATP doctor calls to inform Agassi that he failed a drug test and could face suspension, Agassi writes that he decided to lie:
“My name, my career, everything is now on the line. Whatever I’ve achieved, whatever I’ve worked for, might soon mean nothing. Days later I sit in a hard-backed chair, a legal pad in my lap, and write a letter to the ATP. It’s filled with lies interwoven with bits of truth.
“I say Slim, whom I’ve since fired, is a known drug user, and that he often spikes his sodas with meth — which is true. Then I come to the central lie of the letter. I say that recently I drank accidentally from one of Slim’s spiked sodas, unwittingly ingesting his drugs. I ask for understanding and leniency and hastily sign it: Sincerely.
“I feel ashamed, of course. I promise myself that this lie is the end of it.” The ATP reviewed the case — and threw it out.
Here’s my take:
1. The ITF owes Martina Hingis a big box of chocolates. Heck, let’s make it a lifetime supply of chocolates. Or coke. Or whatever she damn well wants.
2. Andre Agassi is going to make a boatload of money on his book (it comes out in November.)
3. Richard Gasquet: “Just wait until my book comes out!”
What do you think?
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Tags: agassi, ATP, doping, drugs, tennis
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whoa…i can’t believe he managed to convince the ATP to “let it go”
i think it’s none of the ATP’s business if a player takes recreational drugs… i’m not talking about performer enhancers which of course qualify as cheating in this competition, i’m talking about coke, weed, crystal meth and all the other feel good substances which have no effect on the game (if anything, in the long run they hurt the athlete). to use the doping tests to uncover players use in recreational drugs is an invasion of their privacy.
Jinx!
In full agreement here!
Personally I don’t think recreational drugs should be punishable – most of them are peformance dehancing – for example Michael Phelps and the bong. That’s his own business.
Obviously taking something like speed before a match is too far, but the amount of cocaine usually found on the average banknote is not a good enough reason to destroy someone’s career.
They’re not going to retrospectively reprimand Agassi either, are they? Although this is going to cause a bit of a ripple.
Andre got dumb, then got lucky. And just as well, we wouldn’t have witnessed his resurgence otherwise.
but honestly, this double standard with tennis administrators needs to stop.
Actually, up to me, it’s not quite of a story to tell. “Outrageous and disappointing” is a bit too much for a name like Agassi, but it makes no honer sharing such stories in your book. In my opinion, this is a bad marketing choice to sale your truth. He is responsible for his foundation and work with kids and such stories are not the best educational model to follow. No matter how sincere a person wants to be with the reader, there are some private things that should not be revealed even when you are no longer at the spotlight of public attention. It also compromise the work of ATP – too bold.
Agreed! Why now? if not for book sales. I don’t see the point.
That’s it: book sales! The publisher is like “YESSSSS!”
Even I want to buy the book now, to see what else he talks about. According to The Times he also calls his father abusive and says he always hated playing tennis.
I am so upset.
Upset because I was always a big fan of Andre and I strongly disapprove of drugs; on a level, I think that’s kind of his life. But I do feel that huge sports/public figures have a responsibility to be honest and set a clean example particularly for their younger fans.
My major upset comes from just how rotten the ATP is.
This is so, so unfair to all the others who did get punished – as you say, like Gasquet or worse, Martina Hingis. They gave her two years and ruined her career entirely. The rules are very clear, it is not about intention, it’s about whether the drug is there or not. Gasquet proved his tiny levels of cocaine were not due to intentional consumption, they believed him (on the record) and still gave him three months.
Why did the all-American hero boy get away with it?
How can the ATP now come all tough and follow players around every effing day of their lives (when they’re on hols too) and watch them closely as they pee into a cup?
And I still haven’t thought about how I feel about Andre being such a brazen liar, which is a much bigger deal than him having a moment of weakness and taking the damn drug.
Bleah. I’m feeling a bit sick about the whole thing.
They don’t follow them around every effing day as you put it. Players are required to report where they will be for one hour each day, so that they can be tested. That is not an ATP rule but a WADA rule that the ITF has reluctantly subscribed to this year. Looking at the records hardly any testing is actually done. I think Santoro is on the record as saying he hasn’t been tested in years. When you compare this to other sports like cycling or athletics, Tennis testing is a joke.
Now we learn that the ATP will sweep a positive test under the carpet if the player is big enough. It is not that they are testing for recreational drugs – it is the fact that they have rules and all players are not being held up to the same standard. If you are big enough player the ATP will sweep your positive test under the carpet. If they do it with recreational users, why wouldn’t they do it with PED users? If a revelation about a top player being a crystal meth user would hurt the sport think how bad a revelation that a top player is a PED user. It seems that the ATP is first an foremost a business and this kind of revelation is bad for business. Not to mention Sponsor’s business.
Cara, thanks for clarifying that the ‘one hour each day’ rule is WADA and not ATP. I didn’t realise that.
Clearly my comment as to ‘following around’ was not intended literally, but I still think that having to give info for your whereabouts every day (even for one hour) is very strict. Whether the official do turn up to test the players or not is not the point in my view. It’s actually pretty bad if they don’t, having introduced the rule, that should be implemented properly. Andy Murray has had a few publicly reported instances of officials turning up to test him, so if other players are never tested, are we looking at yet another case of ad hoc application of rules? Are some players singled out?
I am in complete agreement with the rest of your comments, and that’s exactly why I am so upset and think there’s something rotten in the ATP. If they let Agassi get away, who else has gotten away, and who else will?
I’m with you entirely on the point of recreational or performance-enhancing drugs.
Tennis should have confidence that the ATP enforces and applies rules fairly and consistently.
PS I think there are solid historical/track record reasons why cycling and athletics have much stricter anti-doping rules, but that’s another debate!
I think recreational drug use is the ATP’s business, precisely because they are a business. They don’t want the players, essentially contract employees, to be engaged in illegal activities or bring negative publicity to the sport.
I hate the double standard for Martina.
And I totally agree that Andre didn’t need to tell this story. He may be saying that he made a mistake, but I don’t think this is the right message to send to kids — and he does have a lot of appeal to that demographic.
Agassi needs to say bye-bye hall of fame, hello New York Times Best seller list.
Wonder what Johnny Mac has to say? LOL
Steffi and the kids will be fine, it’s the ATP who really suffers from his admission.
In terms of his family and fans, I think we can all forgive a mistake (or two – because lying was probably the bigger mistake.) But the ATP was in a lose-lose situation. Sweeping Andre’s test under the rug was undoubtedly a mistake, but I’m sure we all would have believed Andre’s excuse if it had come out in a hearing. The ATP would have been the bad guy for enforcing a suspension for recreational drug use (in this case Andre said it would have been 3 months – probably because it was “out of competition.”) Maybe the ATP really did believe him! Now the organization has lost its credibility for doing what many of us would have assumed was the reasonable thing. Ouch.
It makes me think back to one of Roger’s comments about doping – no matter what, he says, no one ever admits to it.
The incident was 12 years ago and not since, I am guessing. He made a mistake when he was prob depressed; a bad decision. We all make bad decisions in life. So, I think we can forgive him for the actions including the letter, he was scrambling for his mental and professional life. However to put in this book; 2 things 1) increases chance of a best seller due to content; and 2) what does this do to the current players on tour and how every person will be perceived as basically dishonest. I think in light of the current tour (ATP) it will created more problems than it solves.
Cases like this with Andre Agassi and especially pro baseball players prove that it’s silly to get on Michael Phelps’ case about smoking weed one time