What did Andre Agassi admitted to?”
LONDON : Tennis great Andre Agassi has admitted he tested positive for hard drugs during his career and lied to sporting authorities to escape a ban, reports said Wednesday. Agassi, one of the world’s greatest tennis players with eight Grand Slam titles, reveals in his autobiography to testing positive for the highly addictive drug crystal methamphetamine. The champion, now 39, also says that he has always secretly hated playing tennis and lived in fear of his bad-tempered and violent father. In the book, serialised in London-based The Times newspaper, Agassi reveals how he took crystal meth in 1997 when his form was falling and he was having doubts about his impending marriage to US actress Brooke Shields. He duped the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) into believing he had taken the drug — possession of which carries a maximum five-year jail sentence in the United States — by accident, according to the newspaper’s website. The repercussions for Agassi’s career could have be
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Former tennis champion Andre Agassi has admitted in an autobiograpy that he used crystal meth in 1997 when his career was floundering. People magazine said in a story on its website on Tuesday that Agassi admits to drug use in his memoir, “Open: An Autobiography,” as well as talking about his hair loss and doomed 1997-1999 marriage to actress Brooke Shields. “I can’t speak to addiction, but a lot of people would say that if you’re using anything as an escape, you have a problem,” he told People magazine. People magazine and Sports Illustrated will run excerpts this week from Agassi’s book ahead of its November 9 publication. The American tennis player became a fan favourite after winning Wimbledon in 1992 when he was a cocky rebel with shoulder-length hair and went on to win the U.S. Open in 1994. But his on-court career hit a low point in 1997 when Agassi struggled with a wrist injury and he ended the year at No. 122 in the world rankings. Publisher Knopf said Aga
Andre Agassi was “worried for a moment, but not for long” about how his fanbase would react to his admission in his autobiography that he took crystal meth, an addictive stimulant more commonly associated with the American underclass than former Wimbledon champions. But perhaps the Las Vegan, who won the 1992 Wimbledon Championships, should be concerned about how the tennis authorities will view another disclosure in his book, that he lied to the men’s tour about why he failed a drugs test, after writing a letter saying that he “unwittingly” took crystal meth after sipping from a drink that had been spiked by his personal assistant. The ATP Tour accepted Agassi’s story and he avoided a ban.
