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Post by janie on Oct 28, 2009 6:59:30 GMT -5
www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12111_5657127,00.html Agassi drug lieShould American face retrospective disciplinary action? Last updated: 28th October 2009 Andre Agassi has admitted he lied to the ATP about his use of the illegal drug methamphetamine. Agassi tested positive for 'crystal meth' in 1997 but convinced the ATP not to punish him after writing a letter claiming the use was accidental. That was a lie - as the American has admitted in his new autobiography - and he went on to win five Grand Slam titles after 1997. The ATP is looking into Agassi's confession and will decide on what action - if any - to take. Should the ATP take retrospective disciplinary action? And has this revelation tarnished the legacy of a man who won all four of the game's Grand Slams during an honour-laden career? Share your thoughts below...
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Post by janie on Oct 28, 2009 7:01:03 GMT -5
My take: nothing will happen -- the guy's retired! But many, many more of his books will be sold than would have been the case without this story.
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Post by lexpretend on Oct 28, 2009 7:14:21 GMT -5
Of course nothing will happen. What can they do, slap a ban on him? And nor should they, for a recreational drug.
The actual scandal isn't that Agassi took crystal meth - though, Jesus, of all the drugs to do...that one makes me seriously go WTF - it's that he got away with a lame excuse, presumably because of his name, while other players who have ingested drugs "inadvertently" haven't been so lucky. The ATP shouldn't be investigating Agassi - it's the ATP who should be investigated.
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Post by Traveling Man on Oct 28, 2009 9:24:51 GMT -5
So unless you're a woman (Hingis), you can avoid being slapped with a ban and having your name dragged through the mud as the Gasquet and Agassi cases have shown. So much for it being because she was a slut.
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Post by janie on Oct 28, 2009 9:36:47 GMT -5
But now the ATP and WTA don't do their own dubious testing any more, do they? I don't think this could happen nowadays, a star talking his or her way out of a drug scandal that would have a huge impact on the Tour itself. And especially the entire thing being swept under the rug until the culprit himself blabbed a decade later. And as for Hingis, it seemed like the drug people realized they overreacted, given the minute quantity of the drug found in her system, and that's why they changed things, allowing Gasquet to get off far more lightly. So, yes, as Hurley or someone said <IN THE OTHER THREAD> it's the ATP who looks bad here. REALLY bad.
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Post by R. Black on Oct 28, 2009 9:38:37 GMT -5
They look bad, but it's more than 10 years ago so... Next week it's already going to be forgotten.
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Post by Denise49IQ on Oct 28, 2009 9:42:28 GMT -5
Merge the threads!
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Post by DBBN on Oct 28, 2009 9:48:51 GMT -5
Heh. I wish!
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Post by The Chloe on Oct 28, 2009 10:12:52 GMT -5
This is way less awesome than I thought it would be.
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Post by leelee on Oct 28, 2009 11:24:56 GMT -5
So unless you're a woman (Hingis), you can avoid being slapped with a ban and having your name dragged through the mud as the Gasquet and Agassi cases have shown. So much for it being because she was a slut. Yeah, it certainly doesn't look good for the ATP in comparison... although the likely truth with Hingis is that she was near retirement anyway, wasn't cooperative, and they gave her a long ban just to make a statement. Then, a potential big money maker like Gasquet does stupidity just a year later and the tennis powers that be got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. As for Agassi, not surprising at all. Happens in all sports and all areas of life. If you can make more money than everyone else in your field, you can do whatever you want.
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Post by DBBN on Oct 28, 2009 15:25:50 GMT -5
sports.yahoo.com/ten/news;_ylt=AoPu7XUczKudyepnaEIjWBc4v7YF?slug=ap-wada-agassi&prov=ap&type=lgnsWADA chief wants ATP to explain Agassi drug case By STEPHEN WILSON, AP Sports Writer LONDON (AP)—The president of the World Anti-Doping Agency wants tennis authorities to shed light on Andre Agassi’s admission that he used a banned drug and escaped a suspension by blaming his positive test on a spiked drink. WADA leader John Fahey said Wednesday he was disappointed by the revelations in Agassi’s upcoming autobiography that he used crystal methamphetamine in 1997 and lied to ATP tour officials to avoid a ban. Fahey said WADA—which was founded in 1999—can’t take any action against Agassi because of the agency’s eight-year statute of limitations, and that it’s “unlikely” the ATP will either. “WADA would, however, expect the ATP, which administered its own anti-doping program at that time, to shed light on this allegation,” Fahey said in a statement. Agassi, an eight-time Grand Slam champion, writes in his autobiography “Open” that he was introduced to crystal meth by his assistant “Slim” at a time when his form was fading and he was having doubts about his impending marriage to actress Brooke Shields. In excerpts from the book published in The Times of London, Agassi said he was informed by the ATP later that year that he had tested positive for the drug and could face a three-month ban for use of a recreational substance. He said he sent a letter to the ATP tour claiming he accidentally drank from a soda spiked with meth by “Slim” and asking for leniency. Agassi said the ATP reviewed the case, accepted his explanation and threw it out. The ATP said Wednesday that an independent panel makes the final decision on a doping violation. “The ATP has always followed this rule, and no executive at the ATP has therefore had the authority or ability to decide the outcome of an anti-doping matter,” the statement said. Agassi, who married tennis star Steffi Graf eight years ago and has two children, retired in 2006. “We would hope that Andre Agassi might now see his way to be a role model and alert youth and tennis players to the dangers of drug use and doping,” Fahey said. Fahey said the case shows the importance of having a monitoring body like WADA in place to review and follow up on positive cases. “This ensures that no doping case is swept under the carpet,” Fahey said. “The anti-doping system under the World Anti-Doping Code now ensures that a hearing by an independent tribunal occurs and excuses cannot be acted upon outside of such transparency.” Methamphetamine is classified as a stimulant under WADA’s list of banned substances. Although tennis rules at the time might have warranted a three-month ban, WADA’s current guidelines on methamphetamine provide for a sanction of up to two years if an athlete cannot prove mitigating circumstances. WADA director general David Howman said there was no chance of retroactive sanctions against Agassi. “We’re stuck by our eight-year limitation rule, so we can’t do anything,” he told The Associated Press in Paris. “It will rest with ATP or perhaps ITF depending on how they’ve organized they’re jurisdictional things. But 12 years back you start to say, ‘For what, anti-doping?’ It’s a no-go because of the statute of limitations.” “I mean, at the end of the day, he’s confessed,” Howman added. “He obviously hasn’t been able to sleep in bed straight and he’s come out and made a confession and you have to applaud that to a degree.” AP Sports Writer Jerome Pugmire in Paris contributed to this report.
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Post by Bruguera's heavy balls on Oct 28, 2009 16:06:49 GMT -5
This is what I remembered, qoted from mtf
"Rios said Agassi skipped drugs tests after winning the Aus Open in 2003. Dunno if that holds up."
I think old Baldy did roids. BTW, I also think all argentines who got cought WERE GUILTY (Willy Roids, Puerta, Coria and Chela)
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Post by Grarliner on Oct 28, 2009 16:55:47 GMT -5
I'm ... quite surprised he did that. The dirtiest, nastiest drug of all. I guess he really was living the Hollywood dream life!
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Post by leelee on Oct 28, 2009 20:55:20 GMT -5
Remember Andre in '97. Drug use would explain a lot.
I've always said there's a good chance he did. Nobody defied the aging odds in tennis like he did. But, THAT will never ever come out unless it's 3rd party.
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Post by R. Black on Oct 30, 2009 17:00:43 GMT -5
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Post by janie on Oct 30, 2009 18:08:12 GMT -5
Ooh! Good stuff, Nav: “How is it going to play out for him? I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know why he would come out now.”Is that what's next?
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Post by leelee on Oct 31, 2009 1:05:53 GMT -5
I love Martina, but she's wrong on like everything there.
Clemens hasn't admitted to anything. He's a fat pompous jerk. He's like the only one that hasn't admitted something.
Clemens very likely used a drug that helped his performance. Andre took one the best drugs to screw himself up more.
Yes, Andre lied. Like 99% of athletes that give a BS explanation when they get caught. But, let's not kid ourselves here. Even if he didn't, the powers that be would have let him off anyway. That's where we should put the blame, Martina.
If we're going to blame Andre, mock him for being an attention whoring, money grubbing schmuck by announcing this solely for his book. And how he's been this way, nonstop, since he came on tour.
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Post by lexpretend on Oct 31, 2009 4:33:04 GMT -5
When I read most celebrities "commenting" on stories that have nothing to do with them, I assume journalists just rang round for quotes. With M-Nav, I get the feeling she was the one ringing round all the news outlets demanding to speak.
I agree with Leena. Agassi didn't cheat, so his legacy is unaffected. This story shows the ATP in the worst light. It's admirable that he came back from regularly using such a nasty, addictive drug - not the usual "rich tennis player dabbles in coke" story at all. Also, I like how he wrote about it - there's so much hypocrisy around recreational drugs, it's refreshing to read someone acknowledge that the fundamental reason he took it is because it makes you feel good while you're on it, rather than being fauxpologetic and saying "oh, I didn't enjoy any of it".
But it's such an obvious PR stunt to help sales along, and it's worked. Sampras must be relieved that he got his own book out first. Just can't compete.
The story about playing the RG '90 final with a wig shocks me more, tbh.
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Post by GoDom on Oct 31, 2009 7:06:16 GMT -5
lol sounds like a good read, I should check it out.
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Post by GoDom on Oct 31, 2009 7:11:14 GMT -5
Although it appears that he uses the wig as an excuse for losing that final. Boo.
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Post by janie on Oct 31, 2009 7:24:44 GMT -5
he story about playing the RG '90 final with a wig shocks me more, tbh. I missed this! Oh no, this is hilarious!
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Post by Wagasi on Oct 31, 2009 11:45:06 GMT -5
Ok I'm being Wagasi circa RG 1990 for Halloween. Any tips on how to make the look?
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Post by GoDom on Oct 31, 2009 12:39:52 GMT -5
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Post by R. Black on Nov 1, 2009 8:24:27 GMT -5
I don't even know what crystal meth is, so, you know, that's what my reaction to it is ... I haven't read anything about Andre Agassi's book. All I know is I have a book out. It's called 'On The Line.'
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Post by R. Black on Nov 1, 2009 8:26:56 GMT -5
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Post by Wagasi on Nov 1, 2009 19:32:09 GMT -5
Thanks. I was actually able to find most of those things including a dirty blonde mullet wig. One of my friends thought I was Serena Williams and one person guessed Bjorn Borg but it was a great time regardless.
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Post by Bruguera's heavy balls on Nov 5, 2009 12:31:53 GMT -5
FROM MTF
More revelations
Agassi hints he tanked games. "Losing on purpose isn't easy," he writes. "You have to lose in such a way that the crowd can't tell, and in a way that you can't tell. Your mind is tanking, but your body is fighting on. ... You don't do those tiny things you need to do. You don't run the extra few feet, you don't lunge. You're slow to come out of stops. You hesitate to bend or dig." Of losing in the semifinals of the 1996 Australian Open against Michael Chang -- a match Agassi suggests he tanked -- he writes, "I'm glad I lost."
Sportswriters who accused him of tanking often were wrong. "They never get it right," he writes in the diary-style format. "When I tank, they say I'm not good enough; when I'm not good enough, they say I tank."
He says his father calculated that when Agassi was 7, he made him hit 1 million balls in a single year.
He says his father gave him speed before the junior nationals in Chicago. Agassi writes he purposely made the match closer than it had to be, just so his father wouldn't make him take it again.
He did crystal meth partly out of self-loathing. "Apart from the buzz of getting high," he writes, "I get an undeniable satisfaction from harming myself and shortening my career. After decades of merely dabbling in masochism, I'm making it my mission. ... I hate tennis more than ever, but I hate myself more."
He was a bit of a pyromaniac. He liked to light things on fire. Once, on the balcony of a Munich hotel, he lit paper, clothes and shoes on fire, his way of coping with "extreme stress."
He had plenty of stress. He was so angry after then-girlfriend Brooke Shields licked actor Matt LeBlanc's hand at a live taping of "Friends," he stormed out, drove home and smashed all his trophies, including ones he won at the Davis Cup, U.S. Open and Wimbledon.
He was never sure he wanted to marry Shields. But he could relate to the actress. "She knows what it's like to grow up with a brash, ambitious, abrasive stage parent," he writes.
He claims that while Shields was getting in shape for the wedding, she taped a photo on her refrigerator of the "perfect woman" -- Steffi Graf (now his wife).
He says he got married with lifts in his shoes at Shields' request.
He says Shields got regular threats from stalkers, and he would put his longtime trainer, Gil Reyes, on a plane to stalk them back. "He ... appears ... at the stalker's house or workplace ... holds up the letter and says very softly, 'I know who you are and where you live. ... If you ever bother Brooke and Andre again, you will see me again, and you don't want that,'" Agassi writes.
He describes rival Pete Sampras as one-dimensional, "robotic" and a bad tipper, recalling a time Sampras gave a Palm Springs car valet one dollar. On the other hand, Agassi is grateful to have had Sampras' greatness to measure himself against. "Losing to Pete has caused me enormous pain," he writes, "but in the long run it's also made me more resilient. If I'd beaten Pete more often ... I'd have a better record ... but I'd be less."
He saves no love for Jimmy Connors, whom he calls a "rude, condescending, egomaniac prick." Of Connors' coaching Andy Roddick for a time, he writes, "Poor Andy."
He was incensed that Chang would point to the sky every time he won a match. "He thanks God -- credits God -- for the win, which offends me. That God should take sides in a tennis match, that God should side against me ... feels ludicrous and insulting."
He says Todd Martin was, "like me, an underachiever."
He insists that his sister, Rita, ran off with 32-years-older tennis legend Pancho Gonzales because their father was too contentious and controlling.
He notes that the irony of a man who never finished high school running one of the finest prep schools in Nevada is not lost on him. To say nothing of his school having a dress code.
And, perhaps the most shocking revelation of all: Beginning in 1999, he says, he never played wearing underwear again.
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Post by Brinyi on Nov 5, 2009 13:36:43 GMT -5
FROM MTF Agassi hints he tanked games. That's a non-revelation if I ever saw one. Funny how he then tries to make it sound as though he still managed to outsmart everyone.
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Post by Bruguera's heavy balls on Nov 5, 2009 14:28:53 GMT -5
I still think he could be lying. Agassi is a much better player than Chang, and he shouldn't have been losing to Chang with those ridiculous scores at that time. In his new book he implies that he tanked against Chang, but in my opinion he had a mental breakdown after losing the USOPEN95 to Pete like the one Sabatini had when she lost to Mary Jo at the French Open in 1993 (she had been top 3 since 1988 beating Graf at least once a year and after that year she dropped out of the top 5 and couldn't even beat Conchita), or the one Coria had recently, because of his losses to Gaudio and Nadal. In 1996 Agassi was playing like shit. The only important thing he won was the gold medal, and he did that beating Ferreira, whom he super owned his whole career, and that was the match in which Ferreira got closest to beating Agassi. Agassi also lost easily against Chang at the US OPEN later that year. The nex year he dropped out of the top 100, had to play challengers, and it took him all 1998 to recover his true level. Why would Agassi have tanked against Chang? Agassi had a great h2h against Chang outside of Clay, and he also had a great record against Becker, who finally won that Australian Open. Why tanking when you are handed with such a good opportunity to win a slam? I just think he was playing like shit due to mental collapse + accumulated frustrations + personal problems edit: What I wrote about Baldy and Wayne at the Olympics is true, but it was a qf match, Baldy and Bruguera made the finals. here you can see the 1996 matches of Agassi www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Ag/A/Andre-Agassi.aspx?t=pa&y=1996&m=s&e=0#Something I just saw in that link. Why tank a semifinal against Chang when you have just beaten Courier (who owns you) in 5 sets?
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Post by R. Black on Nov 5, 2009 17:41:08 GMT -5
Yeah, it's clear he tanked several Masters Series matches in his career, but it wouldn't make sense to have tanked against Chang.
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