What's Andre Agassi's dark secret? He used drugs, specifically crystal meth, back in 1997. So the tennis star says in his new book, "Open: An Autobiography" which hits the shelves on November 9th (order here).
In a tweet he has since deleted, a Sport Illustrated employee let the cat out of the bag on Tuesday morning.
@richarddeitsch: Book excerpt from Andre Agassi in the forthcoming SI: He admits to taking crystal meth during his career.
Andre Agassi also lied to tennis officials when he failed a drug test.
According to an excerpt from the book that was published Wednesday in The Times of London, Agassi writes that he wrote a letter to the ATP tour to explain the positive test results. In the letter he claimed that he inadvertently drank from a soda spiked with crystal meth by "Slim," his assistant.
Agassi writes:
"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, Agassi's letter, accepted his explanation and threw it out. The tour responded with a statement of its own on Wednesday.
"It has always been ATP policy not to comment on anti-doping test results unless and until an anti-doping violation has occurred. Under the tennis anti-doping program it is, and has always been, an independent panel that makes a decision on whether a doping violation has been found. 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."
Agassi is married to tennis star Steffi Graf and together they have two children. He retired from tennis in 2006.
Excerpts from "Open: An Autobiography" are being published this week in the London newspaper, Sports Illustrated, and People magazine.
In a story on People's website posted on Tuesday, Agassi says: "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."
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- Agassi Used Crystal Meth During Tennis Career (news.sky.com)
- Agassi admits using crystal meth (cnn.com)
- Andre Agassi, METH User: Book Admits Crystal Meth Drug Habit (huffingtonpost.com)
- Agassi Admits Using Crystal Meth in Autobiography (abcnews.go.com)
- Report: Andre Agassi book says he used crystal meth (sports.espn.go.com)
- Agassi used crystal meth, book reportedly says (nbcsports.msnbc.com)
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