Andre Agassi admits using crystal meth

[ayjay101]

In book, Agassi admits using crystal meth

NEW YORK (AP) — Andre Agassi's upcoming autobiography contains an admission that he used crystal meth in 1997, the year he dropped to No. 141 in the rankings.

In a story posted on People magazine's Web site 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."

Excerpts from the book are being printed this week by People and Sports Illustrated. A writer from SI first revealed the crystal meth reference on a Twitter posting Tuesday.

"The tweet from SI that posted earlier today which tipped to one of the revelations in the book — Agassi's use of crystal meth in 1997 — was accurate," Knopf spokesman Paul Bogaards told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Tuesday.

In the posting on People's Web site, Agassi says he "was worried for a moment, but not for long," about how fans would react if they found out he used drugs.

"I wore my heart on my sleeve and my emotions were always written on my face. I was actually excited about telling the world the whole story," Agassi says.

Among the most successful — and, without a doubt, one of the most popular — tennis players in history, Agassi won eight Grand Slam singles titles before retiring in 2006. He drew attention not just for his play, but also for his outfits, his hairstyles and his relationships with women.

Agassi's first major championship came at Wimbledon in 1992, and he won a gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. But by late 1997, Agassi dropped out of the top 100 in the rankings, and he was playing in tennis' equivalent of the minor leagues.

He resuscitated his career in 1998, making the biggest one-year jump into the top 10 in the history of the ATP rankings. The next season, he won the French Open to complete a career Grand Slam, then added a second career U.S. Open title en route to finishing 1999 at No. 1.

Knopf is publishing the book Nov. 9.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Agassi admits drug use

(UKPA) – 24 minutes ago

Eight-time grand slam winner Andre Agassi has admitted in a new book that he lied to tennis authorities about his use of crystal methamphetamine in order to escape a ban.

Agassi has revealed his use of the substance in his new autobiography 'Open' and that he received a call from a doctor working for the Association of Tennis players (ATP) in the autumn of 1997 to inform him that he had failed a drug test.

"My name, my career, everything is now on the line. Whatever I've achieved, whatever I've worked for, might soon mean nothing," Agassi wrote in his autobiography which is being serialised by The Times. "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."

He added: "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."

That year was the American's worst on tour as he failed to win a title and missed the Australian and French Opens as well as Wimbledon - and at one point had fallen to 141 in the world rankings.

The 39-year-old also recounted being introduced to the drug while sitting at his home with Slim.

"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," Agassi wrote.

"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."

Link (Associated Press)

Link 2 (Press Association)

[santiago]

some things are better unsaid, agassi is a meathead for telling this and now naturally everybody will think his 8 majors are near worthless, he was on enhancing drugs to win and his once clean reputation is now soiled.

he should of just kept it to himself, its not lying if it just stays in his brain. maybe he was about to be extorted.

see unlike ben cousins he (agassi) does not have the chance to redeem himself on the field of play, obviously some people thought cousins was good cos of the meth but he got the chance to come back and prove with the hundreds of drug tests every year that he is good straight.

agassi wont get that chance

[FancyPants]

I think he was incredibly brave to put his good name reputation on the line. I think it was great he admitted using drugs at a time in his career when he wasn't doing well, shouldn't that say more to a young player that using hard rec drugs like meth won't help you reach peak fitness? Agassi is human first, sportsman second. The people who dismiss his good reputation over a mistake at a low point of his life don't sound very charitable to me. Who hasn't made mistakes? Also if he can still use drugs and not end up in the dead/hopeless bin then that should tell people there's hope, and some mistakes don't make you a bad person forever.

[Chiral]

SOURCE

Agassi admits 'lion mane' was a wig

Former tennis star Andre Agassi has admitted the lion mane-style hairstyle he sported during the 1990s was actually a wig, in extracts from his autobiography published in British newspapers on Saturday.

Agassi said he wore a hairpiece held together with pins in his first Grand Slam final, the 1990 French Open final, and blamed his concerns that it would fall apart for losing the match to Andres Gomez.

Before the match he prayed "not for victory, but that my hairpiece would not fall off", he writes in "Open".

In previous excerpts, Agassi admitted he had used the drug crystal methamphetamine in 1997.

He said he started to wear a wig to disguise hair loss.

"Every morning I would get up and find another piece of my identity on the pillow, in the wash basin, down the plughole," he wrote.

"I asked myself: you want to wear a toupee? On the tennis court? I answered myself; what else could I do?"

But the wig began to disintegrate as he took a shower the night before the Paris final - "probably I used the wrong hair rinse," Agassi writes.

He panicked and called his brother Philly into the room. Together, they managed to clamp the wig together using clips and pins.

Agassi, 39, writes: "Of course I could have played without my hairpiece, but what would all the journalists have written if they knew that all the time I was really wearing a wig?

"During the warming-up training before play I prayed. Not for victory, but that my hairpiece would not fall off.

"With each leap, I imagine it falling into the sand. I imagine millions of spectators move closer to their TV sets, their eyes widening and, in dozens of dialects and languages, ask how Andre Agassi's hair has fallen from his head."

It was actress Brooke Shields, who he married, who persuaded him to cut off all his remaining hair.

"She said I should shave my head," he said. "It was like suggesting I should have all my teeth out.

"Nevertheless, I thought for a few days about it, about the agonies it caused me, the hypocrisy and lies."

But after taking the plunge, "a stranger stood before me in the mirror and smiled," Agassi said.

"My wig was like a chain and the ridiculously long strands in three colours like an iron ball which hung on it."

Agassi won eight grand slams during his career and is one of only six men to win all four major titles.