Andre Agassi has a new book coming out and in the book he talks about his addiction to crystal meth. He says that he only used it for about a year and that he gave it up as easily as he started. Uh huh. At one point that year he failed a drug test but blamed it all on his assistant Slim and tennis' governing body said, "ok" and let him keep playing.
"Then I come to the central lie of the letter," Agassi writes. "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."
The ATP said today that it doesn't have a policy of favoritism and that no one person could have just let him off the hook like that. It is obvious though that someone did. Tennis is a sport of individuals and if those individuals aren't playing then attendance goes down so if you are a star then you get a pass. If you are Joe Nobody and ranked 500 in the world you get suspended.
The thing is I don't actually believe Andre. I believe he used drugs in 1997, but I have a hard time believing he just used for a short time. Crystal meth is not usually the first drug someone picks up. It is way down the line after several others and it is not an easy addiction to break. I'm wondering if he is figuring that if he admits a little the rest will go away. The problem is now that people will dig and I bet they find some more.
"He says that he only used it for about a year and that he gave it up as easily as he started"
ReplyDeleteUh huh...now is that a year in "real" time or "meth" time?
And given the relapse percentage, we're supposed to believe he's been clean since '97?
When pigs fly.
Where there's meth, there's fire.....
ReplyDeletei dunno, enty, i used in college a bit, just for fun ( i know, i know) and it was easy to pick up, and just as easy to stop.
ReplyDeletebut i also agree it was the last stop in a long line of other drugs (e, lsd, coke...)
that being said, agassi doesn't strike me as a tweeker. i tend to believe him.
Canadian Snowboarder Ross Rebagliati had his Olympic gold medal stripped because of pot in the system (was later re-instated) and yet many athletes, probably most, are on roids, coke & other shit. It does seem that key players & star athletes are given a pass, but 'poorer' sports and olympic athletes are held at a higher standard.
ReplyDeleteI think it depends on the individual, some people can quit overnight while others fall off and on the wagon constantly.
ReplyDeleteBut I do agree with you Enty, I find it hard to believe that he just tried Meth, most folks I know who used, only did so after doing other drugs.
Am in complete agreement with you, Enty. His claims are utterly bizarre. Will have to read the book though to be sure.
ReplyDeleteI tried it once and never again. It is hard for me to believe he did it for a year and quit just like that, but I guess it's possible.
ReplyDeleteWhy would anyone start with meth? I am not believing him either.
ReplyDeleteway to sugarcoat, andre! how lame.
ReplyDeleteI think we now know why he and Brooke Shields divorced.
ReplyDeleteDrugs. Loser.
ReplyDeleteThe tennis governing body seems to pick and choose who gets to play among those who've tested positive. Agassi got to play after testing positive for meth, and a French tennis player got away with testing positive for coke. But Martina Hingis got banned for 2 years for a positive test for coke. She must not have had the right friends.
ReplyDeleteI HAVE ALSO WONDERED WHAT WENT WRONG WITH BROOK AND ANDRE....THE ONLY THING I REMEMBER HER SAYING IS THAT HE DIDN'T WANT KIDS....
ReplyDeleteDOES HE NEED THE MONEY FROM THE BOOK SO BADLY....PERSONALLY THIS DOESN'T SEEM LIKE A SMART MOVE...
I love celebrity tell-alls, but this guy is of no interest to me. I think he is lying. PR for his book 'cause he needs your money.
ReplyDeleteApparently he discusses why he and Brooke didn't work out - does anyone know what he wrote?
ReplyDeleteIf he was able to drop it that quickly, he wasn't addicted. Period.
forge the drugs, Enty, mofo was wearing a HAIRPIECE the whole time! that bad ass mullet was FAKE!
ReplyDeletethat's what i find intriguing!
Way to blow it Andre. No one was asking and no one needed to know. Clean or not, you're a fool.
ReplyDeletelol@mullet
ReplyDeleteI have to wonder what he is classifying his "addiction" to meth as: daily use? weekend warrior? People throw that term around a bit loosely I think.
ReplyDeleteI also have to agree with MontanaMarriott, not everyone responds to drugs or addiction the same way. Some seem to go nuts from the first try while others take a little longer to go nuts.
As a former 1-1 1/2 a pack a day smoker, I don't get people who "have to have" one or two cigarettes a day. They just can't do without them. To me, that's just fucking stupid. Quit. It's just two. If you can control yourself to just smoke two a day, then you aren't an addict-you're just being an asshole. But these people will act like they will get up on a tower with a rifle if they are denied those two little cigarettes a day. Either smoke or don't. None of this half ass stuff. It annoys the ones like me who can't do that. All or nothing.
Same with drugs. One person could have a bad experience (physically, mentally, legally whatever) and be off of them for life w/o a second thought while another could be out there selling their baby for another hit and not giving a shit. I think it has a lot to do with your genetics and your basic chemistry.
I'm not saying that he's telling the truth or that he's lying. Don't care. It's just not always so cut and dry with dope/addiction.
Now he's just some other guy who used drugs.... He could've let this go to the grave.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm not surprised about any of this, and he definitely must need the dough to let this come out now.
ReplyDeleteBetcha he lets it all ride until the press junket is done and the book sells, not bothering to parlay it into any kind of long-lasting support for rehabilitation programs or anything useful.
I can't speak to his drug use, but he's done big things with his charity in Las Vegas.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.agassifoundation.org/
I thought he and Brooke broke up because he was cheating on her with Steffi Graf?
ReplyDeleteWonder if Brooke a) knew about the meth and b) did the meth, herself?
This was a total bombshell. I tend to believe that Andre stopped using after 1997. In 1996, he was still top 5 in the world. At one point late in 1997, the one supposed year he used meth, he had dropped to #140 in the world. In 1998, he moved back up to #6, and in 1999 he won the French Open to give himself a career Grand Slam, then won the US Open later in the year. No other tennis player since Ken Rosewall and Rod Laver in the early 1970s was so highly ranked well into their 30s. His physical workouts were legendary in the tennis world.
ReplyDeleteHe started pursuing and dating Steffi in 1999, if I recall correctly. He and Brooke weren't a great personal match.
The Dude Abides has the timeline pretty much down right with the drug use it would make sense. When he was at a career low was when he was on drugs, when he was off them he moved back up again.
ReplyDeleteHe hooked up with Steffi long after he and Brooke had split.
@selenakyle - Andre is well known to be one of the most giving professional athletes thru his foundation and schools. Andy Roddick credits Agassi as the main driving force for started his foundation so young as Andre told him it was one of the most fulfilling things he has ever done. They don't need the money. I recently read an interview that places the Agassi/Graf fortune well in excess of $100mm - they have invested well.
ReplyDeleteI want to know more about the Brook Shields angle, because they were over so quickly.
ReplyDeleteI have tried drugs and cigarettes without getting addicted. Some of us are just like that. Food and sex are my vices.