I have been reading up on the the Agassi hype revolving his drug abuse. I found it slightly entertaining to say the least. Please understand this: I don’t agree with drug abuse , but I don’t condone it either. To each his own.
One of the articles I have read asked the question as to why Agassi used drugs. Well there is only answer to that: Because it makes you feel good. It makes you feel that you are above the other people. It gives you a feeling of superiority, euphoria and it lifts a heavy weight from your shoulders. That’s why people use drugs on such a large scale. Yes, I included alcohol too. Simply because alcohol is a drug. A hard drug too. Even though it’s more socially accepted.
Was it really wrong to have Andre come out and tell people that he has used crystal meth? And that he wants people to learn from his mistakes? Hm, now that’s a tough question. I would say yes but I have to partially agree with Greg Couch from Tennis Fanhouse. Agassi indeed fails the trust test. And he fails it miserably. In no other interviews he shows any remorse of ever using crystal meth. Now how is he trying to make up for his past mistakes? What are we supposed to learn from his confessions? And that’s where the PR comes in: You want to know? Buy the book. They are hyping it up a lot.
One particular sentence from the article by Greg reminded me of The Godfather scene where Michael Corleone offers the Bishop 600 million dollars for shares in Immobiliare. But it only took 5 million dollars for Agassi to confess his sins. He sold himself out. A guy who has more money than he can ever spend in this lifetime. Hey, he’s got money for two or three generations. And he sold himself out. That’s shameful. Especially with the world in deep economical recession. There are lots of things that can be done with 5 million bucks! So many people that can be helped.
If he wanted to clear his soul, to confess to his sins, then why did he need be paid $5 million to do it. – Greg Couch
But it doesn’t end here.
Many players , like for instance Rafael Nadal, who are currently playing on the tour are saying that Andre’s confessions are damaging the sport.
All it shows, in my view, is the weakness of the doping checks from back then. The vulnerabilities of the system that were fully exploited. If you can get away with a silly and simple excuse like “They spiked my drink” then it only shows how easy it is to get away with drug abuse. No double checking, no extra verification, just a simple letter and you are off the hook.
Agassi admitted today that he used crystal meth for about a year or so. Or so? He doesn’t remember clearly but how do you get away with that? How many doping checks are there on an annual basis? Or did he simply write more letters to the ATP Tour saying that his assistant Slim kept changing glasses when Andre went to the bathroom or so? You know, just for fun.
Perhaps they just took a hair sample from his wig to see how much drugs there was left in his body. Who knows?
Question remains: Did the ATP Tour cover this up? Were they affraid to lose one of their main attractions ? If so then the ATP Tour as an organisation has also failed miserably and managed to singlehandedly castrate the integrity of the sport all by themselves.
The ATP however released a statement that they can’t take any responsibility for a doping case. Only an independant tribunal has that kind of power.
Reading the confessions , I think it’s good that he did what he did. It shows that he is just as vulnerable and susceptible as the next guy. He is, after all a human being and not just a poster boy for philantropy and tennis.