Fault: Andre Agassi's Meth Confession

2 years ago

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Ridiculously, I feel betrayed by tennis star Andre Agassi's admission in his new autobiography that he used crystal methamphetamine in 1997, when his career was in the tank.

The book, "Open," doesn't come out until next month, but is being excerpted in The Times of London Wednesday and Thursday. In his book, Agassi reveals that he took the drug in his home with his assistant, and then lied to the Association of Tennis Professionals about it to protect his career.

I'm not even sure why I feel bad. For most of the years that he played I never even liked Agassi -- I was a "Pistol" Pete Sampras girl through and through. Agassi's long, dirty blond hair gave me the heebie jeebies, I rolled my eyes at the earring, I laughed at his stone-washed denim tennis shorts and the blousy warm-up jackets.

Then, of course, there was the thing -- whatever it was -- with Barbra Streisand, and the failed celebrity marriage to Brooke Shields.

But then my attitude started to change, maybe around the time he started shaving his head in the mid-90s. After sinking to No. 141 in the ATP rankings in 1997 (around the time he admit to snorting the meth) Agassi clawed his way back to the top 10 in 1998 and then won the French Open in 1999 -- the one Grand Slam championship that had until then eluded him. It was a champion effort, especially the final match, when Agassi made a comeback from two sets down against Ukrainian Andriy Medvedev.

Coincidentally, 1999 was the same year that Steffi Graf won the French Open women's championship. The two began dating, and married in 2001 (they have a son and a daughter). Even before retiring in 2006, Agassi had turned to philanthropy, using the wealth he accumulated from tennis to open a college preparatory school for underprivileged kids in Las Vegas and to work toward improving public education. Earlier this year, the school celebrated its first graduating class.

Perhaps you've seen that Longines commercial that helps promote the school -- the one that features Agassi as a bus driver and the uniformed schoolchildren saying such lines as "I learn respect." "I learn responsibility." "I learn effort." I wonder what the students of the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy will feel when they learn of their hero's lapse.

Look, naïve as I remain, despite my advancing years, I know that no one is perfect -- least of all celebrity athletes. In all, Agassi won eight Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold medal in tennis. That's an astonishing achievement. Now comes this regretful black mark. I guess I hope that, having confessed his sins, he feels better now, but I'm not sure I do.

Note to Roger and Rafa: If there are skeletons in your closets, please consider keeping them to yourselves.

Filed Under: Scandal, Woman Up, Culture

Tagged: andre agassi, AndreAgassi, Pete Sampras, PeteSampras, Steffi Graf, SteffiGraf

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