TENNIS:JOHN FAHEY, the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), wants the tennis authorities to explain Andre Agassi's admission he used a banned drug, crystal methamphetamine, in 1997 and escaped a suspension by blaming his positive test on a spiked drink.
Agassi, an eight-time grand slam champion, writes in Open, his autobiography, that he was introduced to crystal meth by his assistant “Slim” at a time when his form was falling and he was having doubts about his impending marriage to actress Brooke Shields.
He wrote: “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.”
Agassi said the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) reviewed his case and, while he faced a minimum three-month ban, accepted his explanation and threw it out.
Under Wada’s eight-year statute of limitations it cannot take action against Agassi and neither will the ATP, the men’s ruling professional body, which was overseeing drug testing then.
“Wada would expect the ATP to shed light on this allegation,” said Fahey.
The ATP said yesterday an independent panel made the final decision on a doping violation. “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.”
Fahey said: “We would hope that Agassi might now see his way to be a role model and alert youth and tennis players to the dangers of drug use and doping,” adding that the case showed the importance of having a body such as Wada in place to follow up on positive cases. “This ensures no doping case is swept under the carpet.”
Agassi’s revelation that he failed a dope test but then lied his way out of a ban will be seen as further evidence that tennis was and continues to be soft on drugs.
Francesco Ricci Bitti, the president of the International Tennis Federation, said yesterday: “The ITF is surprised and disappointed by the remarks made by Andre Agassi in his biography admitting substance abuse in 1997. Such comments in no way reflect the fact that the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme is currently regarded as one of the most rigorous and comprehensive anti-doping programmes in sport.
“The events in question occurred before the World Anti-Doping Agency was founded in 1999 and during the formative years of anti-doping in tennis when the programme was managed by individual governing bodies,” the Italian said.
Had Agassi not lied about the circumstances 12 years ago he would have faced a three-month ban, which have prevented him beginning his astonishing comeback in 1998, culminating in him winning the French Open the next year. If he had failed a similar test now, he would have been suspended and faced a two-year ban.
The ITF signed up to the Wada code in 2004 and a joint anti-doping programme was instigated with the ATP in 2006 and with the WTA, the women’s professional governing body, the next year.
Tennis “has come slow to the table, like most of the professional sports”, said Dick Pound, the former president of Wada. “There was certainly a long period when everybody talked the talk but nobody walked the walk.”
Martina Hingis
Hingis was in the second year of her comeback when she tested positive for cocaine during Wimbledon in 2007. She was banned for two years and quit again, vowing she wouldn’t be back. The “Swiss Miss” has always protested her innocence.
Jennifer Capriati
At 16, she won Olympic gold in 1992, but then went off the rails and was arrested for marijuana possession, playing one match on the women’s tour in two-and- a-half years. She gradually rebuilt her career and won three grand slam singles titles.
Richard Gasquet
The French man was suspended in May, pending an investigation into a failed drugs test he gave
at the Miami Masters. However, he was cleared of wrongdoing after explaining the drug had entered his system after kissing a woman at a nightclub.
Greg Rusedski
Rusedski tested positive for nandrolone in 2003. He was cleared after successfully arguing any excess levels in his system must have mistakenly been given to him by trainers employed by the Association of Tennis Professionals.
Mark Nielsen
He was banned for two years in 2006 after testing positive for finasteride, on the banned list due to its potential as a masking agent. It transpired he had been using an anti-balding medication which contained the substance. However, he was still suspended.
Mariano Puerta
In 2003, he was banned for two years, later reduced to nine months, after testing positive for clenbuterol. In 2005, he was banned for eight years, which was reduced to two years, after the cardiac stimulant etilefrine was discovered in his system.
