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associated press file
Andre Agassi speaks after a loss at the 1997 U.S. Open in New York. His autobiography contains an admission that he used crystal meth that year.
Andre Agassi arrives at the 14th annual Andre Agassi Foundation for Education's Grand Slam for Children benefit at Wynn Las Vegas.
Even a week ago, considering Andre Agassi as a spokesman fighting the battle against the dangers of methamphetamine use made about as much sense as expecting him to teach a bocce lesson. But the climate around Agassi swiftly changed this week as details have poured out of his book “Open” that he used crystal meth in 1997, the year after he’d won a gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta. That also was the year Agassi mystified the tennis world by falling to No. 141 in the world rankings.
Agassi says in the book, written by Pulitzer Prize winner J.R. Moehringer and to be released Wednesday, that he used the drug dozens of times that year and escaped a doping suspension for a positive test by writing a letter to ATP tour officials that he unwittingly ingested the drug by drinking a soda spiked with meth by his assistant, Slim. (The mishandling of the test has prompted action by the World Anti-Doping Agency, which is asking the ATP tour to explain how Agassi tested positive for meth, yet was never punished). The account from the book, as reported by the London-based Times: “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.”
Speaking to his past use of the highly addictive and readily obtainable drug, Agassi is quoted in the new issue of People magazine as saying, “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.”
But Agassi could actually serve (an ace, if you need a more overt tennis term) as an example of how anyone can fall pretty to the destructive nature of methamphetamine, says Nevada first lady Dawn Gibbons, who in January 2007 launched the Crystal Darkness program to fight methamphetamine abuse and has seen that program expand across 27 states and Mexico.
The first lady, whose acrimonious divorce case with Gov. Jim Gibbons goes to trial in December, remains a member of Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto’s Governor’s Working Group on Methamphetamine Use. Thus, she was eager to speak about Agassi’s out-of-left-field disclosure.
“It’s huge. It’s shocking, but it is also very courageous,” Gibbons said today during a phone conversation from Carson City. “I’m still in shock about it. It makes you realize how horrible the problem is. It’s a very positive sign, a gift really, if you think of how by writing it in his memoir, he might help a lot more people. He would be a great speaker on this issue.”
Would she consider actually reaching out to Agassi to assume that role?
“Absolutely,” Gibbons said. “People love him. He’s done so many good things with his life. He’s got great credibility. People will be able to connect even more now that he’s had a crisis of his own. … If it can happen to him, it can happen to anyone in our family.”
Gibbons reminded that, “President Clinton declared that methamphetamine was the worst drug problem in our nation, and we need to do everything in our power to fight it. Nobody paid attention. Then President Obama said recently that it would be the No. 1 addiction worldwide within five years, so it’s incumbent on us to continue to wage a campaign against it.”
How open Agassi would be to accepting such a responsibility is open to question, of course, given how long ago his admitted use occurred. Regardless, Gibbons says, “I admire him for coming forward. He could be so effective in helping people.”
Political aspirations damaged?
As recently as last month, at his 14th Annual Grand Slam for Children benefit at Wynn Las Vegas, Agassi reiterated his interest in someday running for public office -- but not today. In a conversation today with someone who, as they say, forgets more about politics than I’ll ever know, I asked how the drug disclosure in “Open” would affect Agassi’s political aspirations. One school of thought is that he might have achieved what Obama managed in disclosing past drug use in his own memoirs, inoculating himself from any disclosures during campaigns for public office by simply pointing to his own written accounts. But I was told that campaign managers would not treat Agassi’s case in the same hands-off way, as the tennis star was long past his formative, experimental teenage years during the period he admits using recreational drugs. The fact that Agassi -- admittedly -- lied to his sport’s governing body about the transgression to avoid penalty could make a powerful campaign ad. As this person said, it is very early to predict how it would play out, but added that an opposing operative would have no problem using the book’s more damning drug disclosures against Agassi.
Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats.
Indeed, what an inspiration -- looking forward to auditioning some myself.
Hey Andre where do you pick this meth stuff up at?
: )
It's true that Agassi was well past his teenage years. But you have to keep in mind that he had an extremely dysfunctional childhood. Like many tennis players, he was essentially bred to play the sport; from a young age, he was pushed too hard. Once he was on the tour, he was truly in an Alice-in-Wonderland situation, with ridiculous amounts of media attention. I still remember the first photo I saw of Agassi, in Tennis magazine; the photo wasn't of him on a tennis court, but of him blow-drying his hair. I think he was 15 at the time. By the time he won his first U.S. tournament, the commentators were already gushing about him. It's no surprise that he matured a little late.
Agassi has turned out to be an outstanding philanthropist and Nevada's best representative to the world. I haven't read his book yet, but nothing in it will take anything away from the respect I have for the man now.
Agassi is truly a hero. So what if he fell to his knees for a minute. He came back stronger.
I have yet to meet anyone who has had a perfect life that never fell, and I hope I never do.
Falling is a humbling experience. Getting back up is that of which heroes are made.
He's not ADDICTED to anything, and he did not ABUSE anything.
We recognize Andre Agassi and Dawn Gibbons as championing children's rights in Clark County even though the county is bankrupt due to the insurmountable lawsuits.
We hope to see Mr. Agassi and Ms. Gibbons team up with Bill Gates who is currently championing the victims of Clark County's children's wrongful deaths. These deaths increased 200% the first six months of this year.
We hope one of their first tasks will be to tackle the millions in falsified arrest warrants acknowledged in testimony yesterday by LVMPD. These false arrests are directly affecting the welfare of Clark county children. YOUR RIGHT!
When will old school thought die!!! Old style Politics is over...the voters are changing....we accept that people make mistakes at any age....We would vote for him....give me a break...
tweaker on the court - sly dog just like the rest of the legal profession in Vegas especially metro- cruising the ether on crystal meth-
smoking anti-histamines - guilty bugga glad it wasn't that evil tobacco
Everyone has problems. Even those who appear perfect to the outside world. I completely respect Agassi for admitting to this fault. Unlike most celebrities who admit to a failing only when being squeezed or in attempt to gain something by the disclosure, Agassi had nothing to gain here except the clearing of his own conscience. I'm willing to give Agassi a pass, and my feeling is that most other people will be also.
Is he really so noble with his admission?
Without the meth who would give a rats a** about his autobiography? Now he will make millions in book sales.
That last comment is just wrong. This book release was getting plenty of attention even before the meth story came out. For sports fans, the book will be a must-read. Agassi played during an amazing era in men's tennis; just look at all the great players he went up against. In his early years he dueled with McEnroe, Connors, Edberg, Becker, Lendl and Wilander. Then he had the great rivalry with Sampras. And at the end, he faced off against Federer and Nadal. All of those opponents were world-class champions. To be honest, I used to root for some of them against Andre. But still, I had great respect for Agassi's abilities. I've seen a lot of tennis matches, and I've never seen anyone return serves the way Agassi did when he won Wimbledon in '92.
I'll read the book because I like tennis. But plenty of people who didn't care about tennis cared about Andre. He was certainly one of the most famous people in the world in the '90s.
I want to amend my earlier comment. I don't think Agassi used meth because of immaturity. But I suspect that he was still finding his way in life. Now that he's found it, we should all be grateful. His prep school is a great achievement; it's given a lot of kids a shot at life that they wouldn't have had otherwise.
Fellow Idiots - Dysfunctional? This is an absurd term on its face. Name one funtional person or family. Perhaps your bank is functional or your local gas station. Can't name one because no one knows the interiors of the closets which we all have. This is mearly an easy way to say somebody did something wrong, right, as a justification? Oh, Squeekie came from a dysfunctional family of hobos or maybe the family who murdered Sharon Tate was dysfunctional - the Manson family, right? Family is a conditional term, too. I will now hope to be successful when calling my employer for missing a day at the office by simply saying 'my family and friends are being dysfunctional this morning and I cannot attend work.' This will work if my employer accepts the term dysfunctional. A better term is ' the human condition.' Something like this - I can't work today due to my human condition - the details are available if you want to know the low down and dirty. Thank You
fosimmons : It is well documented that people with dysfunctional upbringings, and having to try and grow up with systematic chaos every day of their life, definitely causes them to turn to liquor and/or drug abuse to numb out the pain and tension associated with that upbringing. You can call everyone "Fellow Idiots", but perhaps if this affliction happened to you growing up, you might have some sympathy for others. Lynette Squeeky Frohme never murdered anyone by the way.. She pulled an unloaded gun on then Pres. Ford for shock value and attention to her issues of environmental pollution.
I would like to amend the comment, "He's not ADDICTED to anything, and he did not ABUSE anything." made by rejco100. The DSM-IV or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders created by the American Psychiatric Association defines ABUSE as: any use of an illegal substance or medication not perscribed which results in negative impact to the user's life. From the very limited amount of specific drug use information this article provides ABUSE is warrented due to his significant drop in rank, but does not give evidance of DEPENDENCY.
If this was a tennis match he would still be a winner !!!