"He cuts it, snorts it. He cuts it again. I snort some."

In a shocking revelation in his soon-to-be-released autobiography entitled "Open" next month, Andre Agassi, the only man to have won all four Grand Slam singles title and the Olympic men's singles gold medal in his career, admitted to regularly using crystal meth and knowingly lied about it to the authorities to escape a ban.

It was a time when his ranking was free-falling to the lowest point in his career.

He was enduring the worst year of his professional career in 1997 as he struggled with a wrist injury, and his world ranking had plummeted to an all-time low of No. 141 that November.
Excerpts from Agassi's soul-searching autobiography Open, published in advance of its release on November 9 also tell how he secretly hated playing tennis, and as a boy lived in fear of his father's violent temper.

Incredibly, Agassi also admitted to being notified by the ATP of a failed drug test and in response, writing a personal letter to explain that it had been accidental ingestion and pleaded for understanding and leniency.

But it was all a lie…a cover-up, he reveals in his book.

Agassi was just seen last weekend at the Macau Venetian playing old foe Pete Sampras in an exhibition, which he lost in a third set super-tiebreak.

The opening act featured two upcoming teenagers, Ryan Harrison and Yuki Bhambri.

The release of "Open", which comes hot on the heels of the Macau exhibition, would naturally make anyone suspect of the timing of it all.

However, more bewildering is the notion that the eight-time Grand Slam champion, who is married to Steffi Graf, arguably one of the best women's tennis players that ever played the game, would be doing all this for a few extra bucks that he doesn't need.

Agassi wrote in his autobiography: "Then comes a tidal wave of euphoria that sweeps away every negative thought in my head. I've never felt so alive, so hopeful - and I've never felt such energy."

This self-confession can only tarnish his reputation and on the surface seems more damage, rather than good, will come out of this episode.

But the irony to all this is that if crystal meth is not performance-enhancing, i.e. a recreational drug, then taking it should, in theory, impair rather than improve one's on-court performance, no?

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Read more:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1223679/How-did-Andre-Agassi-away-taking-drugs.html#ixzz0VHHMeCUZ

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jonathanoverend/2009/10/agassi_confession_lengthens_sh.html#jump_more