Until I read the book, I'll refrain from what I really want to say. But I will say this. The comments from the tennis community didn't shock me at all. In fact, if you listed the quotes by themselves, it would have been quote easy to figure out who said what. From ever the diplomat Roger, to miss perenially nice and always seeing the glass filled to the brim Mary Joe, Serena's totally self absorbed comment !), to the I can't believe she outdid herself again and stuck her big fat effin foot in her mouth again Martina (can someone PLEASE permanently shut her up!)

Roger Federer: "It was a shock when I heard the news. I am disappointed and I hope there are no more such cases in future."

Rafael Nadal: "If the ATP covered for Agassi then I think that's dreadful. If they covered for the player and punished others for doing the same kind of thing then that would seem to me to be a lack of respect for all sportsmen ... Now that he is retired, he comes out and says this? It's a way of senselessly damaging the sport."

Serena Williams: "I don't even know what crystal meth is, so, you know, that's what my reaction to it is ... I haven't read anything about Andre Agassi's book. All I know is I have a book coming out. It's called 'On The Line'". [That's gold. -- ed.]

Venus Williams: "I'm sure his book will sell. But I can't say anything about Andre Agassi's life."

Andy Roddick: "Andre is and always will be my idol. I will judge him on how he has treated me and how he has changed the world for (the) better."

Former coach Nick Bollettieri: "I don't condone what he did - I've made mistakes too, but I've done more good than bad ... Let's look at what Andre has done, he funds a school for 400 kids from the inner-city. I know underneath he's a hell of guy."

U.S. Federation Cup captain Mary Joe Fernandez: "It takes a lot of guts and courage to come out and say something that nobody would have really known about. Maybe people can learn from it and not make the same mistakes."

Martina Navratilova: "Shocking. Not as much shock that he did it as shock he lied about it and didn't own up to it. He's up there with Roger Clemens, as far as I'm concerned. He owned up to it (in the book), but it doesn't help now ... Andre lied and got away with it. You can't correct that now. Do you take away a title he wouldn't have won if he had been suspended? He beat some people when he should have been suspended."

There is always a double standard when it comes to stars, whether sport, movies, music etc.

Everytime a movie star gets caught snorting cocaine the sentence is probation with treatment at a spa. The average shmo gets a stretch in Attica.

The only person I feel bad for in this whole mess is Integrity, this sites biggest Agassi fan...Wonder what she's thinking now....

Someone, Scoop, Redhead..pitch a book proposal to Perry Rogers, he's the guy that knows the whole story

Firstly, I am impressed by Nadal's comment about Agassi. It seemed very knowledgeable and sensible. He has a remarkable level of common sense and decency to him.

Second, Hairload, the only way a Perry Rogers book is going to sell is if Rogers really had some damaging or shocking comments to say about Agassi. The number of people who know who Perry Rogers is in the US couldn't fill a tennis court. This is not like Brian McNamara writing a book and I don't think he's written one.

Rogers' suit against Graf isn't going to court.  It was settled out of court in December last year as reported in the media at the time. They seem to have disentangled their affairs fairly smoothly since then.  Jon Weitherm's column on cnnsi noted the book doesn't talk about their split but he obviously isnt out to settle scores with Rogers in it either so perhaps they've put them behind them

Rogers' suit against Graf isn't going to court.  It was settled out of court in December last year as reported in the media at the time. They seem to have disentangled their affairs fairly smoothly since then.  Jon Weitherm's column on cnnsi noted the book doesn't talk about their split but he obviously isnt out to settle scores with Rogers in it either so perhaps they've put them behind them.

Sorry for the double post - clicked the button twice.

 Nadal - he was complaining a storm about the current drug testing being too invasive before he started complaining about Agassi... 

Rafael Nadal: "If the ATP covered for Agassi then I think that's dreadful. If they covered for the player and punished others for doing the same kind of thing then that would seem to me to be a lack of respect for all sportsmen ... Now that he is retired, he comes out and says this? It's a way of senselessly damaging the sport."

Red I agree, this was a very classy and courageous thing to say by Nadal about Agassi , Nadal reminds us that the sport is bigger and more important than ANY of the players. Nadal respects that. Nadal's comments also put to rest, IMO, any suspicions that he is using performance enhancing drugs. 

Dobey:

Andre was an enormous star in the mid 1990s and his ego went along for the ride. That ego was on full display in the letter he sent to Nick Bolitieri when Andre fired Nick. Nick published the letter in the book that the late *** Schap ghostwrote for him. In the letter, which Andre intended as a private letter, Andre treats Nick the way a rock star treats a roadie. Andre was filled with contempt for Nick in the letter and made a point of telling Nick that Nick was merely a tennis teacher while he (Andre) was a big tennis star with a worldwide following. I have no idea of the financial issues between the two of them and maybe Nick was trying to take a bigger share of the Andre pie than Nick deserved. But whatever the case, nobody should treat another person so contemptuously. I prefer the Aussie style. The guys like Rafter and Laver and Stolle and Newcombe would play their guts out on the court but they would leave it on the court. None of the Aussies ever develops one of those "I am richer and better" attitudes. Maybe that is why Aussies are such friendly blokes. 

Love Rafter, but you may want to amend that to "some" Aussies,....do you know a a player called Lleyton Hewitt? Or for that matter the one that just got sanctioned for racist comments?  I think "some Aussies" would be better!

Before I get hate mail...I actually like Lleyton...or at least lots of things about him and his game.

I am still processing my reaction. I may not post a ton, but Integrity may or may not be Agassi's biggest fan!....although the news is not necessarily shocking or surprising to me, I am still disturbed by some things.......the main one being the way it was covered up.  It does call into question so many things for me.  Those who do read my posts know how I felt about Canas, right or wrong, and a few other situations. 

 I have always doubted the fairness of the drug testing policy and totally understand that many, many things are tied to how "popular" the player is....including media coverage and media, bias...and yes, darn it, the scheduling at tournaments!

 I'm still processing this, but this will not change the way I feel about his charitable contributions.

I was thinking about the older generation of Aussies when I posted: Laver, Newk, Stolle, Emmo and later the two Patricks, Cash and Rafter. I had forgotten about Lleyton. I don't have any use for his comments in the 2001 match with Blake. The linesman in that match was not motivated by race. The guy was just a busybody.

But back to Andre. Back in 1995, Boris Becker upset Andre in the WImby semifinals. After the match, Boris had a number of uncharitable things to say about Andre. Maybe it was just sour grapes because Andre had beaten Boris regularly for many years and Boris may have been waiting for a chance to blow off steam. But maybe, just maybe, Boris knew something about Andre's personality when Boris made the remarks. Might be interesting to get Boris's reaction to the current furor over the Andre admissions.

If the tennis authorties treated Andre differently than they did to Korda (who was a superb player but not a guy who could sell tickets) then something is terribly wrong with the system. 

Rafa is a much classier person than Andre was. They are both sensational tennis players although I think that had they played when both men were in their primes (Rafa 07 08, Andre 1995), that Rafa would have won the majority of their matches.

But as a person, Rafa is impossible to root against. I recall his comments after thrashing Federer in the 2008 French Open. Instead of crowing, Rafa said simply: "I played unbelievable and Roger didn't play the way he usually does". No crowing or boasting.

If Andre was foolish enough to use meth, than that shows that he is kind of stupid. Andre was around when Len Bias ingested cocaine and it killed Bias. For those who don't remember Len Bias, put him into youtube and you will see a guy who would have been better than Jordan. I don't know if meth has the same toxic qualities that cocaine can have but Andre did not know either when he ingested it. For someone of his incredible talent and athletic skill to risk throwing it away for a 10 minute high is completely idiotic.

One question for people on the board to ponder: What is worse: 1) Taking steroids the way Petr Korda allegedly did, which strengthens one's muscles and thus makes him stronger and gives him better stamina during a long match ( and giving Korda an unfair edge in the 1997 5 setter with Sampras at the US Open) or 2) taking meth, which is illegal but could not have helped Andre in his tennis matches since he did not do meth before any of his matches?

I am not sure of the answer to the above but I am glad that tennis has great ambassadors now like Rafa and Roger and also Andy Roddick.