Andre Agassi has played his cards well. The eight-time Grand Slam champion has timed his confessions as sweetly as the backhand returns that felled the likes of Pete Sampras during his playing days.
Andre Agassi has played his cards well. The eight-time Grand Slam champion has timed his confessions as sweetly as the backhand returns that felled the likes of Pete Sampras during his playing days. Despite the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) thundering on Sunday that it wants to reopen the case and launch an investigation, the tennis governing body has virtually ruled out such a move.
According to the International Tennis Federation (ITF), it would be very difficult to prosecute the American due to a number of reasons. “It would have been difficult even if he was still playing,” an ITF official told DNA over the phone from London on Monday.
“Not only is the case outside the statute of limitations due to the eight-year bar, we cannot put someone on trial — who has since retired — based on laws which were not even formed when the supposed offense took place,” he added.
The ITF’s statement is significant since it manages dope testing at just about every tennis tournament, including the Grand Slams and all ATP-sanctioned events.
Following Agassi’s admission in his soon-to-be-published autobiography that he had lied to the ATP after taking crystal meth and failing a drug test in 1997, the WADA has since said that “the Agassi issue is not dead yet.”
WADA director general David Howman said on Sunday that “if he’s lied, and confessed he lied, so he’s obviously lied under oath. That warrants further investigation to see whether there might be any other charges.”
But the ITF sees no such developments. “The incident happened before the WADA was formed in 1999 and when the dope-related offenses were managed by the ATP. So it’s extremely unlikely that this particular case would be reopened,” it said.
The ITF, however, feels the Agassi incident has proved once again the need to have a foolproof system in place. “After the incidents involving Richard Gasquet and Mariano Puerta, the anti-doping law has been tightened up (both players claimed they had inadvertently swallowed the drug).
“The ITF believes it is the player’s responsibility to ensure that the illegal substance does not enter his body,” the official said. The ATP, meanwhile, stayed steadfast on its policy of not commenting on the contentious issue.
In an emailed statement to this newspaper, Nicola Arzani, ATP senior vice-president, said: “Under the tennis anti-doping programme...an independent panel makes a decision. The ATP has always followed this rule and no executive at the ATP has therefore had the authority or ability to decide the outcome.
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