You too,Andre?

It goes well beyond the occasional confessional outburst. Written in the pages of his memoir Andre Agassi has done the nasty by revealing a shocking secret that he guarded for so long. That Agassi,the golden boy of tennis,an eight-time Grand Slam champion,lied about substance abuse in order to escape a ban has come as a shock to most. During his all-time low in 1997 when his career dwindled and ranking slid to 141 Agassi,urged on by his assistant,snorted the highly addictive crystal meth: a drug that would make him feel like Superman,dude. Whats more is that his actions can no longer be penalised but have raised a host of questions.

Why now? Thats the first question that pops up. Surely a pro who has amassed a small fortune through both tennis and commercial endorsements isnt in need of extra cash. Could it be merely for attention? Agassi left his mark on tennis because he was both a fantastic player and a show-stealer. Be it through his outlandish outfits,lavish hair-dos,his gratitude to his fans by air kisses or tabloid relationships Agassi commanded attention.

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Agassi,at the centre of the storm,finds himself under attack now from both the International Tennis Federation and the World Anti-Doping Agency WADA. The former head of WADA has urged authorities to take Agassis admission as a wake-up call to the ATP: The fact that one of the stars acknowledged that it is simple to beat the system tells you everything you need to know. Tennis has traditionally been lax about drug testing and Agassis revelation will speed up the changing anti-doping practice. New WADA regulations are placing the heat on players though,for instance athletes are now required to disclose their whereabouts every single day and tennis has upped the ante by testing players during out-of-competition periods as well a new practice for tennis but common in other competition sports.