Time now to ask sampras what he thinks!!!

Yes indeed, Homos!

boris becker?
the man who couldnt keep it in his pants, who disrespects women, marriage, who evaded the tax man and kept it quiet so he didnt have to pay thousands of pounds, and almost went to prison for it....who got caught out in the broom cupboard when he passed a note to a waitress from the restaurant he was eating at, and fancied dessert?....the man who allegedly hit his wife, model...barbara...the man who now points the finger at andre agassi? the man who wrote his own autobiography aptly titled: the player.....this is a joke....and he.....a tennis player... a role model of epic proportions....who brings the game of tennis into disrepute with his own peccadilloes...his comments are a joke...time heals....but its great that becker has come out to include all of the above in a short sentence....'I'm the last person to throw stones.....' Yes....that's right....you are....
a short extract from his autobiography: the player:

After losing his last match at Wimbledon to Pat Rafter, he set out on a night of binge drinking which culminated in the infamous Nobu broom cupboard incident. As a result, his high-profile marriage to model Barbara Feltus broke up in an equally high-profile divorce. He was back in court again soon afterwards with tax problems. Now, for the first time, Becker will tell his story in his own words. A sporting genius with a turbulent personal life, his book will entrance his legions of fans the world over. Game, set and match ...

oh....just another little thing that becker missed out......he denied he had a child with his friend from the broom cupboard....he denied the child was his...even though she was a reflection of him.....she had to get a forced paternity test from becker before he finally admitted he was the father....yes..he truly is the pinnacle... of grace and integrity.....

malty, malty: once again I agree with every word, what IS going on!? Only thing you left out was how deeply in love with himself he is...

deuce...who knows?....but r-e-a-l-l-y...to have becker quoted above saying what he said...he needs to a dose of smelling salts...he needs to really get over himself.....becker... who lied to the tax man to save his own skin.....who lied to the friend from the broom cupboard that he was the father...who lied to his wife that he was having affairs (p-l-u-r-a-l).....is just ludicrous.....agassi didnt cheat...to win his games....he worked hard for his slams.....he should be ashamed of himself for lying to the ATP...that was the thing that sticks out....b-u-t...only he can put that right.....have you seen his video link deuce? go see it...its worth watching....

you are missing the point! tennis had the reputaion of being a clean sport but some how he did come out with this confession, if it proves one thing not only waking up players ar 7 am but actually do punish them when they get cought!

how am i missing the point tennislover?

If becker is coming out saying 'how puzzled he is'...by agassi's admission.....and that he should have kept it to himself....as well as this.....'"I'm really surprised that he would want to discuss such a private part of his life, to talk about such a bad period in his life....' what gives becker the right to criticise agassi...when becker sold his story to the world...about his sexual prowess....who is becker to criticise? plus tennislover, have found this...please read...the full article is by michael menshaw, printed today....and i had no idea that borg was on cocaine? did you? honestly...this is all making me feel really strange.......mats wilander as well?

In various books, player memoirs and investigative articles, it has been alleged that Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Vitas Gerulaitas and Pat Cash, winners of a combined total of 20 Grand Slam titles, used cocaine in the ?70s and early ?80s. During a comeback in the early ?90s, Mats Wilander tested positive, along with Karel Novacek, for cocaine, adding Wilander?s seven Grand Slam titles to the legacy of ?the coke generation.?

Some apologists argue that cocaine is a recreational drug, not a performance enhancer. But it?s a stimulant, and that?s why tennis banned it. Other drugs ? heroin, ecstasy and a host of other party pills ? are not penalized. Unlike other pro sports, tennis seems to have no interest in cracking down on non-performance-enhancing substances, which are both dangerous and illegal. That is, dangerous not just because of potential side effects, but because they force buyers to associate with criminals, opening them up to blackmail. (Think of this in relation to last year?s scandal about betting and match-fixing on the tour.)
By the time the news about cocaine use in tennis broke, the game had more powerful performance enhancers to worry about. Anabolic steroids, human growth hormones, EPO and a witch?s brew of powerful elixirs hit the black market. Aussie Open champ Czech Petr Korda tested positive, as did a gaggle of other Europeans ? Stefan Koubek, Karol Beck, Filippo Volandri ? and Argentineans Juan Ignacio Chela, Guillermo Canas, Guillermo Coria and Mariano Puerta. The latter two made it to the French Open finals after serving suspensions for drug use. At Roland Garros in ?05, Puerta had the dubious distinction of testing positive a second time and receiving a career-ending suspension.

As tennis continued to award itself a badge of merit for its drug program, Steffi Graf startled a French Open press conference in ?94 by announcing that she had never been tested for drugs and that she suspected other women were bulking up on steroids. Subsequently, Gabriela Sabatini threatened legal action when her name kept cropping up in reports about steroid use.

Then in ?96, Boris Becker speculated that the hyperactive Austrian Thomas Muster must be on something ? and the good German got disciplined for his injudicious remarks. Sticking to its policy of punishing the messenger, tennis authorities also cracked down hard in ?02 on Frenchman Nicholas Escude, who said, just as Noah had done 20 years earlier, that it was obvious when players were juiced. All you had to do was look at their bodies and their eyes. Moreover, Escude charged that some players had tested positive, but the ATP wasn?t revealing the results.

Dismissed at first as a pop-off with no basis for his accusations, Escude was vindicated when it was belatedly revealed that between August ?02 and May ?03 seven players had tested positive for nandrolone and 53 others had showed elevated traces for nandrolone or its precursors. Only one of these players was identified ? Bodhan Ulirach of the Czech Republic ? and he was suspended for two years.

But when a second player came before the tribunal, he argued that he had taken electrolyte replacement pills provided by ATP trainers. Submitting two dozen legal affidavits, the player contended that the electrolyte tablets must have been contaminated with nandrolone. The other players who had tested positive promptly adopted the same defense.

Normally, under the ATP?s policy of strict liability, a player is responsible for whatever is in his system. Even if he ingests a banned substance unknowingly, he is penalized ? although the penalty may be reduced if there are extenuating circumstances. But in this instance, because the ATP might have supplied contaminated supplements, the burden of proof switched, and players maintained that it was up to the ATP to prove that the pills weren?t tainted.

The ATP had been offering these products at tournaments for over 20 years with no problems and no complaints. Even so, it analyzed 500 tablets that were believed to have been available at a tournament where positive or elevated tests had occurred. No contaminants were discovered. Then the ATP submitted the remaining jars in its possession for further analysis. Representative samples from these jars revealed no contamination. In short, there was never any scientific proof that the ATP electrolytes were contaminated and no evidence that the players in question had consumed them.

Yet under the legal principle of equitable estoppel, the ATP couldn?t enforce its anti-doping rules unless it was willing to undertake a ruinously expensive court action. As a consequence, Ulirach was retroactively pardoned, even though he had never previously cited electrolyte replacements as a factor in his positive test. The cases against the other six players were dropped.

tennislover......do you know who these 6 anonymous, high profile players were..........???

well i hope our guy is not one of them , as a start
i like it when a fan of the sport has all the infos just this issue has rasied at the begining of the year by Nadal and Murray when they talked about the difficulties about the system,but now you just figure out even with a strict system there have been question of actualy implementing the system!
did you hear any rumores about the names involved in the case you have mentioned?

Yes. Let's speculate about which other players might be doping. AWESOME! Thanks Andre!

ok make a guess? i have one

cheryl...the article i posted was from michael menshaw...N-O-T..Andre Agassi....secondly.....the article pretty much focuses on the players who took banned substances....knew they took substances..but got away with it..between 2002-2003...

'Escude was vindicated when it was belatedly revealed that between August ?02 and May ?03 seven players had tested positive for nandrolone and 53 others had showed elevated traces for nandrolone or its precursors. Only one of these players was identified ? Bodhan Ulirach of the Czech Republic ? and he was suspended for two years....'

cheryl...did you know that borg had taken cocaine? am too young to remember way back then......i mean...if he did...does that mean now that we no longer consider bjorn borg..one of the greats?

tennislover....no...i only found this article today when i was looking for 'drug cheats'...it came up and thought it was an interesting read...so thought i would share....

I KNOW the article isn't by Andre. But its because of him that you posted it in the first place, no?

Yes, I am aware that Bjorn Borg used cocaine. I am also aware that he engaged in...compromising behavior while partying at Studio 54.

Agassi's meth use is not why his legacy is in jeopardy. You know this.

actually cheryl...it wasnt...and its up to you whether you believe me or not...if you refer to what the thread is about and you read the article that i posted....becker made a comment about muster.....that was the link..you obviously missed it....
i posted the article to prove a point about the article from becker...that there are many other players out there that have done worse than agassi...and got away with it..... and that becker has got a cheek to say what he said.....simple as that....

also...i had no idea about borg...so now...i have learnt something...plus....are you saying that as you know about borg's misdemenour....that borg is now not one of the greats?......and what was the.... compromising behaviour at Studio 54?

Everyone views and the way they look at people are different.but as for me and a lot of other tennis fans i know...Agassi will from now on be looked at as a Crystal meth user and a pill taker that he admitted using for a period of time.
(The lying to the ATP is only part of his problem )and that to some is more than enough to tarnish his legacy.

obviously all come down to being young and wealthy which make them go for the forbbiden areas : remember phillips? he was pictured now you are talking about Borg? i dont think Becker personal buisness had anything with his game,yet,in Agaasi story he is not the star ATP is the star,the fact they knew and they let him go with it : did you hear Nadal's responce: he said if ATP let SOME player un punished and others were punished that would indicates lack of respect for all the sportmen , the guy has a point if Becker wasnt dating on court and if Borg never did a compromising behavior on court then ATP wouldnt have any buisness with them while in Agassi the had.
i bet from now on no body will object on the anti dopping system

It is worth noting that Borg retired before dope testing started in tennis, so no tarnish on his record, he never tested positive, because he was never tested, and he won a case in Sweden against an allegation that he took drugs.

History of drug-testing in tennis

· Drug testing conducted by the Men?s Tennis Council began in the late 1980s and focused on recreational drugs.

· When the ATP Tour was formed in 1990, the governing body of the men?s professional tennis circuit extended the testing to include performance-enhancing drugs.

· The ITF and WTA Tour also had comprehensive anti-doping Programmes, and in 1993 the three bodies created a joint anti-doping Programme that covered the whole of tennis.

· In 2006 the ITF assumed responsibility for the management, administration and enforcement of the Programme at ATP-sanctioned events.

· In 2007 the ITF assumed responsibility for anti-doping matters at WTA-sanctioned events, leading to a unified Tennis Anti-Doping Programme applying across all tennis events.

Borg retired in 1983 -

Pulling away from the world of tennis, he divorced his wife, Mariana, in 1984, and grew estranged from coach-mentor Lennart Bergelin. In 1985 he had a son, Robin, with the Swedish model Jannike Bjorling, but the pair never married. Although they initially agreed to share custody of the child, when Borg took up with Italian rock star Loredana Berte in 1988, Bjorling had a change of heart. Not only did she wage a custody battle, but Bjorling told a Swedish magazine that the tennis star had abused cocaine during their relationship. Borg denied any drug use, sued the magazine for defamation, and won.

Read more: http://sports.jrank.org/pages/552/Borg-Bjorn-Retired-at-Age-26.html#ix zz0VY0ltTLj

malteser, I actually believe that Becker has a stand to make those comments because his private life may be crap BUT he never did anything to hurt the integrity of tennis. The point really was not that Andre took crystal meth, but the fact that he lied AND ATP HELPED him lie and cover it up (as Cheryl had said in her blog).

Becker's life is terrible and he is no poster boy, yes, but he never had a hand in casting doubt over the cleanliness of tennis or the trustworthiness of the ATP. Andre with his confession ruined all of that. I'm sorry but any respect I have lost for him comes from the fact that he pointed fingers at Slim, made tennis lose its integrity and created speculation for "who's done what" among today's players.

And that is going to go on. People will wonder how shady and dodgy ATP really was (is), how far are they willing to go to protect top players. And it is by this that Roger, Rafa, Nole etc will be affected, because THEIR integrity will be questioned. As ridiculous as that may sound, that is also the truth.

This is disgusting! Shame on the ATP for covering up drug use in its sport and allowing one of its most revered to sully its reputation by a late admission of such.

Signed,
Baseball

SP.....your funny! and I agree with your post on the other thread.....

jynanis...have just lost a post which took me ages to construct...never mind...the gist of it was that you cannot... hold one person ...- agassi....responsible for the rest of the tennis world/players...you just cant...its unfair and an impossible benchmark......agassi made a mistake....he told the truth.....(his auto)...to rectify his mistake...he should have owned up and been a man about it...then...but he was depressed, not in his right mind, grieving for the loss of his friend's daughter.....oh my god...the guy was a wreck...took a drug to relieve the pain..lied about it.....to cover his tracks.....shame on him for that...but by reading the articles tonight on the 'real' drug cheats...the performance enhancing druggies...who deserve to be out of the sport pronto...you cannot say that about agassi..please understand this....a recreational drug...is just that....r-e-c-r-e-a-t-i-o-n-a-l...not performance enhancing...anyway...im just repeating myself here...so am going to stop...Roger and Rafa are the president/vice president of the tennis panel....(whatever you call it...its late and am tired)...they will do what they can to keep the sport clean.....but be a bit more forgiving of the andre.....and what andre has done....doesnt make any difference to me in terms of his contribution...to the sport...nor makes me think differently of other players...without any valid proof....look what happened to rudsedki!

A messy affair for tennis
By Jonathan Overend
BBC tennis reporter


The Rusedski saga has put tennis' drug problem in the spotlight
Greg Rusedski calls it "one of the biggest scandals to surface in sport".
Which scandal is that exactly?
There are so many to choose from.
There is the scandal of seven players testing positive for nandrolone between August 2002 and May 2003, but avoiding suspension.
The scandal of the governing body, the ATP, giving these athletes supplements which were believed to be contaminated, despite repeated warnings.

I understand rudzedski was able to prove his case.......i also hadnt realised that the ATP give supplements to athletes? this is a minefield!!!!!!!!

Malty, I'm not holding Agassi responsible or saying that he has ruined tennis, period. And again it's not about WHAT kind of drug he took or whether was it performance-enhancing or whatever stage his career was in at that point of time. Mostly it was, as Cheryl put it in her blog, "Agassi and ATP = partners in crime" is what I'm on about.

I don't know what goes on with baseball or football in the States but Australian football (AFL footy) is also always tainted with doping scandals and something like this would've earned a "meh" and people would move on after 10 minutes of talking about it. Point is, tennis has always been one of the "cleaner" sports (and I stand to be corrected otherwise) and what Agassi revealed has cast much doubt and suspicion over the sport and ATP.

I do agree that you can't take away what he has done in hindsight - the charity and all the work he has done for disadvantaged children and even as a tennis ambassador, but a mistake is a mistake and he will have to bear the brunt of his admission and the consequences. It is just unfortunate that everything else about tennis has come into question.

tennislover: surely malty's point is just that "people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones" and I happen to agree.

deuce....we are all entitled to different opinions.....right?...but thanks for agreeing! (we are making progress, hey chick?!)......

it's not agassi's decision who takes drugs and who doesnt....i just think that people are being well harsh on agassi.......and for someone like becker to come out and point the finger...well....its just pathetic....

jyannis.....there will always be doubt over drugs in sport.....it goes with the territory dont you think?...this isnt the first time, nor will it be the last...i think we have to have faith that tennis is probably the cleanest in terms of the way that WADA test and how often they test....and with roger and rafa at the helm.....its the best it can possibly be....dont you think?

Jyannis in the UK, we have recently had to read about a footballer, earning millions a year, went out to a club and punched a 20 year old woman in the face...Marlon King...play(ed) for wigan....hes been sacked....now got a prison sentence...2 years...he'll serve half...the victim said he should be banned from football for life....he is a role model to young boys...and they look up to him....

what marlon king did was wrong..dreadful...despicable..it was in the public eye and he assaulted a defenceless woman....what agassi did was wrong, in the privacy of his own home, and he didnt hurt anyone except himself.....He's written a book....i cannot wait to read the whole of it......i might even read the whole of becker's auto...and compare...but really....i think things need to be put into perspective....but hey, we're not going to agree are we?.... that's fine....

Malty, we can agree to disagree! :) I see your point really, and I respect your opinions, but I guess I am coming off at a different angle as compared to yours, and it's all good.

At some level I do want this Agassi story/scandal to be over because Fed's returning to tennis tomorrow, along with Nole, and Rafa at Paris in a couple of weeks' time...I personally want tennis news to be revolving around that!

jyannis! I agree with you!......... johan has a tendency to write articles like this though doesnt he?..... and we all then go slightly off track....but it is related to tennis....but like you say......just want to concentrate on the fed returning.....which is much more interesting.....!!!!

.......
And that is going to go on. People will wonder how shady and dodgy ATP really was (is), how far are they willing to go to protect top players.........
jyannis , 10/31/09 9:34 PM

if there is a true story that suggests the ATP is "shady and dodgy",so why shouldn't people wonder?
ATP "swept things under the carpet" because Agassi was an important player for them,should we also wish for the truth to be hidden in order to protect tennis ,because it's our beloved sport?
well,if all of a sudden ppl are going to think that Rafa ,Roger ,Nole and others are not clean,and start making ridiculous accusations ,well it's their problem.
that way,I can suspect every person who passes me, and think they "might" be a criminal.
well,that's how the world is,you never know all the truth,but we can only judge the current players with the facts we have,and the facts don't suggest they're on drugs.
even if we think that ATP would cover it for all the top players,does that mean all the top players take drugs? decent ppl don't need someone to watch them in order to do good. . and sure there are some decent guys on the tour,so it's unfair to see ALL as cheats because ATP might cover it for them.
btw,I'm quite confused about this issue,I'm not sure wether Agassi should have confessed or not,and as I said on Cheryl's blog,I felt the suspicion myself about the current players,but I just disagree that Agassi should be blamed because he prompted ppl to question ATP! it's not like he made up a story,he told the truth and it's up to ppl how they take it.

niloofar, very fair points that you made. It's really up to people as individuals to perceive and believe what they want.

Like I said above, I'm sorta over this whole thing...whatever damage that was done is done. This thing needs to be over already and we can all move on in our tennis world...there's Basel and Paris and Year End Championships! Whee!

Thanks for all the comments - interesting. I too think that the most important aspect is how the ATP covered / covers up these stories - at least for some players if not for others. I also agree with a comment I read elsewhere which is that if Agassi had come clean for some reason other than selling his book at $31.99 we would all have been more impressed.

I being hearing a lot of reports this will ruin agassi legacy and image.

I think people forget he is human after all we all make mistakes and tell lies though am not condeming what he did but hes not some god he is human and all the charity work he has done and raised millions some other celebs should take a leaf from his book.

It was 1997 pressure doomed marraige and he wasnt exactly kicking butt on the tennis court yet again its pressure fame and newspapers live for this thing.

At least he was honest am sure there has being loads of others who haven't even come clean and its defintely not a money trick sure hes a rich man maybe he will invest money earned to his charity wouldnt surprise me.People just hoped he was perfect and now just want to have a go at him quite surprised by Boris Becker he also has made mistakes dont judge a book by its cover