Nadal says Agassi’s ‘lying’ revelations are “terrible for tennis”
November 21st, 2009 - 6:37 pm ICT by ANI
London, Nov 21(ANI): Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal has reacted to the claims made by former American player Andre Agassi about taking crystal meth in 1997 and lying about it to an independent doping tribunal to save his skin
“I haven’t read the book, but he is not saying the truth of everything,” The Times quoted Nadal, as saying.
“He is saying he hates tennis - that is impossible. One player plays for eight years and he becomes rich and he does not need to play for money and you hate that?” he added.
Nadal further said that Agassi’s claims were only for money and his opinions were not expected from a champion player.
“I hated what he said about doping and the crystal meth. My opinion is that what he did is terrible for us, for the rest of the players, terrible for the sport, and it is easy to say now, but why wasn’t he saying this in 1997?” Nadal said.
“Now he is free, now he says what he is feeling. Right now, because somebody pays him a lot of money, he says these things, not because you want to say that,” he added.
He also said that such statements are terrible for tennis, which has a history of being a very clean sport.
“If he did it in the past, right now I say he should shut up and not say anything because he owes almost all he has to tennis, and being who he is. Tennis is a big part of that, so is it fair that tennis gets back this kind of thing?” he added. (ANI)
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- Agassi confessed taking drugs to make people learn from his difficult times - Nov 02, 2009
- Agassi's hate of tennis was a deep part of his life - Nov 09, 2009
- Agassi one of the best tennis players of all time despite dope-taint: Murray - Nov 02, 2009
- Agassi drugs revelation: WADA asks ATP to explain alleged cover-up - Oct 29, 2009
- Agassi reveals his father gave him drugs to take before matches - Nov 01, 2009
- Dope is more harmful for cricketers, says ICC expert - Nov 04, 2009
- Andre Agassi talks about his drug usage in his memoir - Oct 29, 2009
- Agassi should not have hidden or lied about drug abuse: Navratilova - Nov 10, 2009
- Agassi recalls hitting a `big wall' after being on a tennis roll for two years - Nov 09, 2009
- Agassi book reveals 1997 meth-use drama (Lead) - Oct 28, 2009
- I never doped while playing: Agassi - Nov 09, 2009
Tags: andre agassi, champion, crystal meth, money, rafael nadal, revelations, tennis london, tennis player, tribunal, truth