Sport | Tennis
Federer comes to Agassi's defence
Agassi stunned the sporting world last month when he made the sensational confession that he had lied to the tennis authorities in order to escape a ban for taking hard drugs.
- By Alaric Gomes, Senior Reporter, Gulf News
- Published: 10:12 November 24, 2009
- Switzerland's Roger Federer arrives at the court to play against Spain's Fernando Verdasco during their ATP World Tour Finals tennis match
- Image Credit: AP
No sportsperson is greater than the sport, and a person such as Roger Federer – deemed by many as one of the all-time greats in tennis – has exactly this notion.
“It’s definitely not good for our sport. We have to deal with it and do the best we can,” Federer said in response to a question regarding Andre Agassi’s admission on taking drugs during his playing career.
Agassi stunned the sporting world last month when he made the sensational confession that he had lied to the tennis authorities in order to escape a ban for taking hard drugs.
The American, one of the finest players to grace the game, tested positive for the highly addictive drug, crystal methamphetamine, and then duped the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) into believing he had taken it by accident.
Federer is among the few top players who have pitched in favour of the doping procedures in place for sportspersons although it has created no deal of comfort to them. “It’s all very tough for us the way the tests are done these days. There are many guys who are not happy with the system because it’s almost too aggressive to some degree,” Federer said.
“But I think it’s necessary just to be able to keep a clean sport,” he added.
It has been tough on the conscience of the sporting world after Agassi’s self confession on his behaviour. And Federer feels that this should not take anything away from the former champion, more so with what he has achieved in assisting society through his various charities. “What happened obviously is not nice. At the same time, you shouldn’t take anything away of what he’s done for kids around the world, especially in Las Vegas, by raising the amount of money he did,” Federer cautioned.
Agassi has been one of the most active sportspersons backing charities all around the world, including the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation, Communities In Schools for New Orleans, Education Africa, Hearts of Gold, Keep Memory Alive and the New Look Foundation among others.
Perhaps one of the best known was when in 2007, Agassi joined with Muhammad Ali, Lance Armstrong, Warrick Dunn, Jeff Gordon, Mia Hamm, Tony Hawk, Andrea Jaeger, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Mario Lemieux, Alonzo Mourning and Cal Ripken, Jr. to found ‘Athletes for Hope’, a charitable organization which helps professional athletes get involved in charitable causes.
“He still remains an exceptional tennis player and person. It’s just a hiccup and obviously it’s going to cast a shadow over his image,” he added.
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