Andre Agassi Admits Crystal Meth Use

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Andre Agassi arrives at the 14th annual Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation’s Grand Slam for Children benefit concert at the Wynn Las Vegas September 26, 2009 in Las Vegas
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Andre Agassi talks to the media during the 1990 U.S. Open held in September 1990 at Flushing Meadows, in New York
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Andre Agassi is happy to defeat Andrei Pavel
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Andre Agassi and Steffi Graff are a bit shocked

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FIRST PUBLISHED: October 28, 2009 3:28 PM EDT
LAST UPDATED: October 28, 2009 4:10 PM EDT

LOS ANGELES, Calif. --

Tennis champ Andre Agassi has revealed a history of crystal meth use in a new memoir.

In his new book, “Open,” the star admitted he had used the drug during the late ‘90s. According to an excerpt published in The Times of London, Agassi explained that he’d lied about his habits to escape a flunked drug test in 1997.

“I say that recently I drank accidentally from one of [assistant] Slim’s spiked sodas, unwittingly ingesting his drugs,” Agassi reportedly wrote. “I feel ashamed, of course. I promise myself that this lie is the end of it.”

In a new interview with People, the athlete explained why he was coming forward with the truth over a decade later.

“I can’t speak to addiction, but a lot of people would say that if you’re using anything as an escape, you have a problem,” he told the mag, adding that he wasn’t worried about fans’ reactions to the revelation.

“I was worried for a moment, but not for long,” he said. “I wore my heart on my sleeve and my emotions were always written on my face. I was actually excited about telling the world the whole story.”

And the drug use wasn’t the only surprising revelation made in the new book — according to ESPN, the memoir also revealed that his famous early career Mohawk was a hairpiece. He hit the courts with a shaved head for the latter half of his career.

1997 was a career low for Agassi, finding him dropping out of tennis’ top 100 ranked players and beginning a tumultuous, short-lived marriage to actress Brooke Shields that ended with divorce two years later.

After quitting meth, he made one of the sport’s biggest comebacks when he jumped from a ranking of No. 122 to No. 6 in 1998, becoming one of a handful of players to win each of the four Grand Slam titles during a career with a victory at the French Open in 1999. He finished the year as the world’s No. 1 tennis player.

The eight-time Grand Slam winner retired following the 2006 U.S. Open, focusing since on his Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation.

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