After admitting to testing positive for drugs in 1997 and managing to weasel his way out of the predicament in large part with the cooperation of the ATP, Agassi has found a vocal critic in Marat Safin.

Safin is a former Number 1 ranked tennis player who won the 2000 US Open and the 2005 Australian Open.  He will be retiring after this week’s Paris Masters.  The 29 year old Russian is of the opinion that if Agassi “is as fair play as he says he is, he has to go to the end.”  In other words, talk is cheap.  If you really feel remorseful, give back the money and the titles.  Safin goes on to say that the ATP “has a bank account and he [Agassi] can give the money back if he wants.”

Indeed one has to question why Agassi has to bring this up now.  Yes, he needs fresh, provocative material in his autobiography “Open” but surely there must have been better material than this?  Better in the sense that this ugly time needn’t be brought back up again, particularly as it involves him pulling the wool over ATP’s eyes back in the late 1990s.  By rehashing this story, Agassi is going to bring criticism not only to himself but potentially to the ATP’s personnel as well.  Agassi at least has a book to sell.  The ATP would be facing all this pressure without anything to gain.

As Safin puts it, “what he [Agassi] said put it in a delicate position” – referring to the unwanted attention that the ATP may now have to address.  Safin also asked what so many are no doubt thinking: “Why did he do this?  What is done is done.  Does he hope to sell more books?  It’s absolutely stupid.”  We couldn’t agree more.  What does Steffi think about all this?