Q. The intersection of this event with the Lance Armstrong interview last week has produced a lot of discussion about tennis needing to step up anti doping efforts. Do you welcome that discussion, and what was your reaction to Armstrong's admission?
ANDRE AGASSI: Well, my reaction to it is the same as everybody. It was shock, hard to stomach, sadness, disappointment. I think 'anger' is a fair word. I was certainly one of those that flat out believed him that long period of time. The thought of it not being the case was unconscionable to me.
My next reaction went to Live Strong and all the people it helps, people fighting for their lives, survivors of real battles, and I hope for its survival through this. I hope Live Strong can survive this.
As far as tennis goes, I can speak comprehensively to the rules and regulations, but not to how they've changed since I left the game. It's a sport where I wouldn't know how to get away with that level of cheating. It's a year round sport.
It's an out of body governance, a third party governance. When last I played, it was comprehensive in the sense of nearly every tournament, nearly week to week, blood, urine, out of competition testing. I don't know how it's changed, but if it's stayed the same at least that's a good thing.
Anything that can protect the integrity of the sport, and those that aren't cheating should absolutely be considered.
I mean, what is the downside? You start looking at the inconvenience of players. Maybe that turns into an issue at some point, I would imagine.
But unfortunately, you know, we're at a day and age where the more transparency you have in all of it the better off it all is and the better off these athletes are.
It's sad to watch people who may question things for those that worked pretty darn hard, you know. But, yeah, I think that tennis has always sort of led the way. I really believe that.
You know, for their own reasons I might have played a part in it, for them going to WADA and the governance that has no horse in the race. That, to me, is a great thing.
For me, it would have kept me from destroying a few years of my life. That's what I did to myself with the use of the recreational, destructive substance of crystal meth. It would have saved me on a lot of fronts.
The more the better as far as I'm concerned. The stricter, the better; the more transparency the better; the more accountability the better. Describing a problem is a heck of a lot easier than solving it, is one thing I've learned.
Let's always have the discussion of making it more comprehensive.
Q. Going back to the last point about the anti doping. Kind of the in word seems to be 'recovery.' There's almost more conversation about how players get themselves back into shape. What do you think when you see the quality and the levels of the play at the moment?
ANDRE AGASSI: From a physical standpoint?
Q. Yes. This amazing ability players seem to have to come back quickly and play at more improved levels than they played in the previous match for five or six hours.
ANDRE AGASSI: I marvel at it, first of all. You know, when I played, my whole game was based on playing with that sense of urgency and to force guys to be ballistic out there, to treat a marathon like a sprint.
I benefited from raising the stakes for that. I had more or less four hours in me before I knew I was running on borrowed time physically. That's four hours of me running other people, you know.
So to watch them do it, they're more calculated now, they play slower, so six hours is not the same six hours that I played. But they're also much better athletes. They also appear to be lower body a lot stronger than I was; upper body probably not as much. But my game was never about using my legs as much as it was, you know, bullying the ball around the court.
So, yes, I believe it's achievable. I think they've gotten very aware at an early age how important it is to be prepared, and I think there's a lot you can gain from training right and training smartly.
So, yeah, I don't watch it and wonder in light of the Lance situation, but I also have the luxury of knowing that there's no time to the negotiation of what one would have to go through to figure a way around or to figure a shortcut seems implausible.
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