London: 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
First Published: Saturday, November 21, 2009, 20:40