FanHouse Andre Agassi

PARIS (AP) -- Known for furious, racket-throwing rants, Marat Safin would rather be remembered for the hard work he put in during a 12-year career marked by two Grand Slam titles and a Davis Cup win.

The former No. 1 ended his career Wednesday after losing to Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in the second round of the Paris Masters.

"A lot of people there really thought that I'm not a really hard worker," Safin said. "But you can ask all my coaches how I dedicated myself to tennis. They will tell you it's completely the opposite of what a lot of people think."

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So what do people want from their heroes, anyway: after-the-fact transparency or the perpetuation of fraud? Here we are, still wading through the slime of the Steroids Era, rightfully crucifying juicers for trying to hide behind walls of deceit. And yet, some of the same critics are pummeling Andre Agassi for volunteering 12 years after his sin -- when it would have been far more convenient to keep living the lie -- that he failed a drug test and deceived the ATP by writing a letter claiming he "unwittingly'' used crystal meth.

The admission, in an autobiography called Open,' is crippling to Agassi's reputation as one of sport's good guys. By outing himself, he hurts his family, his numerous charitable causes, his credibility and the image we have of his complete body of work, not good when one of his defining ad campaigns once had him declaring, "Image is everything.'' Knowing the damage that was forthcoming, he came clean nonetheless about his recreational drug problem, unlike the high-profile baseball stars whose performance-enhancing crimes have been revealed in investigations and exposés.

A reflective Andre Agassi gave his first TV interview on CBS' 60 Minutes since the shocking excerpts from his autobiography were released to the public less than two weeks ago.

Katie Couric pressed Agassi on many of the revelations from his book, including the pressure he felt from his father, his secret sentiments toward the sport that made him famous and the admission that he frequently used crystal meth with his trainer in 1997.

"I have to call it like it is," Agassi said when asked about the motivations behind revealing his past. "And hating tennis was a deep part of my life for a long, long time."

Agassi was visibly emotional -- saying he was scared, isolated and "living a fraud" during his years in the tennis spotlight.

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The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency acknowledged that it's too late to punish Andre Agassi for his failed drug test from 1997, darned statute of limitations. But WADA said it still wants some punishment, anyway. Maybe for Agassi's lies to doping officials, which he admits in his book? Maybe for perjury?

Doubtful. But I knew tennis would get its pound of flesh, anyway, as Agassi has embarrassed the sport's governing bodies. What I didn't know was how fast they would get that flesh.

Or that they would take it from Yanina Wickmayer.

She was banned Thursday for a year for a doping offense. It wasn't for failing a test, or apparently even for missing one, though details still aren't out. It was because she failed to report three times to doping officials over the past 18 months where she would be.

You're being handled, played, manipulated. I am, too.

Where is Andre Agassi? Why hasn't he come out in the past 72 hours to tell us that drugs weren't the greatest thing to happen to him, no matter what his book excerpts seem to say? Why has this man who has done so many great things with his school for disadvantaged kids, let the message just hang out there?

Drugs fun. Hate tennis. Bad relationship with Dad.

If he wanted to clear his soul, to confess to his sins, then why did he need be paid $5 million to do it.

Image is everything. That what's Andre Agassi told us from the start. It has been the headline to his career, his life.

He went from the punk kid, all image and no substance, to the grown man philanthropist, creating, running and also raising funds for a charter school for disadvantaged kids.

He grew up so well, cleaned up so nicely, and won a humanitarian award in September at the U.S. Open. Now he comes back with this:

Agassi writes in his autobiography that he regularly used crystal meth on tour in 1997 when he was 27 years old. He failed the tennis tour's drug test, and then lied his way out of it by saying he had accidentally taken a drink from a glass of his assistant who, he said, used to spike his own drinks with the drug.

Why, Andre? Why did you do it? Why did you feel the need to say it? What happens to your image now?

Andre Agassi's new book, OPEN is due out in stores on Nov. 9. There's been relatively little fanfare about the book's release. That all changed Tuesday with a (now deleted) tweet from SI's Richard Deitsch, which was preserved by the good folks at The Sporting Blog.

In his tweet, Deitsch intimated that there would be an excerpt from OPEN released in the newest issue of Sports Illustrated and that said excerpt would contain an admission from Agassi that he tried crystal meth:

MACAU (AP) -- Pete Sampras edged by Andre Agassi in three sets on Sunday as the two retired American tennis greats revisited one of the sport's greatest rivalries.

The 3-6, 6-3, 10-8 win in this southern Chinese gambling enclave was the first time the two had played since Sampras won in the 2002 U.S. Open final for his then-record 14th Grand Slam.

The fast indoor surface at The Venetian Macao arena favored Sampras' attacking style, but it was Agassi who came out strong in the first set. He showed no signs of the bad back that required four injections during his final tournament, the 2006 U.S. Open.

HONG KONG (AP) -- Even though the stakes may not be as high as in their epic clashes of the past, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras aren't planning to put on a friendly exhibition.

The two American icons, who staged one of tennis' greatest rivalries, will play each other Sunday in the southern Chinese gambling enclave Macau.

"It's going to be competitive tennis -- obviously not quite as cutthroat as it once was -- but I still feel we can both play quite well," Sampras said Thursday.

"As much as it's an exhibition, there's still a lot of pride. Our egos are pretty big. Once the first point starts, I'm going to want to beat him."

Blame the system if you want. It is all wrong. But Dinara Safina is now the No. 1 ranked women's tennis player, and no, she's not the best women's player.

Psycho. That's how Serena Williams, the best player, described it.

"I just ...'' she said. "I can't compute it.''

No, a computer does that. Tennis has its own little BCS-type controversy now, with computers trying to measure greatness. The difference is that the college football can't pick a champ without computers. Tennis does it with tournaments.