IF YOU WAS SMOKING METH MORE THAN 10 YEARS AGO, WHY TELL THE WORLD NOW! HE MUST REALLY NEED TO SELL SOME COPIES OF HIS NEW BOOK!

Tennis legend Andre Agassi used crystal meth in 1997, failed a drug test and boldly lied in a letter to tennis officials in order to successfully dodge a competition ban, according to selections from a book published online Tuesday night by an Australian newspaper.
The forthcoming autobiography, entitled "Open," is due out Nov. 9. Excerpts are scheduled to appear this week in two American magazines, Sports Illustrated and People. According to a publicist for publishing house Knopf, Agassi worked closely with Pulitzer Prize-winning writer J.R. Moehringer, author of "The Tender Bar."

"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," Agassi told People in an online story.

Agassi details how he snorted some of the highly addictive stimulant, felt a "tidal wave of euphoria" that led him on a manic apartment-cleaning binge and then wrote a mendacious letter to tennis officials, explaining that a contaminated drinking glass triggered the positive test.

"I feel ashamed, of course," Agassi writes in his description of the letter. "I promise myself that this lie is the end of it."

The information about Agassi's crystal meth use was first made public Tuesday morning via the Twitter feed of Richard Deitsch, a writer for Sports Illustrated.

After the Daily News confirmed the news, the Web site of an Australian newspaper began publishing what it called exclusive serials of the material.

"FYI: There's an off-the-charts book excerpt from Andre Agassi in the forthcoming SI: He admits to taking crystal meth during his career," said the Twitter message, posted at 10:36 a.m. and apparently removed shortly thereafter.

One of the most beloved players in the annals of the U.S. Open, Agassi retired in 2006 after 20 years in professional tennis, having won eight Grand Slam championships, 60 singles titles and $31 million. His career record was 870-274. However, 1997 was a low point in Agassi's career, when a wrist injury sidelined him for much of the season and his world ranking slipped to 141.

That same year, the Association of Tennis Professionals, which oversees elite international tennis competition, conducted its own drug-testing program.

Today the organization is a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code, which governs all Olympic sports and has a notoriously firm "strict liability" rule for positive tests: Athletes are responsible for all substances in their system.

Agassi, 39, often made news for his brash style and high-profile romantic relationships. He is married to tennis great Steffi Graf, and they have two children. He is also an acclaimed philanthropist whose school in Las Vegas for underprivileged kids has become a national model.