Agassi one of the best tennis players of all time despite dope-taint: Murray
2 Nov 2009, 1424 Hrs

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London, Nov 2 UK tennis sensation Andy Murray said he would not judge his idol Andre Agassi for revelations that he lied to avoid a drugs ban in the 1990s.

"I loved Andre and he was unbelievably nice to me. I judge him as a tennis player and he was a great player, one of the best of all time," Murray said.

"No one wants drugs in sport but everyone makes mistakes," The Mirror quoted Murray, as saying.

Earlier, Agassi in a promotional video for his autobiography has revealed that he confessed to using crystal methamphetamine and dodging a drugs ban so that people can learn from his difficult times.

The American tennis legend revealed his use of the substance in his new autobiography "Open" and that he received a call from a doctor working for the ATP in the autumn of 1997 to inform him that he had failed a drug test.

Agassi explained that he protested his innocence and lied, saying the meth was only in his system as he'd drank a friend's spiked drink. He was spared punishment, The Mirror reports.

"It wasn't easy to be so candid. I didn't want to hurt anyone," explained Agassi, 39, in a video to promote his book.

"I wasn't keen on embarrassing myself, but I felt my story was one from which many people could learn: difficult childhood, unhappy first marriage, struggle with professionalism, feeling of inadequacy."

Agassi's had also revealed that his father Mike Agassi asked him to take the drug speed before a tournament and that his taking t, angered the World Anti-Doping Agency. (ANI)

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