Andre Agassi was always one of my favourite tennis players for one key reason - he played the game with a smile on his face.

This week, however, it was revealed that the smile was not always down to having a purely jovial personality - a smattering of illegal substances also played their part.

In his newly released biography, Agassi admits that back in 1997 he was snorting crystal meth, an illegal substance that gives users an overwhelming sense of happiness.

The eight-times Grand Slam winner, who is married to former ladies world number one, Steffi Graf, went to great lengths to explain the effect the drug had on him.

"Then comes a tidal wave of euphoria that sweeps away every negative thought in my head. I've never felt so alive, so hopeful - and I've never felt such energy," he explains in the book, obviously desperate not to make the drug sound incredibly enticing.

But while this revelation will no doubt have a hugely damaging effect on his reputation and legendary status within tennis, there is another much more worrying aspect to it.

And that is that the Association of Tennis Professionals actually knew about his drug abuse because he failed a drugs test at the time. When they confronted him with the results, he simply told them he had taken it "by accident".

Now had it been a low-ranked player with little popularity, you can rest assured the tennis governing body would have laughed at the implausibility of taking something so specific by mistake. It's hardly found in cough medicine. They then would have thrown the book at the player, issuing bans left, right and centre.

But this was Agassi. Pin-up, heart-throb and one of the biggest draws in world tennis at the time.

So they accepted his explanation and withdrew the charges.

This was a charge that carried a minimum of a three-month ban. More importantly for the ATP, however, it was a situation that would have, if it became public, done irrepairable damage to Agassi's reputation. And his marketability.

Although Agassi was in a career slump at the time of his drug use, he could still draw the crowds. Being found guilty of drug abuse, or even if the accusation had become public, would have seriously damaged his overall appeal to the masses.

So it looks like the ATP swept the whole thing under the carpet. Which is where it would have stayed if Agassi hadn't decided to come clean. More than a decade later.

I understand that 12 years ago all sports governing bodies were a little more lenient on drug cases than they are today. But I still find it highly unacceptable that exceptions like this were made on the basis of status.

In the book, Agassi explains that he has always hated tennis with "a dark and secret passion". Fair enough. But there are billions of people all over the world who manage to hate their jobs without resorting to snorting stuff. And the vast majority of those don't get to live a millionaire lifestyle either, touring the world with Brooke Shields in tow.

Some fans have come out in his defence this week saying it was incredibly brave of him to risk his reputation by speaking out when he could have just let sleeping dogs lie.

Well, I don't think so. It would have been brave if he had admitted it at the time and risked the consequences when he was still playing professionally. There is nothing brave about telling the truth 10 years later when there is no danger of losing any of the millions you made from your career.

And there is something even less brave about admitting it in your biography, which will no doubt go on to sell an extra couple of million copies on the back of the revelations.

Having said that, while Agassi has certainly gone down in my estimation and tarnished his public reputation forever, the real people who need to hang their heads in utter shame are the ATP.

If, as now seems increasingly likely, they covered this up because of who it happened to be, then their actions are shameful, immoral and despicable.

And it casts a shadow over the whole world of tennis because if there was one star who got away with dabbling with drugs, how many others had their cases covered up to protect the sport and its image?

Agassi will get his belated punishment now in terms of the way he is viewed by the public. But the people who let him off for his crime need to be publically named and shamed to make sure they get theirs.

Spitting image

Over the years I've heard some pretty bizarre suggestions concerning football, but this week's announcement by the UK Health Protection Agency that players need to stop spitting on the pitch to curb the spread of swine flu is among the silliest.

This is obviously a suggestion made by a man in a suit behind a desk who has never done more than five minutes of running at a time. Because, as anyone who has ever played football will know, when you run around for 90 minutes the body has a habit of generating a bit of excess mouth liquid.

So what are these players supposed to do? Carry hankies in their shorts to mop up their mouths? Or perhaps run off the pitch every few minutes to aim for strategically placed spitoons?

And where will it stop? I'm no doctor but I am sure if swine flu can be spread by spit it can be spread by sweat too. After all, isn't that just another bodily fluid? So are players supposed to stop sweating while they play too?

Or should they totally avoid any bodily contact with opponents and teammates? When someone scores a goal perhaps all 11 players should run to pre-planned and separate parts of the pitch rather than jump on each other in celebration.

Or why not go all the way and replace standard kits with full biological weapon suits? I'm sure we can get them made in Liverpool red or Chelsea blue.

Obviously, getting sick is not a nice thing but let's keep a bit of perspective on this whole situation. Swine flu is a nasty disease and, in extreme cases, is potentially fatal. But according to statistics, it is considerably less deadly than your bog standard, traditional, annual flu. And nobody has ever suggested that footballers should stop spitting every year between October and March have they?

The media has loved this disease from the word go and I suppose it was only a matter of time before the hysteria spread to sport.

But asking players not to spit on the pitch? Well, you might as well ask them to take a pay cut...

Your say

"While reading your article 'Life's a beach for Rafa', I remembered that last season whenever Liverpool were the focus of your negative writing, we won. The team got out of their mid-season slump after one of your articles and there were other such cases which cannot simply be attributed to chance.

"This was confirmed last Sunday afternoon when we beat Manchester United 2-0 after you had criticised Rafa Benitez.

"This is enough proof for me that you and your pen (or keyboard) could be our ever-elusive signing. I am fairly sure it would benefit everyone; the fans would be ecstatic at winning everything, while Tom and Jerry would be happy as they would be able to sell Gerrard, Torres, Mascherano and other players to fill the financial hole they have dug, and at the same time become richer through prize money.

"For now, until the Liverpool scouts find you, keep up the good work." Robert Grech, Birgu sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com