‘I took drugs at a time when I needed help’

Agassi became emotional when interviewer Katie Couric read him the words of Martina Navratilova,who compared Agassi to Roger Clemens,a star baseball pitcher who has denied wrongdoing despite links to performance-enhancing drugs. “It’s what you don’t want to hear,” Agassi said. “I hope with that comes some compassion that maybe this person doesn’t need condemnation. Maybe this person could stand a little help.

“Because that was at a time in my life when I needed help. I had a problem,and there might be many other athletes out there that test positive for recreational drugs that have a problem. So I would ask for some compassion.”