This week tennis star Andy Murray stepped in to support Andre Agassi as it was revealed that the ex-Wimbledon champion failed a drug test for crystal meth in the 1997, and lied about it to avoid a lifelong ban from the game.

In fact, in his upcoming autobiography, he admits that he regularly used the drug on tour when he was 27 years old. When caught, he stated that he had accidentally taken a drink from a glass of his assistant who, he said, used to spike his own drinks with the drug. Ahead of excerpts from the book featuring in other publications around the world, Times Online published the story and as such, much of the commentary has played out on the web.

From a reputation perspective, this begs the question; should you be held ransom to something you did in a ‘past’ life? And if you’re an icon, with young tennis players like Murray still looking up to you as a role model, does this make a difference?

Though any sports and drugs related scandal raises eyebrows, the fact that the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) was somehow aware of his drug abuse at the time has been hit with most criticism. It’s been suggested that if the player in question had been lesser known, the governing body would have questioned the plausibility of such an accidental intake of a class A drug.

This issue seems to have the tennis world in uproar, with Rafael Nadal accusing the ATP of ‘covering’ for Agassi and cynics asking why he chose this particular moment to reveal his past sins.

We wonder whether reputation has a ‘use-by’ date, and if there’s a point when actions become irrelevant because they’re in the past. Of course, each situation is different, but this has left Agassi with a tarnished character after proclaiming that ‘image is everything’ for so long. He worked hard to shift his profile from that of a punk-inspired upstart to a reformed role model that was recognised by the US Open for efforts ‘off the court’ in 2009. Was it conscience that made him reflect upon his choices, or something more commercially driven?