At a news conference in Zurich on Thursday, Martina Hingis announced her retirement from professional tennis. Surprisingly, her retirement was impelled by a horrendous suggestion that she has been using a prohibited substance.

The five-time Grand Slam champion commented: “Throughout my career, I have always been open and honest with you. I have been accused by an outsource testing company of taking cocaine during the Championships at Wimbledon. I find this accusation so horrendous, so monstrous, that I have decided to confront it head-on by talking to the press.

"I am frustrated and angry," 27-year-old Hingis said, her voice breaking as she fought back her tears. "I believe that I am absolutely, 100 per cent innocent."

'Because of a mishandled drug test, Hingis' reputation has been smeared'


Hingis tested positive on June 29 following the match she lost in straight sets to Laura Granville of USA during the third round of Wimbledon. This was her first tournament after being away a month and a half, sidelined by hip and back injuries. At that time, Hingis commented: “I just didn't want to miss Wimbledon. Probably at the end of the day, it wasn't, like, the smartest thing.”

Doping charges are usually announced by the league or event and athletes are told if a sample tests positive,  a back-up sample is then tested. Hingis's manager, Mario Widmer, said she learned of the positive test result in mid-September and the second was two or three weeks after.

As a counter-charge to salvage her reputation and to prove her innocence, Hingis has hired an attorney who found “various inconsistencies” with the urine samples from Wimbledon.

"They say that cocaine increases self-confidence and creates a type of euphoria. I don't know," Hingis said. "I only know that if I were to try to hit the ball while in any state of euphoria, it simply wouldn't work. I would think that it would be impossible for anyone to maintain the coordination required to play top-class tennis while under the influence of drugs."

Dr. Gary Wadler, doping expert and former US Open head doctor, said: “Although cocaine is generally not thought of as a performance-enhancing drug, it theoretically could help.

"The acute effects of cocaine probably, overall, would impair and not enhance performance. But within a two-hour window, you may actually have some enhancement - overcoming fatigue, reaction time, and so on."

Wadler is an Associate Professor of Medicine at New York University and a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

At the suggestion of her family and management, Hingis had examined using a person’s hair to check for cocaine use. The result of course is negative. Although the time and place where she was tested was not disclosed, Wadler said hair tests usually are not used in sports because they do not necessarily show recent drug use. As a rule, a first offence for cocaine draws a two-year suspension from professional tennis.

When Hingis announced her return on tour in 2006, she reached two Grand Slam quarter-finals and Roland Garros. She also won a number of  Tier events, and In 2006 she finished the year ranked No.6. This year proved to be more difficult since she was plagued with injury and ranked 19 in the world.

At her height, Hingis was unbeatable and brilliant in controlling points using angles and on-court intelligence.
For sure a lot of Martina’s fans, friends and co-players are saddened by this news, which is surely a mistake. She has built her tennis career in a fashion no player has ever replicated and just because of a mishandled drug test, her reputation has been smeared.

Like a true champion that she is, Martina will clear her name and will always be remembered as a remarkable champion. As she once said: "My weapon on the tennis court is and always was one single thing: the game, the ingenuity on court."

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