Hingis, the Tennis "Front-Runner"
Martina Hingis has officially retired from professional tennis for the second, and most likely, final time. In announcing her retirement, Hingis said that she had tested positive for cocaine at Wimbledon 2007. Hingis said that at age 27 it was not worth fighting the drug test results for years while trying to compete on the pro tennis tour and therefore she was retiring. At the same time, Hingis vehemently denied ever having taken drugs. There were mumblings the past month that Hingis might
retire because of the persistent hip pain she had felt in 2007, but the news of her positive cocaine test result was a real shock. In fact, the WTA Tour CEO issued the following comments, “The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has not received any official information regarding the positive doping test result referred to by Martina Hingis in her press conference today, and as a result we are not in a position to comment on the matter. However, it is important to remember that in the area of anti-doping, all players are presumed innocent until proven otherwise.” 2007 was a year filled with highs and lows for Martina Hingis, both on the tennis court and off it. She began the year reaching the Australian Open quarters and then winning the title in Tokyo. Hingis also announced her engagement to ATP Tour player, Radek Stepanek, and then the engagement ended this past summer. Martina Hingis has always said what she felt and has experienced a bit of controversy in the past due to her comments, e.g. regarding Amelie Mauresmo at the Australian Open years ago. However, there was no denying Hingis’ brilliant abilities as a tennis player. When Hingis was playing her best, the five-time Grand Slam champion was able to channel her opponent’s pace with clever angles and shot selection. Clearly, the story regarding Hingis’ testing positive for cocaine is far from over and the reverberations will be felt across the tennis world for a while. For Hingis fans, there will be the feeling that her reputation has been unfairly tarnished and lingering questions about whether and why she might have used cocaine. For those who were not Hingis’ greatest admirers, there will be anger that she hurt the sport of tennis by her alleged cocaine use. From any perspective, this is a sad and frustrating way for Martina Hingis to end her tennis career.
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