VARIOUS: TENNIS - Hingis tests positive for cocaine, retires
- 00:00:10
- ITN Source
VARIOUS: TENNIS - Hingis tests positive for cocaine, retires
Former world number one Martina Hingis said on Thursday (November 1) she had tested positive for cocaine during Wimbledon this year and announced she was retiring from the professional tennis. "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," the five-times grand slam champion from Switzerland told a news conference. "I am frustrated and angry. I believe that I am absolutely, one hundred percent innocent." In a statement the 27-year-old said of the accusation of drug-taking "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. And I know one other thing - I would personally be terrified of taking drugs," she said. Hingis added that she had undergone a private test that came back negative and consulted an attorney. "The attorney and his experts discovered various inconsistencies with the urine sample that was taken during Wimbledon. He is also convinced that the doping officials mishandled the process and would not be able to prove that the urine that was tested for cocaine actually came from me." Hingis said she had also been advised that any fight to clear her name could drag on for years and so was retiring from the game. "The fact is that it is more and more difficult for me, physically, to keep playing at the top of the game, and frankly, accusations such as these don't exactly provide me with motivation to even make another attempt to do so," she said. After rising to the top of her sport with a much-admired blend of grace and tactical astuteness, Hingis suffered a string of injuries that forced her to first hang up her racket in 2003. She made a surprise return to the courts in 2006, proving her doubters wrong as she went on to win two more titles and end the year as world number seven. A further, final, title followed in Tokyo this year before her injury problems returned. In October, Hingis announced an early end to her season, citing hip problems. Thursday's media conference was widely expected to see the former world number one announcing her retirement -- but not in the circumstances now set out.
ITN Source | November 2, 2007
