Martina Hingis retires from tennis

Thats right, Martina Hingis is retiring from professional tennis because of allegations that she ingested cocaine before or during Wimbledon.

“I find this accusation so horrendous, so monstrous, that I have decided to confront it head-on by talking to the press,” she said. “My weapon on the tennis court is and always was one single thing: the game, the ingenuity on court. And for this style of tennis, there is only one performance enhancer: the love of the game.”

While admitting she had tested positive for cocaine during the 2007 Wimbledon Championships Hingis denied any drug use during her career in a statement issued Thursday, thereby underlining one of the unstated reasons she might have decided to shut things down.

She might have had a chance for fighting and people believing her some years ago, but after all the buzz in the recent years of olympicons and other top class athletes fouling the waters thats quite unlikely.

“I have no desire to spend the next several years of my life reduced to fighting against the doping officials.” She said “There is only one more thing for me to do - to thank all of you for many years of goodwill, and also to assure you: I have never taken drugs.”

This retirement doesn’t have that open-ended feel to it. Guilty or innocent, it’s an awful way for Hingis to go out.

Goodbye I guess and Good Luck!

Facts about Martina Hingis:

• She was born on September 30, 1980 in Kosice in the former Czechoslovakia (Slovakia) and is a Swiss citizen.
• Youngest Wimbledon champion at the age of 15 by winning the women’s doubles title with Helena Sukova in July 1996.
• Youngest Grand Slam Singles Champion in the 20th century by winning the Australian Open in January 1997 at the age of 16.
• In 1997 she also won Wimbledon and US open.
• First player since Steffi Graf in 1993 to reach the finals of all four grand slams.
• Youngest world number one in March 1997 and stayed on the top for 80 consecutive weeks until she sprained her left ankle.
• Winning nine titles she finished as world number one in 2000.
• She lost number one ranking in 2001 during the semi-final Filderstadt against Lindsay Davenport.She had the surgery after tearing ankle ligaments in October.
• Because of injuries again, she pulled out of German and Italian Opens then had a surgery in May missing Wimbledon.
• In October 2002 she announced that she is taking an indefinite break from tennis.
• January 2006 she reached quarter-finals at the Australian Open
• After winning Tier I. event in Rome, Tier III. in Kolkata and Tier I. title in Tokyo she climbed to world number six.