Martina Hingis, one of the greatest players of her generation and winner of three Australian Open titles, will forever wear the taint of a drug cheat.
The Swiss five-time Grand Slam champion left the sport yesterday after revealing she had tested positive for cocaine at Wimbledon and is contemplating not taking any action to clear her name.
Hingis, who denies having taken the drug, said she provided a positive urine sample after her straight-sets, third-round defeat by American Laura Granville.
Hingis has won $US20million in prizemoney during her career, but the prizemoney she collected at her last Wimbledon might have to be handed back.
"The onus now falls to the athlete to show either there was an error made in the sampling - the way it was collected or analysed - or to present any mitigating circumstances," Richard Ings, chief executive of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority, said.
If Hingis fails to do this, she will be banned for two years, whether she is retired or not, and will have to forfeit her Wimbledon prizemoney of $US50,422 and the 90 WTA rankings points.
The story could have been different if Hingis had been tested 24 hours after she was bundled out of Wimbledon, rather than on the day of the defeat.
"If it had been a day later then it would have been classified as an out-of-competition test and stimulants like cocaine are not prohibited out of competition," Ings said. "It is not banned under the WADA code because you are not trying to enhance your performance with a stimulant in between matches because you can't bascially. On match days it would pump you up and make you more you more aggressive and give you more energy - that's why it is tested."
Both Hingis's 'A' and 'B' urine samples were found to be positive for cocaine metabolites.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/st ... 22,00.html