Martina Hingis retires after Positive test on cocaine

[genius]

In 1997, she looked like she will be a top player for years to come and possibly the numero uno.

Ten years later, who would have foreseen such a fall into ignominy and retirement?

i only figured out later why her game was not going to dominate. it was clear she is not going to repeat the performance of 1997 ever. but  2003 retirement and this even more notorious second one will be blots showing she was sadly not guided properly into maturity and has paid heavily as a result.

Her game was unique and good in a way but not in a way that allows her to dominate opponents. That proved to be her undoing. so near yet so far

[genius]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/7073033.stm

"I have no desire to spend the next seven years fighting doping officials. I'm frustrated and angry, and accusations such as these don't provide me with the motivation to continue." "

This girl has shown a chronic disability to handle things properly when things don't go her way.

Its important to hang on during trying times of  failures,bad phases, misfortunes and injustices so that you live on and fight another day to turn things around. Only if you are resilient and calm during times of crisis, good times will be back sooner than later. All she has done now and in the past is throw her toys out.
Therein probably lies why she attracts trouble so frequently and finds retirement an attractive escape route.

[10nis_ace]

Her lack of motivation is perhaps understandable. She reached the pinnacle of success in her profession in her early years. Grand Slams, #1 rankings, millions of $, she's got all that. Trying to stay in top-20 or so isn't going to keep her motivated her after all.

[PKBasu]

Awfully sad cautionary tale. She should not have been playing professional tennis full-time when she won her first Slam title at the Australian Open soon after her 16th birthday. Her first retirement was a shocker because she seemed to be running away at the first sign of the Williams sisters seriously threatening her dominance of the game (much as Borg retired at 25 soon after losing -- finally -- to McEnroe at Wimbledon, after 5 titles there and 6 at the French). The second is a shocker too, as she reinforces her reputation for not having the stomach for a fight, the very antithesis of what drives most sportspeople. Sad, sad! (Although cocaine -- even if she took it -- is not really a performance-enhancing drug as far as I know, and so shouldn't disqualify a player; I think it is health-threatening, and so should result in a reprimand and large fine -- to deter future transgressions -- rather than any sporting sanctions, in my view).

[prasen9]

With her limited power, she has done fine to win 5 grand slam tournaments.  I would take her explanation that she was genuinely injured than "seemed to be running away" when she first retired.  I would not say that she did not have the stomach for a fight.  One does not win 5 GS tournaments and stay world #1 for parts of 5 different years without having a stomach for a fight.  She has flaws, both tennis-wise and personal, yes.  She had bad judgement, yes.  Maybe she did not want to continue after several years of grind, yes.  However, the fact remains that she achieved something that perhaps less than a handful of other players achieved.

She was #1 for more weeks than anybody except Graf, Navratilova and Evert.  You may include Seles in the picture who has less weeks than her ostensibly for the stabbing and the stabbing also inflated Graf's weeks at #1 (but that is irrelevant because Graf would still have been #1 for more weeks than Hingis).

If you consider Grand Slam championships, then you have to add Henin and the Williams sisters who have more than her in the Open Era.

She was truly a legend, with and without her flaws.  I agree that maybe she played a bit too much too early or that she had flaws in her personality.  However, reading this thread, one would think we are talking about a colossal failure rather than one of the greatest women's tennis players of all time.

[jaydeep]

Here is Reuters report - Martina Hingis tests positive for cocaine, retires

Really sad end of her career for Hingis ...

[tonytharakan]

And if she's really lucky, details of her positive dope test may never be revealed. Here's a Reuters story on ITF policy in Hingis' case -

http://in.reuters.com/article/worldOfSp ... 6420071102

[PKBasu]

Martina Hingis dominated women's tennis for a few years, but 5 Slam titles are not really that many (among women) -- and certainly not enough for her to be deemed a "legend", as prasen9 does. She will figure above the likes of Sanchez-Vicario, Davenport, Mauresmo, Sabatini, etc. in women's tennis history. But among her contemporaries, Serena and Venus Williams, and Justine Henin will all rank well above her -- and could be considered contenders for the "legend" moniker. The true legends of women's tennis -- Navratilova, Margaret Court, Steffi Graf, Chris Evert, Billie-Jean King, Monica Seles -- are many streets ahead of Hingis in terms of achievement.   

[prasen9]

I did not mean to say that any of the "legend"s you mentioned are worse than Hingis.  I did not mention King or Court because I was restricting to the open era.  Perhaps the bar for being considered a legend is lower in my case.  Anyway the baton (#1) passed from Graf to Seles to Graf back (stabbing) to Hingis to Williams-Henin with a few blips in between.  Anyone who dominates for a few years and is generally considered a #1 for more than a year or two is legend in my book.  I don't think we disagree much about the relative order/distance except the definition of legends.

[jaydeep]

Today Martina Hingis has been given a two-year ban after testing positive for cocaine by the ITF ... The ban would commence from October 1, 2007.

ITF also asked Hingis to repay $130,000 prize money and ranking points won since last year's Wimbledon.

[jai_in_canada]

* What's the use of banning somebody that has retired?  She probably knew this was going to happen, and that's why she retired.  Still her lawyer was making all these defiant noises about fighting the charges. 
* So a illustrious career ends in a dark cloud.  If she had not comeback her legacy would have been better.  She did not win any singles GS titles on her comeback and in the end was caught as a drug cheat. 
* Cocaine is hardly a performance enhancing substance, especially for her cerbral style of play - or may be it helped her think "creatively." 

[PKBasu]

Truly tragic end for someone who achieved too much too soon, and simply couldn't figure out how to cope with the resulting celebrity. She should never have retired (first) when she did, her comeback didn't quite work out, and now she departs in ignominy. Sad!