Sports

Bye, bye Hingis
by Claudia Sonea

The tennis world says goodbye to Martina Hingis, a former tennis player and World No. 1, known as the "Swiss Miss", for a second time. However, the circumstances are different this time from the first time; in 2002 she retired due to a series of foot and leg injuries, while now she was forced to do it because of the doping allegations. Her return to the circuit full-time in 2006 was rather successful: two Grand Slam quarterfinals, two smaller tournaments victories and rank No 7. This season was indeed more difficult, she was ranked No 19 and the day of the drug exam she just lost against Laura Granville of the United States in the third round at Wimbledon. Was that enough to take drugs, especially cocaine? She vowed at the press conference held Thursday that she had never taken drugs. The allegations are so monstrous that she can not continue playing and decided to talk to the press. Was that a strategy move in order to gain sympathy? Sweden-based International Doping Tests & Management- an independent agency handles the doping tests for WTA, according to WTA Tour chief executive Larry Scott. He added that a lot of people feel sadness, but they have to keep in mind that everyone has the presumption of innocence until the end of the process. Usually there is a first urine sample that is tested and if it gets positive than athletes are being told- Mario Widmer, Hingis' manager, said they announced her in mid-September- then there is a second sample and Hingis received the results two weeks after the first result. She had hip and back injuries when she did the tests, but she did not want to miss the tournament. Nevertheless, the painkillers she took then might have been responsible for the results. Hingis hired an attorney who said that the doping officials mishandled the process and they have no evidences that the urine sample with cocaine came from her. Furthermore, the case will continue, even if she walked away from tennis. Doping expert Dr. Gary Wadler said they can detect cocaine up to five days after its use. As a former U.S. Open's head doctor, he stated that although cocaine is not a performance-enhancing drug, but theoretically could help overcoming fatigue, reaction time and so on after two or three hours it is consumed. Martina says she doesn't need the effects of the cocaine like euphoria, because her only one performance enhancer is love of the game. She added that someone under the effects of drugs could not play top class tennis. Her career of five Grand Slam singles titles and a rise to the top of the rankings at 16, the youngest No. 1 ever ended in not so favorable circumstances. She has to face the embarrassment of a cocaine accusation and stand up for her innocence. Also, this season was not so fortunate for her either. Was she or her trainer that stupid to jeopardize their achievements by using cocaine just before the drug tests? The truth is about to be revealed!don't go away!

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071102/ap_on_sp_te_ne/ten_hingis_cocaine;_ylt=AvpmRJ79HGVuHsZsCxf7LRys0NUE

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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Edited by Iveta Nagyova

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posted by Blog TechSource @ 7:22 AM