That is horrible!

Whoaaaaaaa. Wasn't expecting THAT at all.

match-fixing, test-fixing? good Lord, what's up with ATP and WTA?

Oh, no.

Blockbuster.

Not a way anyone would choose to go out. Together with the ATP match-fixing mess, there'll be a cloud around both sides of the sport for a while.

What a way to retire. What a not-good way to retire. Hingis should have gone out with a bouquet of roses, not a drug controversy.

Plus, cocaine? Come on. Shouldn't the negative results of the hair test trump a urine sample?

Pete-was there any hint of this before this bombshell announcement?

wow! that's something i didn't expect. i'm sure no one expected. two sad posts in one day.

*speechless*

Something in the milk aint clean here.....

The front page of the BBC home site is not pretty viewing for tennis fans right now...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/

this is very sad!I'm 100000% sure that Hingis is on the right side and is INNOCENT.

Wow.

Not hint of anything - my phone is ringing off the hook with radio stations and other outlets who want sound bites. . .

what the hell is going on with tennis? stupid davydenko and then hingis is accused of taking cocaine.
i miss the days when controversies in tennis meant someone yelled at another person. now it's getting serious.

Wow. Wow.
I'm surprised this news about the drug test hadn't leaked before.
I feel badly for Martina, assuming of course that she is innocent. I believe she is, but the sorry sagas of athletes like Marion Jones who have courted public sympathy and emphatically denied drug taking have greatly diminshed the possibility of people maintaining the innocent until proven guilty mentality admist denials.

She has had a great career. I always enjoyed watching her.

Bismark - hope you can go somewhere and have a couple of nice drinks tonight.

This is a crazy day in tennis. First the Kolya situation crosses from weird to utterly bizarre.

Now this. I don't know what to think of this. The statement does seem very legalistically worded, no?

not that people yelling at each other isn't serious...it is at times...but it's the fault of the person...now the sport's getting a bad name because of the doping and betting controversies...

Ryan and Bismarck,
Sorry about Hingis. I am 100% shocked about this. Hope the truth on this matter comes out quickly.

andrew, that headline is just bad!

Absolutely, 100%, totally stunned. I'm like actually distraught right now. I can't believe this is happening.

:(

As you have all alluded to, what a crazy day.

Let me just say for the record that I believe her. If she really had a coke habit, there would be plenty of other people out there who would know and could/would spill the beans to some tabloid for the cash. I really don't think she would lie under such circumstances.

I've never done coke, but I know plenty of people who have, and I can't imagine it would actually help in such circumstances.

Ryan, Bismarck: First round's on me.

Hingis is certainly handling this in a great way--
I hope it doesn't get her down about herself- we all have struggled, though most of us not so publicly.

Stay strong Martina!

Thanks Patrick. It's been a while since a national news story has given me a weird feeling in my guts.

Performance enhancing coke ?

"They say that cocaine increases self-confidence and creates a type of euphoria."

I wonder what they are taking - and I reckon she could easily spend several million dollars fighting these guys to have the verdict at best, the lab might have mishandled the samples.

Wonder if Davy will get sick of the witch hunt and pack it in for the year.

and espn's news: http://myespn.go.com/s/conversations/show/story/3089841

First BONDS. Now HINGIS. Next... SANTA CLAUS?

I'll be back...

I don't understand how Larry Scott could not have heard about the false positive tests. Doesn't ring true to me at all.

Come to think of it...

1. Santa gets down an awful LOT of chimneys in a short period of time.
2. That dude's beard is WHITE.

Incredibly bizarre. Is it odd to anyone else that she would combine these two issues, the cocaine test and retirement?

And do we know that this isn't anything more than just a botched drug test? It seems like we're jumping to the conclusion of some kind of fixing going on. Maybe they just screwed up? Wouldn't be the first time.

wtwwwwwwf??

When I heard this morning that she was having a press conference, I figured she'd be retiring! When I saw her lose at teh US O I thought that she just could not keep up with the ball, that her back was bothering her, but not this!

Why did it take so long for this to come out, Wimby was many months ago!

I suspect we're going to learn a lot more than we'd have formerly cared to know about various different kinds of tests, chains of custody, and so on.

T.G. Randini, excellent point at 1:56. :) Time for a sample, big guy.

another disconcerting news from you Pete. Sorry if this is so ignorant but: Can someone ingest cocaine without knowing?

All very surprising, but a little confusing. Is cocaine a officially banned "performance enhancing" substance? In other words, does this qualify as "cheating"? If not--and she does have addiction issues--she should check herself into rehab, get better, and play again.

Let's not put this in with Bonds. Even if true, it's not "performance enhancing." And let's also not forget that McEnroe has admitted doing coke in his playing days, I would bet good money that Vitas G. and others did the same. I'm not saying that makes it all right and I very much believe Hingis is innocent here, but if she weren't it would hardly be an earth-shattering new low for tennis.

This really isn't that big of a deal. Cocaine would only make it harder to perform. IT DOES NOT ENHANCE PERFOEMANCE therefore there is no controversy.

I am sure Safin has done so much he doesn't even have a septum anymore. Seriously, why sould we conflate tennis players' personal lives with their professional ones?

This Hingis situation is sad and utterly unreadable - you could take her statement as a crafty way of ducking a losing battle (ie, guilty) or a truthful accounting of her reasonable decision to hang it up after the last-straw of this accusation (ie, innocent). Having once worked with people to manage the communication in crisis situations, I lean toward believing her because the statement is so explanatory (this test said x, that test said y) and because she comes right out and says "I have never done drugs" rather than leaving it at "I am shocked by these charges, etc" but not making a direct statement about guilt or innocence. It's also just my vibe - Hingis is just too smart to think she could get away with drug use in these testing-happy times.

I also find the fact that Pete hasn't heard any rumblings on this front to be meaningful.

If she is innocent, this is tragically unfair, obviously.

No wonder Hingis has had horrible results lately. Her mind has been on something entirely different from tennis.

This is a sad ending to such a wonderful career over the years. I truly hope that this cocaine thing is not true, both for her sake and for the sake of tennis in general.

How long did it take Floyd Landis' tests to come back? This has to have been going on for a while as evidenced by the hair test and sample B being tested. Who does the drug testing for pro tennis?

Landis maintained the French drug testing office was ill equipped and biased as I recall but in reality he was guilty of using drugs. I just don't see Martina being guilty in this.

LOL T.G. Randini, Sherlock. How do we really know that's snow?

Count me among those who believe that Hingis is innocent.

"I am sure Safin has done so much he doesn't even have a septum anymore."

Now THAT was funny. :) MrsSanta is smiling somewhere.

Vitas doing cocaine? No way! :)

Oh my God. Poor Martina.

Biz? Bismarck? Where are you buddy?

ESPN readers, be careful. The comments there are ugly.

And poor Kolya too. :(
I am one totally distraught fanboy today. Sounds silly, but I am.

I am absolutely flabbergasted by this. This is a very sad day for tennis (this and the davydenko "saga").

I do nor beleive that you can compare Marion Jones and what is happening today to Hingis. This is preposterous. I hope Martina Hingis fights back though.

WOW

For the record, I've never been partcularly fond of Martina Hingis, but I just can't buy into this.

If someone said she had used HGH or a steroid of some sort as a means of recovery from injury (because for all the furor, doctors provide steroids relatively regularly for physical injuries), I would have thought, well, I can see that; I can see her having the desire to come back. But cocaine? Nope, I don't buy it.

Anyone got Stepanek's results?

It is sad. She is probably innocent but because of the athletes before her who have lied and cheated she will be presumed guilty until proven inocent.

"How do we really know that's snow?"

LOL, Sam. Oh, the weather outside is frightful....

I love Hingis. Always have. And maybe I'm just too cynical or completely whacked (shut up, Sam), but I don't find this to be such a huge deal. I mean, weren't rumors of her retirement floating around anyway? She'd struggled so much with injuries lately. That's the part that saddens me, not this. I'm almost relieved that she's calling it a career. It was too hard to watch her struggle as she has lately.

As for the cocaine, pfft. Even if it was true, I wouldn't really care. If I didn't like watching athletes who blew stuff up their nose, I wouldn't watch much NBA basketball. :)

The timing of this is very suspicious and I don't think we have the whole story yet. Martina may have been forced to make this announcement if the powers that be were going public. In a way, it takes the heat off the betting scandal, but in another sense, it just emphasizes that all is not well in the world of tennis. It's really unfortunate and I'm very sad to see the sport I love so sullied. My inclination is to give Martina the benefit of the doubt.

were both tests done by the same lab? if so, how can a lab mix up the same sample twice?

i would like to believe hingis on this one but will wait for the other half of the story.

Oh no. :(
That's so terrible for poor Martina Hingis... So sad.
She was such a likeable player (and so cute).

This is absurd. Martina Hingis has always conducted herself with class, composure and honesty. I sincerely doubt that she was blowing lines of cocaine during the fortnight.

Athletes are placed in increasingly difficult positions in trying to clear their names when drug tests reveal violations. These tests are not fool proof by any stretch of the imagination, yet disputing there results to clear your name can take years, a significant amount of money, and immeasurable embarrassment.

Tennis is in need of a major face lift.

Yeah, it seems wrong to throw this in with Landis, Bonds and Jones, but it'll happen anyway.

I'm sad that this happened with Martina, as I've always liked her. On the plus side, I've always been curious as to how many players in the 70s and 80s did coke, and this may get people talking about it.

If she had really done coke, she would be insane to submit to a hair test.

On a moral level, I personally don't think this is substantially worse than if she likes to get drunk once and a while.

Hey everyone: it gets weirder - here is the statement issued moments ago by Larry Scott. I will post any further developments in this fast-moving story as Comments, not as separate posts:

The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has not received any official information regarding the positive doping test result referred to by Martina Hingis in her press conference today, and as a result we are not in a position to comment on the matter.

However, it is important to remember that in the area of anti-doping, all players are presumed innocent until proven otherwise. The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to doping in sport, and fully supports the Tennis Anti-Doping Program. The Tennis Anti-Doping program is both rigorous and comprehensive, and is designed to keep our sport clean.

With respect to her retirement announcement, Martina Hingis is a tremendous champion and a fan favorite the world over. In her most recent comeback, she proved again that she can perform at the very highest levels of the game. Martina will always be respected for not only having achieved the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour World Number #1 ranking, her five Grand Slam singles titles, nine Grand Slam women’s doubles titles and two Sony Ericsson Championships titles, but just as much for her incredible touch, on-court intelligence and off-court professionalism.

I guess if coke were not banned, they would not release the results - law suit waiting to happen -but again Landis spent several million fighting the french authorities. The damage is done and why waste millions fighting to be able to play when you do not intend to play. I am sure her lawyers advised her on this course of action. You read how this would play out -- positive sample - hair sample negative - lab comes back with B sample positive = lawyer questions lab credibility = Lap spends anything to defend reputation as tester or their business is gone.

does that sound like something one would want to get into with out a clear outcome likely? What is there to lose (millions) and what is there to gain - no clear result.

[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.]

------------
Does that mean the samples were tampered with or does it mean they were left without surveillance (in a special chamber, locked away I don't know...)?

Right now I believe her 300% but this looks a bit like the Floyd-Landis-type-of-defense. Not very likely to succeed.

Is the "hair test" more valid?

C'mon, how stupid would you have to do to take a drug like that during Wimbledon, seriously. These days it feels like the ITF/ATP are the ones on drugs.

There is a long, exhaustive list of substances which are regulated by the ITF... some are very surprising to me- like pseudoephidrine? it's in the allergy medicine I take... though it's also found in crystal meth

http://www.itftennis.com/antidoping/rules/list.asp

Pete-that statement by Larry Scott was on the BBC website an hour ago. Where you been?

I think things are getting out of hand -- I worked at a University Mediacal Hospital where pregnant patients were accused of using LSD with potential that Children's Services would be called and the newborn could be taken away. We found out quite a while later that the test in fact. was related to a drug given to women while they are in labor!! All of the issues in Tennis are of grave concern and Hingis seems to be the last person to be involved - drug tests can frequently be wrong! I think Davydenko is being treated unfairly -- maybe it's harder for him to play because of all the attacks and innuendo! I know it would affect me mentally.

where is Dunlop when you need him?

"These days it feels like the ITF/ATP are the ones on drugs."

LOL. Is Larry Scott tested regularly?

I can see some replay of the Rafa-wawrinka match but I'm feeling so completely down, I don't even want to watch the match....this is so depressing.

Poor Martina, I loved her game and talent the first time I saw her playing as a teenager in the mid 1990s, before she started winning slams. Allegations of doping have created a fog of suspicion on many althletes. Here’s an interesting related article in The New York Times during the 2006 Wimbledon:

“Flawed Science Is Creating a Cloud. Is Nadal entangled by innuendo or evidence? It's impossible to tell.
http://tinyurl.com/2jydgm

The WTA doesn't know anything about it???? How is that possible???

Years of building a sterling reputation has been completely wrecked in one day...unfreakingbelievable...

And the ATP should seriously lay off Koyla...dude is under immense pressure not only has he been accused of match-fixing, now he's become the scape goat for 'lack of effort"...pfffftttt...this whole day just sucks...

I hate to say it, but I think Hingis has the problem. Though I dont have any high opinion of the Anti-Doping Agency, (they should prosecute only those who do drugs intentionally, not those due to some honest mistakes), their test results are pretty accurate.

It is definitely a letdown, tennis players are "supposed" to have more integrity and better morals than other "street" players. I guess the drug problem cuts through all socio-economic strata.

I am no big fan of Davydenko; Rafa is my dude, however, they should leave Kolya alone, I dont think he wants to loose at all. Davy wants his dough, you dont get money by loosing.

Anyone who says "taking cocaine" has clearly never done the drug-- that's completely the wrong verb to use in relation to that drug-her english is perfect, so a "lost in translation" excuse doesn't work either-- she sounds like she's talking about some dream she had 10 years ago and she can't quite remember the details-- cocaine user? No.
I'm curious as to what else could possibly produce a positive- and like most other drug tests- there probably are some other things that could have done this...

audrey, robbyfan, E$: stay within the TW site rules please.

"I guess the drug problem cuts through all socio-economic strata."

I tend to assume that most super-wealthy young people has done cocaine at one time or another, unless they're surrounded by family. The other exception is if they're in a sport that constantly tests for it, which is why I find this weird.

Oh my god!

If she is innocent, what a horrible way to go. And I have to agree that a lone cocaine positive test, at this point in her career, at Wimbledon and no other places, does seem at the least peculiar!

What a day.

According to http://www.askdocweb.com/falsepositives.html

Apparently ammoxicillin frequently causes false positives for cocaine.

Moderator please link to site rules, as they are made easily accessible. Thanks.

Does Wimby have its own testing program, apart from that run by the WTA?

I have my doubts about this story, but as an attorney I certainly understand why -- at her age and with recurrent injuries -- she may not be up for the long, expensive, and mentally draining mountain she and her attorneys would have to climb to establish her innocence.

My apologies. That should read AREN'T made easily accessible.

John: OK. http://tennisworld.typepad.com/tennisworld/tw_site_rules/index.html

The TW Site rules are always available in the box at the top RHS of the blog.

After years of believing the protestations of countless champions--the last of which is Marian Jones--I feel so jaded and cynical. As I believe Lily Tomlin (loosely) said....

The more cynical I become, I just can't catch up.

May I tweak that Lily Tomlin quote a little...

The more cynical I become, I just can't keep up.

Moderator: put on a pot of coffee, this could be a busy day :)

Thanks for linking the rules, I was curious as well!

Ugh. I feel absolutely sick to my stomach reading about this. Martina Hingis was my #1 tennis player before Roger Federer showed up. Last year when Roger had the Best!Year!Ever! and Hingis had a comeback all the way to the top 8 of the world, it was the best tennis year of my life.

I'm so sad she's retiring again so soon. But I'm just sick about these drug accusations. I refuse to believe it. I support her 110%. Ugh. I hate this.

I'm not sure how I violated the rules.

Martina, I hope you read this (I always say that). Screw the drug thing I want to thank you so much for entertaining me for these past 2 years. You are my FAVORITE player and I always try and watch you either on TV or on Youtube and it makes me sad that you will no longer be playing tennis professionally anymore. Im going to miss seeing you on TV, but take care and dont worry too much about this.

Today is a sad day for me because I am a huge tennis fan and a huge fan of yourself. If you aren't playing then it really doesn't matter as much anymore. I know you are a smart person because you were smart and talented on the court. I believe you. Your statement was voiced very well. No coke addict could write that.

TAKE CARE MARTINA !!!!

Sorry for any possible violation of the site rules. I wasn't trying to; just don't fine me $2,000!

not sure either on any of you three villians!

i am beyond shocked
I cannot believe that Martina Hingis is being put in the position to end her career this way. How very sad for such a great champion.
I firmly believe in her innocence.

How does one test positive if one hasn't taken anything? Anyhow, I'm not gonna say anything since I don't think I have the right before any better knowledge, so she's innocent in my eyes.

Robbyfan, admission is always the most difficult step. :))

Ah. Doesn't matter, but I think any possible interpretation could be made under the no baiting rule. Not a big deal one way or the other.

All I was trying to say was that it's mere speculation to understand the validity of the ADA testing procedures because none of us are innately familiar with the process.

I read the rule, since I dont use profanity, nor have any words to do with sex; I guess I must be accused of "baiting, berating".
However, I just ask for some more responsible comments, especially concerning drug accusations against my favorite player, Rafa.

I guess Rafa just makes me "hot", or it is now too "sexual"?

Wonder if this will be posted.

What in the world is going on in the ATP and WTA? False drug accusations (I beleive Hingis 100%)and biased chair umpires (at every match Davydenko plays these days, or so it seems). I fear for the tennis tours.

"Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night."

Grant: I think the Moderator will need something stronger than coffee after fighting battle on the previous thread ... :-)

Im stunned by this for sure..i love martina...

and Sherlock, Im totally with ya on this... you posted it so I wont duplicate here...

its just that the press will go nuts over this, sadly, people love a controversy

Personally, I was never a Hingis fan - BUT I always respect a comeback story, including hers. And while I might get a giggle out of the old Gerulaitis legends, both the idea that cocaine would be considered "performance-enhancing" and the thought of Swiss Miss indulging in even the rarest recreational toot are simply preposterous. I'm sorry she's been accused of something so insane - and even sorry that this is a reason to retire, especially as she's been playing well. I'll be signing up for the Hingis fan club now.

What in heaven's name is going on in tennis? It's all gone mad.

Sam,
Agree with your post at 3:01 PM. Today is a sad and shocking day for tennis. Fed/Nalby starts in less than 10 minutes. Too bad, I'm at work as usual.

Tim: You're agreeing with Sherlock? Are you taking something? :-))

I'm still in shock abou this news.

In shock about the Hingis news, not about Tim & Sherlock agreeing. :-)

E$: Actually, if you look across at the Crisis Center thread, you'll find that my compensation for this job is directly linked to the product of fines collected and my WTA/ATP ranking points at the end of the year.

I think Pete can give me a bonus for effort, probably to double the formula...