Tennis - Martina Hingis

[Cloverjo]

While looking at the schedule for the current tournament in Miami, I saw that Martina Hingis is playing in the doubles. I thought she tested positive for cocaine and promptly re-retired without defending herself, or have I missed something?

[Buenchico]

From Wikipedia:
"In November [2007], Hingis called a press conference to announce that she was under investigation for testing positive for benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine.

Her urine sample contained an estimated 42 nanograms per millilitre of benzoylecgonine,less than half the level required for a positive confirmatory test for cocaine in the workplace under US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration guidelines. The International Tennis Federation's report on the matter mentions that "the very low estimated concentration of benzoylecgonine (42 ng/ml) was such that it would go unreported in many drug testing programmes such as that of the US military, which uses a screening threshold of 150 ng/ml." As the amount was so minute, Hingis appealed, arguing the likely cause was contamination rather than intentional ingestion. In January 2008, an ITF tribunal suspended Hingis from the sport for two years, effective from October 2007".

She seems to have been playing competitively ever since the ban ended, so perhaps you have indeed 'missed something' (including three successive Wimbledon titles!).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martina_Hingis

[Butterbun]

I've seen her in a doubles competition but I don't think she's playing singles, or would again.

[Cloverjo]

Thanks, Buenchico. I had thought the ban was more recent, and thought she hadn't appealed, so I was wrong about that. However, her singles and doubles Wimbledon titles came before the ban; 1996-1998.

[Buenchico]

>>>However, her singles and doubles Wimbledon titles came before the ban; 1996-1998

From my link:
"On 3 July [2011], Hingis partnering Lindsay Davenport won the Wimbledon Ladies' Invitation Doubles title defeating Martina Navratilova and Jana Novotná in the final"

"Hingis and Davenport successfully defended their Wimbledon Ladies' Invitation Doubles title in 2012, again beating Martina Navratilova and Jana Novotná in the final"

"Hingis won the Ladies' Invitation Doubles for a third year in a row [2013] at Wimbledon, again with Davenport. They beat Jana Novotná and Barbara Schett in the final"

[Cloverjo]

Ah ok. I missed those! Do they really count as Wimbledon titles, though?

[jim360]

Well they sort of do, though of course hardly as prestigious as the main titles.