“Throughout my career, I have always been open and honest with you. I have been accused by an outsource testing company of taking cocaine during the Championships at Wimbledon.

I find this accusation so horrendous, so monstrous, that I have decided to confront it head-on by talking to the press.

My weapon on the tennis court is and always was one single thing – the game, the ingenuity on court. And for this style of tennis, there is only one performance enhancer – the love of the game.

They say that cocaine increases self-confidence and creates a type of euphoria. I don’t know. I only know that if I were to try to hit the ball while in any state of euphoria, it simply wouldn’t work.

Expert View

I don’t believe she was ever innocent in her life, certainly not as an athlete in a confrontation sport

Simon Barnes

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BACKGROUND

• Hingis makes exit under cloud of suspicion

• The smile that sounded alarm bells

• Criminal prosecution unlikely says Scotland Yard

• Martina Hingis's statement in full

BACKGROUND

• What the Swiss papers say about Hingis

• The smile that sounded alarm bells

• Martina Hingis factfile

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I would think that it would be impossible for anyone to maintain the coordination required to play top-class tennis while under the influence of drugs. And I know one other thing – I would personally be terrified of taking drugs.

When I was informed that the A test I took following my defeat at Wimbledon apparently came back positive for a cocaine metabolite, I was shocked and appalled.

I immediately took the hair test, which can prove whether or not someone has taken cocaine. This test of course produced a negative result, the same negative result as all the countless doping tests that I have taken over the last 12 years.

However, the B test from Wimbledon once again produced the opposite result – positive for a metabolite that apparently stays in the system for some time following cocaine use.

My 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.

However, this attorney and others have pointed out to me that a case like this one can sometimes take years to resolve, especially if both sides repeatedly appeal the case and take it to the next level.

And this is the reason for my announcement. I have no desire to spend the next several years of my life reduced to fighting against the doping officials.

I am frustrated and angry. I believe that I am absolutely 100 per cent innocent. The fact is that it is more and more difficult for me, physically, to keep playing at the top of the game. And frankly, accusations such as these don’t exactly provide me with motivation to even make another attempt to do so.

I attempted a comeback after a three-year break and succeeded in winning three tournaments, bringing my ranking to six in the world. But I’m now 27, and realistically too old to play top-class tennis.

So now I’m standing before you, confronting the situation. Today I also informed my sponsors. And considering this situation, my age and the problems I have been having with my hip, I have decided to no longer play tennis on tour.

There is only one more thing for me to do – to thank all of you for many years of goodwill, and also to assure you: I have never taken drugs.”