Martina Hingis was one of the greatest tennis players of her generation, but it seems that her legacy will for ever be tainted by the way in which she left the sport after revealing in Switzerland yesterday that she had tested positive for cocaine at Wimbledon.

Announcing her retirement, Hingis, who strongly denies having taken the drug, said that she provided a positive urine sample after her ignominious straight-sets, third-round defeat by an American, Laura Granville. The Swiss had nearly become a first-round casualty when Naomi Cavaday, the young British hope, wasted two match points. However, such details are suddenly irrelevant today as the subject of drugs in sport casts its shadow over yet another career.

Hingis won five grand-slam singles titles and £10 million in prize-money during her career, including the Wimbledon singles title in 1997, but the £27,050 she took for getting to the third round last summer may now have to be handed back.

Hingis, 27, who also said that tests on the B sample had confirmed the presence of a cocaine metabolite, described the allegation against her as “monstrous” and “horrendous” and said that she is “frustrated and angry” and “absolutely 100 per cent innocent”. However, simultaneously announcing her retirement, she said that she had “no desire to spend the next several years of my life reduced to fighting against the doping officials”.

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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

• Criminal prosecution unlikely says Scotland Yard

• Martina Hingis factfile

Related Links

• The smile that sounded alarm bells

• Drugs controversy crushes Swiss Miss

• Martina Hingis's statement in full

Multimedia

• Martina Hingis - a career in pictures

Cocaine can increase self-confidence and it is on the official banned list, notably for its powers to improve alertness. However, its detrimental effects on the control and aggression that are essential to become a tennis champion make it extremely hard to believe that an elite athlete might genuinely use it with the intention of enhancing performance.

The more likely alternative is that Hingis used it recreationally, but she dismissed that suggestion. “They say that cocaine increases self-confidence and creates a type of euphoria,” she said. “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.

“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. I would personally be terrified of taking drugs.”

What is certain is that Hingis’s revelations surprised the entire sport. The announcement that she was to stage a press conference was met with predictions that injury and fitness issues had forced her into permanent retirement. She did say that “I’m now 27 years old and realistically too old to play top-class tennis”, but it seems that no one knew about the doping issue.

The Women’s Tennis Association and senior administrators in the International Tennis Federation said that they had no idea that Hingis had a positive doping case to answer. A WTA Tour statement emphasised that “it is important to remember that . . . all players are presumed innocent until proven otherwise” and added that “with respect to her retirement announcement, Martina Hingis is a tremendous champion and a fan favourite the world over”.

Hingis’s statement yesterday suggested that she does have evidence to argue her innocence. She claimed that there had been “various inconsistencies with the urine sample”, 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” and that she had taken a “hair test” that had shown no signs of cocaine use. All of that may remain central to her legacy. The question, for now, is whether she is going to defend it.