The contrast could hardly have been starker. When a smiling, fresh-faced Martina Hingis became the youngest winner of a Wimbledon title in 1996 – three months short of her 16th birthday – by taking the women’s doubles crown with Helena Sukova, of Czechoslovakia, the “Swiss Miss” was well on the way to fulfilling the destiny that, perhaps, was determined long before she even hit her first ball.

But yesterday, announcing her retirement after testing positive for cocaine, an ashen-faced Hingis looked as if she had simply had enough.

Named after Martina Navratilova, the former world No 1, by her mother, Melanie Molitor, Hingis began playing tennis at the age of 2 and was a prodigious junior. Under her mother’s tutelage, Hingis broke a string of junior records, winning the title at the French Open in 1993 at the age of 12 and going on to win the girls’ title at Wimbledon the next year.

Having turned professional just a month after her 14th birthday, it was only two years before she won the first of her 43 singles titles, in Filderstadt.

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

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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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• Criminal prosecution unlikely says Scotland Yard

The same year she reached the semi-finals of the US Open, a precursor to her annus mirabilis in 1997 when she reached all four grand-slam finals, triumphing at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open and failing only at the French Open, where she was upset by Iva Majoli, of Croatia.

Domination in women’s tennis was nothing new, of course. Chris Evert, of the United States, Navratilova, the Czech-born left-hander who became an American citizen, Steffi Graf, of Germany, and Monica Seles, Yugoslav-born and later of the US, each mopped up stacks of grand-slam titles.

What made Hingis so different, however, was that she lacked the natural power of many of her rivals and had to find a different way to win. That manifested itself in her tactical superiority, soaking up her opponents’ pace and moving the ball around as if she had more time than everyone else, the mark of a great player.

“When I was a little girl, I would constantly be playing against amateurs, veterans or much older girls and I had to find ways to win,” Hingis has said. “I played the angles, I had to stick to my strategy. I would spot the weakness in an amateur player and I would pound away at it.”

Her fourth grand-slam title came in Australia in 1998 but the arrival of the Americans, Venus and Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport, meant that it was another year before she won No 5, again in Australia.

That victory, though, was overshadowed by the first of many controversies that accompanied Hingis in her career. When she said of her opponent in the Melbourne final, Amélie Mauresmo, of France: “She’s here with her girlfriend. She’s half a man already,” her popularity began to dwindle.

She continued to win titles, but things became worse when she suffered an on-court meltdown in that year’s French Open final against Graf. Leading by a set and 2-0, Hingis was on course to complete a full set of grand-slam crowns when a line-call went against her.

Hingis stamped her feet, then broke one of the golden rules of tennis, going round to her opponent’s side of the net to complain. A point penalty ensued and, with her concentration broken, Hingis crumbled. She had to be persuaded by her mother to return for the trophy presentation.

The wheels came off the next month when she lost to Jelena Dokic, the adopted Australian, in the first round at Wimbledon, and her run of Australian Open titles was ended by Davenport in the final the next January. She won nine titles in 2000 but none was in a grand-slam event and after losing to Jennifer Capriati in the final of the Australian Open for the second successive year, in 2002, her injuries – in particular to her left foot and ankle, began to cause concern. In February 2003, she announced an indefinite break from the game.

Her decision to return, made public in late 2005, was not the biggest surprise given how close she had stayed to the game, but of greater wonder was how well she performed.

Almost four years out of the game had not blighted her tactical nous and within eight months she was back in the top ten. Some felt it a sad indictment of the women’s game, but few players have possessed her raw ability.

Hingis still had the capacity to surprise, announcing her engagement to Radek Stepanek, the Czech player, late last year, a most unlikely alliance. That it lasted only until August was less of a surprise. She won her 43rd and last title in February this year, but her body was giving in and early defeats at both Wimbledon and the US Open signalled the end.

Cocaine crimes

1997: Mats Wilander, the former world No 1 from Sweden, and Karel Novacek, of Slovakia, banned for three months

2002: Lourdes Dominguez Lino, of Spain, also banned for three months

Also: In 1981, Yannick Noah, of France, admits taking marijuana before matches