The second retirement from tennis, this time under a drugs cloud at the age of just 27, closes another chapter in the remarkable career of 'Swiss Miss' Martina Hingis.

Born in Slovakia, she was an amazingly precocious talent who found success early and struggled to fulfil her early potential, despite winning an incredible five Grand Slam singles titles (three Australian Opens, one Wimbledon, and one US Open) and becoming the youngest women's No 1 at the age of 16.

The daughter of two accomplished tennis players and named after Martina Navratilova, it appeared that Hingis' future was already mapped out for her, and she began to make good on that promise by becoming at 14 the youngest player to win match at a Grand Slam, reaching the second round of the Australian Open in 1995.

Her career trajectory was staggering as she progressed quickly to become the youngest Wimbledon champion when she teamed with Helena Suková to win the women's doubles title at the age of 15 years and 9 months.

1997 proved to a pivotal year as Hingis took the Australian Open before breaking yet another record by becoming the youngest singles champion at Wimbledon since Lottie Dod in 1887 by beating Jana Novotná. She then stormed to victory at the US Open, her third Grand Slam title of the year by beating Venus Williams, and only the French title eluded her as she lost in the final to Iva Majoli.

Hingis managed a remarkable run of four doubles titles in 1998, in the Australian Open with Mirjana Lucic and the other three events with Novotná), while also taking the Australian singles crown, beating Conchita Martinez. But she lost narrowly to Lindsay Davenport in a closely-fought US final

1999 began brightly with a third consecutive Australian title before suffering a catastrophic meltdown in the French Open final against Steffi Graf, throwing away an almost certain victory to lose 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, and suffering the ignomy of a first round Wimbledon defeat to Jelena Dokic.

Hingis's amazing run in Melbourne came to a crushing halt in the shape of Lindsay Davenport in 2000, but she recovered to put only to lose a thrilling quarter-final in a titantic struggle with Venus Williams at Wimbledon later that year.

By then, the world number one was facing the threat of more powerful players and she was comprehensively out-hit by Jennifer Capriati, despite reaching her fifth Australian final in 2001.

Capriati then won a Melbourne rematch in stifling conditions a year later but it was becoming more apparent that Hingis's powers were on the wane.

Unable to recover from a series of niggling ankle injuries and finding it hard to deal with the hard-hitting game of younger stars, she announced her retirement at the age of just 22 in February 2003.

Yet to the surprise of many she made a comeback in the Thailand Open in Pattaya in 2005, only to crash out disappointingly to German player Marlene Weingartner in the first round.

Despite being torn between a move back into the spotlight or to remain in the comfort zone, Hingis was encouraged enough to return to the WTA Tour in 2006, winning the Italian Open in May, although many of her critics suggested that she was past her best.

But despite a number of tour wins and clawing her way back to become World No 6, her form was inconsistent and it was no surprise when she called a press conference where she was due to announce her second retirement.

However, if the decision was expected, the manner of it certainly was not as Hingis admitted to testing positive for cocaine during Wimbledon in June 2007, and although she has vowed to clear her name and is unlikely to face criminal charges, her exit from the sport under a cloud of suspicion leaves her reputation severely tarnished.