Another One Snorts Bites the Dust

Martina Hingis, former world tennis #1 and five-time Grand Slam champion, shockingly retired for the second time after admitting that she tested positive for cocaine at Wimbledon this year. She denies that she used cocaine and says she's leaving (for good, this time) because she doesn't want to spend the time and effort fighting the results.

(To borrow from an e-mail that I wrote earlier:)

Cocaine use by an athlete typically means you a) really have a problem and/or b) can't be serious about whatever sport you're playing. Len Bias was probably the former, and you see what happened to him. You're asking your body to do a lot if you're going to push it to the edge and use cocaine on top of that.

I don't buy her denial at all. She came out of the blue with this one, and now they can't do anything to really check it out. The only reason she's not going to jail like Marion Jones is because BALCO didn't give it to her and her "dealer" wasn't a part of a federal investigation. Instead, she just up and retired before it could become an issue.

It's actually sad because she really was a talented youngster. I sat courtside and watched her at the U.S. Open this past September and she looked way off her form of 10 years ago, both mentally and physically. Her heyday ended the same day the Williams' began. It became apparent that these girls were too big and strong for her game. She was better off finding a new job anyway unless she was happy just hovering in the top 20.

But if she does have a drug problem, I sincerely hope she takes care of that first.