AHN News
London, England (AHN) - The International Tennis Federation on Friday said that world number one tennis star Martina Hingis has been banned from playing for two years because she tested positive for cocaine at Wimbledon last year.
ITF announced that an independent anti-doping tribunal found that Hingis had committed an offense. Hingis has denied using cocaine, but the tribunal rejected arguments that the sample tested was not hers, the Associated Press reports.
Hingis, 27, had announced her retirement on Nov. 1, the same day that she revealed she had tested positive for cocaine on a test.
But unlike some sports, another tennis star says that drugs aren't widespread in tennis anyway because they don't enhance performance.
After learning that Hingis had been banned for two years, American tennis star Venus Williams told Agency France Press that she would give Hingis the benefit of the doubt over whether the cocaine use charges were true.
Williams told reporters "there are very few" cases of cocaine use in tennis because it does nothing to help a tennis player.
She explained that taking the drug doesn't calm a player's nerves or enhance their play as it might in track and field or other sports. She explained that tennis was "definitely" more mental ability and skill, so cocaine didn't enhance a tennis player's game.
"There is no magic pill for that," Williams was quoted as saying by AFP.
Hingis, a former five-time Grand Slam champion had only returned to tennis in 2005 after being out for four years because of injuries. She has three weeks to contest the tribunal's decision.
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