Hingis won’t defend herself anymore
Martina Hingis has dropped her battle to clear her name, WTA chief executive Larry Scott confirmed on Monday.The former number one announced her surprise retirement last November as she revealed a positive test for cocaine from Wimbledon last summer.
At the time, the 27-year-old said she was completely innocent and vowed to fight the charges.
Scott said at the Australian Open that Hingis had told him she is giving up the fight of an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.
“I spoke the last week with her and it said me that she will not appeal to the CAS,” said Scott.
The ITF announced on January 4 that the five-time Grand Slam champion had been suspended for two years and was to return 129,481 dollars in prize money.
“Martina said to me that the situation is frustrating, and that the process is long and costs much money,” added Scott.
“I met with her in (November in) Madrid and spoke the week on the phone,” said Scott. “I believe Martina is still trying to assess exactly what happened to her.”
Hingis was to have based her defence on a negative hair strand analysis, which she financed after hearing news of the positive test. Her lawyers said that the A and B samples of her urine could have also been switched by accident or contaminated.
So here’s the thing - I really can’t respect this decision. I realize that it may be a waste of time in Martina’s eyes when all is said and done, but she isn’t even trying. I consider this an acceptance and near admittance of guilt, and a serious letdown for her fans.
I also have two forensic science degrees, and while I commend her testing on her own, I gotta say that I would ask some serious questions of how often of a user or how much you’d need to use for hair to contain the traces needed to show up in tests. I don’t think she really had any alternatives, but it probably can’t be called evidence without understanding the answers to those questions. (Note my degrees aren’t in toxicology.)
Why is she giving up so easily?
