Hingis Banned After Cocaine Appeal Rejected

The former world No1 Martina Hingis has been banned for two years after being found guilty of taking cocaine at Wimbledon, the International Tennis Federation announced today.

Hingis, 27, had appealed against her positive test in November, claiming she felt "frustrated and angry because I believe I'm 100% innocent". At a packed press conference she also announced her retirement from the sport, saying that she had "no desire to spend the next seven years fighting doping officials."

Today, however, the ITF ended the fight for her by rejecting her appeal and handing down a two-year ban starting from October 1 2007. Hingis will have to forfeit the prize money she earned at last year's Wimbledon and all subsequent tournaments.

A statement from the ITF confirmed: "Following a two-day hearing in December 2007, an independent anti-doping tribunal found that a sample provided by Ms Hingis on June 29 2007 at the Wimbledon Championships in London, England, had tested positive for a metabolite of cocaine.

"The tribunal rejected the suggestion made on behalf of Ms Hingis that there were doubts about the identity and/or integrity of the sample attributed to her. The tribunal also rejected Ms Hingis' plea of No (or No Significant) Fault or Negligence, on the basis that no mitigation was possible as it had not been shown how the cocaine entered her system."

Hingis was a prodigy who, in 1996, became the youngest ever Wimbledon champion when she won the ladies doubles with Helena Sukova at the age of just 15 before going on to win five grand slam singles titles - three Australian Opens, one US Open and Wimbledon in 1997 - and 43 WTA singles titles.

After retiring from the sport aged 22 because of ligament injuries in both ankles, Hingis returned at the end of 2005, but although she reached No6 in the world she was never able to recapture her former glories. Her last game was a second-round loss to Peng Shuai of China in Beijing on September 19.