Face Of The Day

Martina Hingis and her new husband Thibault Hutin.

Why does this photo make me laugh?

"I Had No Life"

AP

In this Aug. 28, 2007 file photo, Martina Hingis of Switzerland returns a volley to Mathilde Johansson of France at the US Open tennis tournament in New York.

::

How time flies.

PARIS — Martina Hingis won't make a comeback to competitive tennis.

The 29-year old Hingis, who retired after getting a two-year ban in 2007 for testing positive for cocaine, said Tuesday in an interview with L'Equipe that she is happy with her new life.

"I've got a nice house, my four horses," Hingis said. "On the tour, I had no life."

Hingis added that even without being tested positive, she likely would have retired.

"If I had won the four Grand Slam tournaments, maybe I would have continued," she said. "But I was on downslope. And I was suspended for two years, and that was it."

Hingis, who spent 209 weeks at No. 1 in the women's rankings and won five Grand Slam singles titles, said she went through hard times during her suspension.

"I didn't have the right to play any competition, even in another Olympic sport," she said. "I didn't have the right to feature in equestrian competition, even at an amateur level. ... I'm not sure I have completely recovered."

Hingis tested positive for cocaine after a third-round exit at Wimbledon in 2007. She denied using the drug.

Hingis said she learned that her suspension was over on Sept. 30 — her birthday — a few days after undergoing a doping test at her home.

"They thought maybe, like you, that I was planning a second comeback," she said.

Hingis quit tennis for the first time in 2002 because of foot and leg injuries. When she returned to the circuit in 2006, Hingis reached two Grand Slam quarterfinals, won two smaller tournaments and finished the year at No. 7.

For so long it seemed she had no life without tennis. Then she came back and discovered she had no life with it.

I'm not sure any of this surprises anyone, but there it is.

Idle Chit Chat - Post Masters Cup Edition

by Savannah

A Different View of the TMC

Nadal & Ferrer Battle Everyday, Roddick & Blake Eat & Sleep Together
13 November 2007 15:01:31

It’s been a sort of custom for ATP players to form their cliques among themselves. The arrogant Americans and the relaxed Spaniards have became two of the biggest cliques. The Americans will joke around while warming up, while the Spaniards love to use PS2 to warm up.

Nadal told the media that he specially brought PS2 along this time, this machine has accompanied him all around the world these past few years and he has made a number of new friends. “As long as Ferrer is in the same tournament with me, we will stay together and we will have a game after our matches. What do we play? Of course it’s football. We don’t talk football nor play football but everything’s clear after we sit down and played a few rounds on PS2."

As they are both Spaniards, both Nadal and Ferrer became best friends early on as they were ostracized for not being able to communicate in English. Both their English are so-so and their introverted characters made them lazy to initiate conversations with others, so cooping up in their hotel rooms playing video games became their favourite pastime. Nadal further added that veteran Moya will join in if he is in a good mood. This has became a tradition among the Spanish sportsmen.

However, the united Spaniards have a tough problem; who is better at playstation football has long became a debatable question among themselves. Ferrer claimed he’s the best and defeating Nadal is as easy as cutting vegetables; Nadal said Ferrer has never defeated him before. Guess there will never be a conclusion on who is the better between the two of them.

Note: I couldn't find the Roddick/Blake references. I'm sure that the headline doesn't mean what it appears to mean. This is not a slash forum.

Original Article in Chinese

In The Eyes Of The Chauffeurs: Nadal’s A Good Kid, Djokovic Very Well-mannered

13 November 2007 11:31

They are up close and personal with the players…..

Watching the television broadcast, you may be a dozen kilometers or even ten thousand kilometers away from the ATP Masters Cup players while you may only be 50 metres away from the ATP Masters Cup players in the stadium. But there are groups of people whom can be up close and personal with the players everyday; chauffeurs, chefs, physiotherapists, ball-kids……. You may hardly pay any attention to them but it is precisely the work of these groups of hardworking people whom are safeguarding the basic necessities and daily lives of the players. From a certain angle, they are actually the players’ left hand and right hand people in Shanghai. They can be very close or very far to the players.....

Journalist: Zhang Wei
Subject: Xiao Chen (alias)
Occupation: Chef
Working Hours: 8am to 10pm or later

30 "Catties" In 3 Days
Note: I assume that by "catties" they mean trays or plates or something other than felines.

Italian Pasta
For the past few days, Xiao Chen’s biological clock has been a little erratic, from the 9 to 5 in the hotel to late nights at the stadium, he feels that he has been very forgetful. Since last Sunday, together with dozens of chefs from the Hilton Hotel, they have been providing food for the players and 2,000 VIPs.

“We have been cooking in the big tents all day long, let alone the matches, I don’t even know how the players look like. We have to guarantee piping hot food to be delivered to the players within 20 minutes for breakfast to dinner and even additional meals.” According to the Hilton Hotel’s requests, each kitchen has to provide 20 different types of dishes for the players and VIPs everyday. The only difference between the players and VIPs is, the former chooses from the menus while the latter are buffet style. This has also decided that Xiao Chen and his colleagues are unable to leave their working positions except for their normal rest.

“We have started work the day before the first match start as the players are already training and they require meals.” Xiao Chen added that the most popular food among the players are Italian pasta, chicken, salads, sandwiches, bananas and cheese.

“They ate up 30 catties of Italian pasta in 3 days and this is what we expected, so we have to stock up within 2 hours. We are running out of supplies based on their consumption.” Xiao Chen said that actually the players’ meals quantity are not big, but in order to maintain their physical ability, they have to eat frequently. “The players also know that Chinese delicacies are much more delicious than Western delicacies but they are still used to having Western food before matches and only when they have completed their matches, they are able to relax and have a hot plate dish or thick soya sauce Chinese meal.”

Subject: Liao Zheng (alias)
Occupation: Chauffeur
Working Hours: 24/7


Strange If The Players Are Not Late

About 15 Mercedes Benz C305 are displayed at the players’ entrance, chauffeurs in groups of 2 or 3 will stand under the hot sun or sit at the lounge to watch the matches. Liao Zheng took a pail of water to clean the car while the player was training. “He needs the car urgently during noon and I did not even have time to have my breakfast, not to mention washing the car. Now that they are training, I am making full use of the time to clean the car.” He never looked up while mumbling and gesturing at the same time as if afraid of any time delay.

For this year’s Shanghai Masters Cup, Liao Zheng and his colleagues are responsible for chauffeuring the players in Mercedes Benz C350 and are on standby 24/7. Liao Zheng has been doing this job for the 2nd year and this year he chose to chauffeur Doubles players instead of any famous ATP single players. “You don’t know but it’s very stressful, you have to chauffeur the players and are also responsible for their WAGs. There’s no rest at all.” Liao Zheng recalled, “The players have to attend commercial events before the tournament starts. I have to drive to and fro after the tournament starts. When the tournament is coming to an end, the WAGs will be busy shopping. I’m not exaggerating to say that my daily meals last year were bread.”

So, the experienced Liao Zheng this year chose to serve a pair of unknown doubles players instead. “The foreigners are very polite and very easily satisfied. They are very happy if you bring them to the temple or New World. They go to this 2 places year after year.”

Liao Zheng added that his colleagues will also gossip about their “passengers” in private, eg. Nadal obeys his uncle, a typical good kid, his manager is also Nalbandian’s manager; Djokovic is not as fierce as he looks, he’s very well-mannered and say thank you… When asked what is the common characteristic of the players? Liao Zheng blurted out, “Not punctual, they said they want to use the car at 10 but they will show up earliest at 11. It will be strange if they are punctual. Are you a reporter? I won’t say anymore. My superior has ordered that we are not supposed to talk to strangers. I will lose my rice bowl if I continue.”

SINA news China

Translations provided by Veyonce.

Wrap Up and Commentary on the TMC Shanghai 2007

For Craig's wrap-up of the 2007 Masters Cup, click here.

Martina Hingis News

Her ranking has been removed from the WTA official site.
Also found this gem on Off The Baseline



Exhibitions - ATP

Roger Federer vs Pete Sampras in Seoul



Rafael Nadal vs Richard Gasquet in Kuala Lumpur

Does anyone think they've paid Pete enough to lose to Roger?

Couple Alerts:


Serena is reported by two gossip sites and Page Six to be dating the rapper known as Common (real name Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. (born March 13, 1972). She's in his latest video which features Alicia Keys and Kerry Washington as well. Okay all you Astrology buffs. A Pisces man and a Libra woman. That's right, drag out your editions of "Linda Goodman's Love Signs" and see if this is a match made in heaven or would be better as a drive by.

• Okay was I the only one to notice that ROCK Mirka was wearing on the third finger of her left hand?! I was almost blinded by it and I was watching half a world away in my living room. Come on you Roger fans. Get to steppin'. Whazzup?!!!!

Serious Stuff

More on Nikolay's problems. I thought vengeance was a dish best served cold?

There has always been a suspicion, given Nikolay Davydenko's personal attack in April on Etienne de Villiers, the chief executive of the ATP, accusing him of incompetence, that the Russian has been a marked man. The world No4 remains under investigation after a match he was involved in during August in Poland was the subject of irregular betting patterns, but yesterday he won his appeal against a £1,000 fine for allegedly not trying hard enough during a defeat by Croatia's Marin Cilic in St Petersburg last month.

More HERE

Gold and Silver Exemptions for 2008 - WTA

Thanks to "Spiceboy" for posting the 2008 GOLD EXEMPT LIST

1. Henin
2. Sharapova
3. Jankovic

4. S. Williams*
5. Kuznetsova**
6. Ivanovic

7. Chakvetadze
8. V. Williams
9. Mauresmo
10. Petrova

11. Hantuchova
12. Bartoli
13. Hingis +

14. Vaidisova
15. Schnyder
16. Dementieva
17. Peer
18. Safina
19. Golovin
20. Bammer
20. Dulko (WC)
20. Sugiyama (WC)

Gold Exempt Emeritus: Lindsay Davenport

*S.Williams is #4 in Americas and Europe region
**Kuznetsova is #4 in Asia Pacific region

+ As of the WTA Tour ranking on the Monday after the US Open, September 10, 2007


2008 SILVER EXEMPT LIST

21. A. Bondarenko
22. Safarova
23. Szavay
24. Srebotnik
25. Schiavone
26. Li
27. Mirza
28. Pierce (SR 27)
29. Garbin
30. Zvonareva

31. A.Radwanska
32. Medina Garrigues
33. Krajicek
34. Santangelo
35. Kirilenko
36. Stosur
37. Danilidou
38. Azarenka
39. Paszek
40. Razzano
41. Vakulenko
42. Loit
43. Muller
44. Dushevina
45. K. Bondarenko
46. Jackson (SR 46)
47. Tu
48. Shaughnessy
49. Peng
50. Poutchkova
50. Pennetta (WC)
50. Vesnina (WC)

Odds and Ends

Donald Young and Steve Darcis are among those younger guns of the ATP who have played their way into the top 100 in time for the Australian Open.

Agnes Szavay is reported to be playing an exhibition match soon. I hope this means her back problems are better and that we'll see more of her in 2008.

The biggest bandwagons of 2007 have to be the ones featuring Novak Djokovic, David Nalbandian and David Ferrer. All three men secured wins over the top dogs after Wimbledon.

Most disappointing year on the WTA side has to go to Maria Sharapova. People jumped through hoops and did other gymnastic moves to try and secure her at least one slam this year and it didn't happen. She's still in the top ten though and unless everyone starts inhaling the baseline she'll end next year right about where she is now. I don't think Sveta will hold onto her number two ranking unless she out Jelena's Jelena.

Rafa is not going to make the South American swing in 2008 much to the disappointment of the TD's in Mexico and Buenos Aires. The Spanish press is reporting that he'll play Rotterdam and Dubai followed by Indian Wells and the the Davis Cup tie in Peru. Smart move on his part.

Funny how David Nalbandian is simply "Dahveed" now isn't it?

Some Final Thoughts

I need an explanation. Why is it other fandoms suffer through slams of their idol while fans of Roger Federer seem to do what I call swarming and proceed to give a verbal beat down to anyone who dares point out some of their FedGod's faults? Ask any fan of Andy Roddick for example what they've had to grin and bear over the years and you get an idea of what I'm talking about. Many of us Rafa fans get very upset by the slurs directed against him and we have forums to vent our anger but I don't see the swarming I see by Roger's fans. What about fans of Lleyton Hewitt? Martina Hingis? Justine Henin? Lleyton is regularly voted most hated. Justine has so many nicknames that could be considered slanderous it's not funny. And Martina, formerly famous for the tongue that knew no limits is now going to be the butt of baseline jokes the rest of her life.

And yet I don't see the swarming by their fans.

Dígame. Why is Roger considered above criticism when he so often leaves himself open to it? Sure he's answering the questions the reporters are asking him but he doesn't endear himself to everyone when he makes comments like the following made after his TMC match against Andy Roddick. I'm including the question for what will be obvious reasons.

Q. Watching last night's match against Andy, one was tempted to conclude he really lacks the tools and variety to challenge you, at least at the moment. If you compare tonight's match with yesterday's match, it's a similar pattern. When you're playing like this, are there any answers to your game you see on the horizon in the men's game? Is there any difference between the challenge you felt in the course of the match between tonight and last night?

ROGER FEDERER: Well, look, it's always been my big strength. Once I get on a roll it's hard to stop me. It's always been like this.

Even in my young days, you know, as a junior, I was always so talented. Back then I didn't work hard enough yet to put it all together, you know, for, I don't know, let's say six games or, you know, two sets or something. Now I can. Now I can even pull it even through even longer and against the best in the world. I've beaten Rafa before 6-Love in a set. I've beaten the best very convincingly. But for me it's great to do it over and over again, you know, over many months, many years.

When it happens again for me, it's not as big of a surprise because this is why I work my tail off basically. That it all pays off in the end, it seems it's paying off again, you know, with my good preparation, my good scheduling. It's always nice when you can beat guys like Andy or Rafa, obviously.

I have no problem with most of what he says here except for that one highlighted phrase. He's smart enough to know that line isn't necessary. All he had to say was that he learned to pace himself and focus on his strengths and everything else is okay.

Then there was this gem.
Q. How would you coach someone to beat Roger Federer?

A.What would you say? "Don't even try, pal," he said with a grin. "It's going to be really, really difficult, you know. You're probably not going to win, but you can always try. I'm just kidding. I don't know. I'm not a coach just yet. I'm still a player, so I won't answer."

Then there's this classic from 2005:

No Trouble for Federer as He Cruises Into Semifinals

But Federer does not expect Hewitt to take the risk of radically changing his counterpunching baseline game. "He could, you know," Federer said. "But then again, he could even run into the knife more brutally."

Please keep in mind I'm just asking the question Roger fans. With all his PR savvy and IMG support shouldn't someone tell him to STFU and not take the bait reporters throw at him? And what would you all say if someone else said the exact same things and was not named Roger Federer?

Lions and Tigers and Bears! OH MY!

by Savannah

Cheesy organ music plays in the background…

Welcome to another edition of “As The Ball Bounces”, the soap opera of tennis. Who needs Maria Sharapova to tell an American show how life is on the tour when this week featured drugs, gambling, poisoning, beat downs, players playing when they know they should not have and who knows what else? Let’s get right to it okay?



Martina Hingis was not photographed sans culottes climbing out of a limo. Instead she was photographed with her new squeeze, a billionaire Russian. The couple was seen strolling down the street in Zurich looking quite pleased with themselves. Party on, Martina!

As if allegations of drug abuse are not enough to keep jaded sports fans interested, German player Alexander Waske told the press that an unknown Russian told him that the Russians had poisoned Tommy Haas during the Davis Cup this fall. Stop laughing. Instead of Haas coming out and calling bullshit Haas said that he had never been sicker, still felt weak, believes that a latte machiatta he had ingested along with his desert was probably the vehicle used to administer the poison, and that he was off to New York for hair samples to be taken and other tests run to see if the type of poison used can be traced. Of course now that this is the news of the week and coffee chains have hastened to issue statements saying their machiattas are poison free the German Federation now says Waske didn’t say anything of the sort. Uh huh. Waske should have gone to his Federation first and not the press but I guess he wanted his name in the papers while the top eight men of his profession are in Shanghai. Was Haas Poisoned?

Speaking of Shanghai the alternates Tommy Robredo and Juan Ignacio Chela were chosen after the men ranked 11-19 refused to make the trip to China. Richard Gasquet seems to have made it in spite of his best efforts not to. Let's see what happens when the event moves to London.

It's also being reported in the Spanish press that Rafa had a spasm in one of his quad muscles and had to stop practicing for a couple of days. He should be fine for his opening match against Gasquet. Rafa Quad Spasm

Italian Eurosport reported that Italian tennis player Alessio Di Mauro has been suspended for three years for having active gambling accounts and betting on guess what sport? Several of his compatriots including Potito Starace are also under investigation. Di Mauro Suspended
UPDATE
Di Mauro ended up getting nine months and a fine. They couldn't make the serious charges stick.
Update on Di Mauro

Nikolay Davydenko was not cited for lack of effort this week. It could be because the top men are all in Shanghai preparing for the TMC. Please keep in mind the TMC will become the WTF soon. I still want to know wtf these marketing geniuses were thinking but I digress.

Irina Davydenko was hauled before the authorities who according to press reports wanted to know about Kolya’s pain threshold. It’s not clear if Irina told them what was done between consenting adults in the boudoir is none of their business. The same article in the British press states the following:

Immenga(Davydenko’s lawyer) claimed the ATP's investigators had told him that among the account-holders to have bet against Davydenko in the match against Vassallo were nine people based in Russia. He said the nine stood to make £725,000 from Davydenko's failure, adding that another two account-holders whose location was not known had increased that figure to £3.3m. Davydenko Probe Continues

Meanwhile Davy has his own defenders. One of them was so moved by his plight he posted a video on line begging his detractors to leave Kolya alone. If you haven’t seen the “Leave Britney Alone” piece on You Tube this might not be as funny for you as it will be for those who have. Thanks to my friends over at corned beef hashmarks for this clip. Leave Kolya Alone

Fish or cut bait, crab or carry the basket time ATP.


Maid Marion, aka Marion Bartoli was pressed into service at the Championships after Serena Williams was forced to retire with knee and quadriceps issues. What the hell were you thinking, Serena? Marion forced Jelena Jankovic to retire from their match after a 6-1, 1-0 drubbing. Justine Henin did get a chance to show Marion that she was not happy with the way Marion played her at Wimbledon. 6-0, 6-0 kinda sent a message don’t you think?

Daniela Hantuchova managed to pound Svetlana Kuznetsova into the pavement as well in a match that was moot. So was the one between The Maiden and Jelena but there were a lot of bagels served up this week. Not what I want to see at a YEC. I’m just saying you know?

Meanwhile Maria Sharapova served Ana Ivanovic off the court yesterday. The 6-1, 6-2 score is deceiving. It wasn’t that close. Maria won the right to play Anna Chakvetadze who seems to take one look at Maria and swoon. Ana, by losing, gets to face Justine Henin who unless something drastic happens will roll over her the same way Maria did. Looks like a Sharapova/Henin final which should make their fans and IMG very happy. Oh, and Larry Scott too. I’m sure he’d love to throw Justine under a bus so that his Golden Girl holds up the YEC trophy. Please note that Justine has been photographed wearing make up this week. It also appears she got her eyebrows done. Somewhere HFPY is smiling.

Reports surfaced that Kim Clijsters mother is expecting another child, this time with her golfer boyfriend. Isn’t this just wonderful news? Personally I don’t understand any woman with adult children wanting to start the diapers and two-in-the-morning feedings again but that’s me. I understand this is not unusual in many cultures so please understand my surprise is purely personal. All you Freudians out there can have at it now. Kim's Mother Is Pregnant

That ends this weeks edition of “As The Ball Bounces”. Cue more cheesy organ music please. And a laugh track.

Random Thoughts

• I still can't believe that for tennisheads in the United States to see the Madrid Singles semis we have to resort to online streaming since they are not being carried live in the States. No knock against doubles but come on WTA. Maybe if Larry were less focused on the Golden Girl and on women's tennis in general this situation wouldn't exist.
  
• Thanks to Versus for carrying the week's matches live and in their entirety. I really don't know who decided on the camera angle though. The ball was getting lost and in many instances I had to wait for the replay to see it since the replays were at a less severe angle.
  
• What does it say about the WTA and the quality of its product when absolutely no one expected the number two ranked woman in the world to make it to the semis? Roadkill is not going to make this situation better either.
  
• The match everyone was looking forward to between Maria and Ana, whom Maria had been ducking all year, turned out to be a dud unless you're a Povanut. To quote Craig, "Hype played hype and Hype won". It's bad enough the Russian women roll over and play dead against Maria without the Serbians jumping on that bandwagon. Not a Pova fan but that was a dominating display from Maria who moved well and made her shots when she had to. I guess the thought of facing Justine in the semis was the movtivation Maria needed to play well.
  
• I also wondered about the men ranked 11-19 deciding they couldn't be bothered going to Shanghai for the TMC. The year David Nalbandian won it all he came as an alternate after Roddick pulled out. Guess that's not motiviation enough.There were rumors that either Andy, Kolya or both would pull out giving Nalby direct entry into the final eight. That didn't happen. It seems making the trip to sit around and play video games all day just didn't work for those guys. The TMC will be moved to London in 2009. Let's see if the ATP runs into similar issues with that venue.
  
• It should be mentioned in passing that Roger Federer's head-to-head against the men in his group is 34-1.
  
• On a totally shallow note candles are being lit and novenas begun in the hope that Maria's outfit at the YEC will not catch on. They're not all being lit by prepubescent boys either. Jelena's dress fit too tightly across her bustline, Daniela's left nothing to the imagination and Serena wore a retread but none of that caused more comment than Maria's outfit. The skirt and blouse may catch on with cougars but I can't imagine any of the younger set wanting to dress and look like grand mama's.
  
• It's a wrap that Russian tennis has had the worst week ever no?
  

Pictures of the Week
The Madrid Final Four

The Others

Happy Anniversary To Us!

I was going to write this long, drawn out tirade today (y'all know how verbose I can get) about how Martina Hingis is guilty as the devil (A and B urine sample positive tests mean she's guilty till proving herself innocent, which she can't do), knows it, (those jokes about her yelling to the ump, "That ball was in, didn't you see the coke fly up from the lines?!" at Wimbledon are really quite hilarious and give new meaning to on the baseline) and is trying her case in the court of public opinion (which is the only place she knows she has a thread's chance of "winning" given that she's gotten so many free passes from the tennis elite for most of the stupid mess that fell from her lips like dominoes throughout her career), when I realized this blog is a year old and I'd rather celebrate that than give her lying ass any more ink.

Happy Anniversary to us! Thanks to all the readers, commenters, and contributors, most especially Savannah and Mad Professah, for making this my favorite tennis community on the Internet. Yeah, I'm biased. Hehe. Vote for us whenever you visit in the sidebar down at the bottom and click on all the ads (several times) in the middle of the sidebar to keep the piles of cash (yeah, right!) flowing into my bank account so I can keep being a slug and do nothing but watch, read about, and write about tennis for the rest of my life!

The First Entry: What a difference a year makes.

Hingis Retires After Testing Positive for Cocaine

Former world number one Martina Hingis announced that she is retiring after testing positive for cocaine during this year's Wimbledon tournament.

Reuters - The Swiss Hingis was expected to announce her retirement from professional tennis for a second time, after struggling to recover from a string of injuries and health problems.

But the statement that she had tested positive for cocaine during this year's disappointing All England Club visit, when she lost in the third round to unseeded American Laura Granville, came as a shock.

Hingis, 27, called an early end to her season last month following difficulties with her hip, saying she would take "as much time as it needs to get fully fit again".

The Czech-born Swiss, a five-time grand slam champion who won many fans for her graceful and tactical style of tennis, first announced her retirement in 2003 after failing to overcome a series of ankle injuries.

Following her return to the tour, Hingis surprised her doubters by winning three more titles and ending 2006 as the world number seven.

Even with her current injury problems, she is ranked 19th in the world.

Source

What on earth can you say about this? Did she really have a hip injury or was that just a cover for the cocaine habit? Is her legacy completely ruined?

Apparently, she has denied taking any drugs throughout her career.

November 01, 2007

Statement from Martina Hingis

Throughout my career, I have always been open and honest with you.

I have been accused by an outsource testing company of taking cocaine during the Championships at Wimbledon. I find this accusation so horrendous, so monstrous, that I have decided to confront it head-on by talking to the press.

My weapon on the tennis court is and always was one single thing: the game, the ingenuity on court. And for this style of tennis, there is only one performance enhancer – the love of the game.

They say that cocaine increases self-confidence and creates a type of euphoria. I don’t know. I only know that if I were to try to hit the ball while in any state of euphoria, it simply wouldn’t work. I would think that it would be impossible for anyone to maintain the coordination required to play top class tennis while under the influence of drugs. And I know one other thing – I would personally be terrified of taking drugs.

When I was informed that the A Test I took following my defeat at Wimbledon apparently came back positive for a cocaine metabolite, I was shocked and appalled.

Acting upon the advice of my family and my management, I immediately took the hair test which can prove whether or not someone has taken cocaine. This test of course produced a negative result, the same negative result as all the countless doping tests that I have taken over the last twelve years.

However, the B Test from Wimbledon once again produced the opposite result – positive for a metabolite that apparently stays in the system for some time following cocaine use.

I immediately retained an attorney. Anybody who even attempts to take on this doping machinery alone has no chance.

The attorney and his experts discovered various inconsistencies with the urine sample that was taken during Wimbledon. He is also convinced that the doping officials mishandled the process and would not be able to prove that the urine that was tested for cocaine actually came from me.

However, this attorney and others have also pointed out to me that a case like this one can sometimes take years to resolve, especially if both sides repeatedly appeal the case and take it to the next level.

And this is the reason for my announcement. I have no desire to spend the next several years of my life reduced to fighting against the doping officials.

I am frustrated and angry. I believe that I am absolutely, one hundred percent innocent. The fact is that it is more and more difficult for me, physically, to keep playing at the top of the game. And frankly, accusations such as these don’t exactly provide me with motivation to even make another attempt to do so. I attempted a comeback after a three-year break and succeeded in winning three tournaments, bringing my ranking to 6 in the world. But in the meantime, I’m now 27 years old, and realistically too old to play top class tennis.

So now I’m standing before you, confronting the situation. Today I also informed my sponsors.

And so, considering this situation, my age, and the problems I have been having with my hip, I have decided to no longer play tennis on the Tour.

Upon advice from my attorneys, I’m afraid I am unable to answer any questions. My answers could insult someone and create even more problems for me. Therefore, there is only one more thing for me to do - to thank all of you for many years of goodwill, and also to assure you:

I have never taken drugs.

Source.

Tell us what you think in the comments.