Martina Hingis backed by Anders Borg ahead of Liverpool International

March 28th, 2008 admin

LIVERPOOL International organiser Anders Borg has defended his decision to invite banned tennis legend Martina Hingis to this summer’s tournament.

The former world number one, 27, retired from tennis last year after testing positive for cocaine and receiving a two-year ban.

But she has strenuously declared her innocence and Borg today backed her stance.

“I am totally comfortable about Martina gracing the Liverpool event,” said Borg. “Of course, she has never taken drugs. Martina took more than 200 drug tests throughout her career and never failed one. To claim that she took drugs actually during the Wimbledon Championship, and not a performance-enhancing drug but a recreational one, is just absurd.

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Martina Hingis returning to tennis court for exhibition matches

March 28th, 2008 admin

LIVERPOOL, England - Retired tennis star Martina Hingis will play exhibition matches in Liverpool in June, her first appearance on court since her two-year ban for a positive test for cocaine at last year’s Wimbledon.

Banned from official competition, Hingis announced on Tuesday she will play in three exhibition matches from June 13-15 during the unofficial Liverpool International, which features ATP, WTA players and a Legends division two weeks before Wimbledon.

Two other former Wimbledon champions Goran Ivanisevic and Pat Cash are also entered.

The International Tennis Federation found Hingis guilty of the doping violation in January, two months after she announced her retirement when the positive doping test was revealed. She’s suspended to Sept. 30, 2009.

The five-time Grand Slam champion has protested her innocence, but hasn’t sought to overturn the ruling or punishment.

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Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova - the perfect doubles match

March 28th, 2008 admin

Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova have both led colourful lives on the WTA tour - though their careers differed considerably.

Hingis was the bigger success on the court. Her five Grand Slam victories will hold her up as a tennis great and her three years as world No.1 further enhances this claim.

The Swiss star’s 43 tournament victories put her up in the same league as Monica Seles, Justine Henin and the Williams sisters. She really is a star. However, her ban for taking cocaine while playing in a tournament has marred her career and she looks likely never to return to the WTA tour as she will be nearly 30 when she returns.

Kournikova’s career started well with a semi-final spot at Wimbledon. However, injury and constant media attention prevented her having Hingis’s success on the court. The Russian made the best of her ‘assets’ to earn her money outside of the sport, though she does still regularly play in exhibition matches in the USA.  She has never officially retired from tennis - and is still only 26 years!

Although Hingis and Kournikova are never likely to play singles competitively again, wouldn’t it be great to see them competing together in doubles again? The doubles game is much different and is based more on tactics and skill rather than the ‘power’ game of singles.

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Martina Hingis

March 12th, 2008 admin

Martina Hingis (born September 30, 1980 in Košice, Slovakia) is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player. She won five Grand Slam singles titles (three Australian Open, one Wimbledon, and one U.S. Open). She also won nine Grand Slam women’s doubles titles, winning a calendar year Grand Slam in 1998, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title. She spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1.

Hingis set a series of “youngest-ever” records before ligament injuries in both ankles forced her to withdraw temporarily from professional tennis in 2002 at the age of 22. After several surgeries and long recuperations, Hingis returned to the WTA tour in 2006. She then climbed to World No. 6 and won three singles titles. On November 1, 2007, after suffering from injuries for much of the year, Hingis announced her retirement from tennis while admitting she had tested positive for cocaine during Wimbledon in 2007. She denied using the drug. On January 4, 2008, she was banned from tennis for two years due to the cocaine offense.

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Martina Hingis plans return to court

March 9th, 2008 admin

Despite a drugs ban and her subsequent retirement, former world No 1 Martina Hingis is to return to competition in the Liverpool International Tennis Tournament in June.

The Swiss announced her retirement from the game in November after she tested positive for cocaine at Wimbledon last summer. And although the 27-year-old denied and challenged the findings, the International Tennis Federation rejected her appeal and she was handed a two-year suspension from October 1, 2007.

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