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Friday May 29, 2009

Swiss Miss unlikely to make another comeback

GENEVA: Former world number one Martina Hingis (pic) said in an interview published yesterday that she was unlikely to make another come­back to competitive tennis after her doping ban.

“Many people ask when I will play again. But it would be too much of a burden to make it back to the top again,” Hingis told the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper.

“I do not think I still have the will and the strength to produce that kind of a performance again,” she added.

Hingis, now 29, was tested positive for cocaine at Wimbledon in 2007 and later announced her retirement.

Although the Swiss player reiterated yesterday that she had not taken the drug, an independent Anti-Doping Tribunal found that she had committed an offence and she was banned for two years until October 2009.

Hingis won 43 WTA singles titles during a career stretching back to 1994, including five Grand Slams.

The ban cut short a comeback she began in 2006 after a three-year retirement, but Hingis suggested that another change of heart was unlikely.

She said she was contented with her current life and did not have the desire to stress herself by running from tournament to tournament.

“But playing a few more exhibitions, that would appeal to me,” she said, also suggesting she would like to help young players. — AFP

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