ZURICH, Nov 2: Former world number one Martina Hingis said on Thursday she had tested positive for cocaine during Wimbledon this year and announced her retirement from professional tennis.

“I have tested positive but I have never taken drugs and I feel 100 percent innocent,” the five-time grand slam champion from Switzerland told a news conference.

Fighting back tears and with her voice cracking, Hingis read from a written statement before leaving the room without answering questions.

In an expanded version of the statement later released by her management, the 27-year-old said she found the accusation of drug-taking “so horrendous, so monstrous, that I have decided to confront it head-on by talking to the press.”

The statement added: “I would personally be terrified of taking drugs. When I was informed (about the test) I was shocked and appalled.”

Hingis added that she had undergone a private test that came back negative and consulted an attorney.

“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.”Hingis said she had also been advised that any fight to clear her name could drag on for years.

“I have no desire to spend the next several years of my life reduced to fighting against the doping officials,” she said. “I am frustrated and angry. “I believe that I am absolutely, 100 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.”

She added: “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.”—Reuters