Death of a Salesman

Tennis sensation Martina Hingis retired at 27 due to injured and allegations of drug abuse. The Swiss Miss tested positive for traces of cocaine after her loss at Wimbledon in June.
Like so many others, I was absolutely shocked when I get the news. Hingis had failed a drug test? Because of cocaine? The whole situation just seemed so absurd. How could no one have known about it? Hingis is one of the most famous players on the tour, and no one, absolutely no one, knew she was taking drugs on the side? The WTA Tour has a reputation for being cold and cutthroat- and still no one even suspected she was doing cocaine? Furthermore the WTA itself only heard about Hingis’ positive results after her press conference. Wimbledon occurred late June. Hingis gave her press conference on November 1st. How could positive results have been kept from the WTA for over four months? Nothing makes sense anymore.
But amid the confusion one harsh fact remains. Hingis has retired, this time for good. This time there will be no amazing comeback. This time the ‘reluctant rebel’ won’t be coming back from the cold to save the sport she once vowed never to return to. This time the cocky smiles and arrogant smirks and quirky comments during press conferences will be said or done by someone else. This time, the famous on-court wizardry which enchanted most of the tennis world will be cast by another player.
This time, Martina Hingis has retired for good.
I still find it difficult to believe. Hingis has always been there, has always been an element of stability in a world which is forever changing. She was there and was the cause of when I first discovered tennis back in 1997, when a young teenager mentioned she was going to save tennis and only later would we realize she actually did. She was there in 2001 and completed what was then deemed as impossible by consecutively defeated the Williams sisters in the Grand Slam of the Australian Open. She was there, too, in 2005, when against the odds and expectations she decided to come back from her 3 year retirement with careless whispers of how she felt incomplete when she wasn’t on a tennis court.
Hingis was just always there, with her cocky smile and charismatic attitude and breath-taking skills. She set the standards so high that now, 10 years later, people are still comparing her to what she once was and, perhaps, what she still is. There is that famous “Hingis touch”, the “Hingis wizardry”, in any case, her style lives on. She stands for what some believe tennis should be- an artistic and mental combination of flair and sophistication, where power should matter little if not at all, because what really counts is the ability to create something from nothing, to perform magic on a whim and make it seem almost random or nonchalant.
She was, of course, anything was predictable, and that’s what I liked so much about Hingis. Truth was you never really knew what to expect, except, maybe, something. She could produce whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, however she wanted. Presented with a ball down the T and she could pretty much put it wherever, leaving the opponent forever guessing. She could do so much with so little than one began to suspect the only real way to defeat the great Swiss Miss was to overpower her.
Back in 2002 it was the power-hitters who drove her out. Today, it is those allegations, and the latter are perhaps the most dangerous, for they will live lingering scars which won’t necessarily fade with time. Hingis so fiercely denies any wrong-doing that one is tempted to believe she is innocent. In her press conference, she delivered an ambiguous statement which only increased confusion, and yet the manner she delivered in made many suspect she was telling the truth.
After all, if anything Hingis has always been brutally honest, both with herself and with the public. She has never lied to the sport she loves so much, and that, in part, is what makes it so difficult to believe she did do cocaine. I do not know Hingis personally but nor do I claim to, I am merely speaking as an observer- she didn’t seem the type to do drugs. She was above all professional, why then would she take an illegal drug, during a Grand Slam in the middle of the year, knowing that she could very well be tested?
The sad reality is the drug accusation will probably tarnish her legacy. One can only hope, though, that what Hingis has accomplished throughout the years and what she has brought to the sport will not be over-showered by accusations which may later prove to be false. Regardless, the damage has been done, and Hingis has left.
I have many memories of Hingis but there is one in particular I am determined to hold onto. It was during the Acura Classic, in late summer. Hingis was playing against Swiss compatriot Patty Schnyder. Under the hot California sun, they performed an entertaining match that Schnyder would eventually win in 3 sets. But at one moment during the match, Hingis performed a magnificent drop-shot in which the ball simply died once it hit the ground, creating the illusion that having left the Swiss Miss’ racquet life was simply not worth living anymore. The crowd appreciated the artistic skill, and Hingis glanced up at the crowd with a smile brighter than the afternoon California sun.
Life will go on without Hingis, as it almost does. On a professional level I hope that Hingis finds the results and closure she has been seeking since that fateful day in June, for the legacy she leaves behind should not be tainted by allegations of cocaine abuse. And on a personal level I will hold on to that memory of Hingis, of when she was what tennis should be, a combination of flair and intrigue, a mystery which could never be solved.