Former World No.1 Martina Hingis of Switzerland has dropped her battle to clear her name from a dope test controversy, Women`s Tennis Association (WTA) chief executive Larry Scott confirmed Monday.
Hingis announced her surprise retirement last November as she revealed a positive test for cocaine from Wimbledon last summer.
At the time, the 27-year-old Swiss said she was completely innocent and vowed to fight the charges.
Scott, on the sidelines of the ongoing Australian Open, said that Hingis had told him she is giving up the fight of an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland.
`I spoke with her last week and she told me that she will not appeal to the CAS,` said Scott.
The International Tennis Federation announced Jan 4 that the five-time Grand Slam champion had been suspended for two years and was asked to return $129,481 she earned as prize money.
Meanwhile, according to the information of Komsomolskaya Pravda, on January 6 Martina Hingis was noticed in a newly opened Russian restaurant Post Haus in St.Moritz ski resort. In an evening, the guests of the reastaurant wiped out a three-day alcohol reserve and almost all foodstuffs; police was called for three times. The famous tennis player made merry with her friend, who introduced himself as "businessman Sasha from Kyiv". It appeared later, it was president of the horse sport federation of Ukraine Oleksander Onyshchenko.
Hingis retired in late 2002 with ankle and foot problems but made a surprise return to the WTA circuit in January 2006, winning three titles including Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo last season.
