The other shoe drops on Martina Hingis

The buzz surrounding Martina Hingis had been slowed to a dull roar as we all waited for the verdict on the drug charges laid at the feet of Hingis.

Well. The gavel has fallen, the sentence is read and the waiting is over. Hingis has been found guilty. GUILTY! For all intents and purposes, as of this moment, Hingis did have cocaine in her system at the Wimbledon tournament in 2007.

Hingis’ pleas of no evidence of how the substance entered her body and the doubts swirling around the integrity of the sample (i.e. – was it even hers?) were rejected. Hingis was stripped of her achievements at Wimbledon and subsequent events as well as forfeiting any ranking points and paying back her winnings to the tune of $129,481.

Oh, and she’s suspended from play for two years. But since Hingis “retired” then that part of the story doesn’t even really matter.

And so that is that. No more Martina Hingis. Everybody do a little queen wave as Hingis marches the gauntlet of television cameras and journalists’ microphones.

You do the crime, you do the time, right? Now we wait and see if Hingis appeals the decision in the three week window she has to do it. Predictions on that, anyone?