In terms of the availability of these drugs, you can argue that they were simply not available many decades ago, so the temptation didn’t exist back then. Or, you can argue that the stakes are much higher in tennis today, causing greed to rear it’s ugly head, which feeds the pressure, causing players to “cheat” their way to victory. What good is a victory at Wimbledon if you’re left with a chronic heart condition, or worse? I don’t think players get that.

On a positive note, I am very glad that the powers that be are taking tough stand on this issue, and also serves as a warning to others who may be thinking about going down this dark path.

It must have been a thorough investigation because the ITF would never want to tarnish the reputation of such a great champion like Hingis without a great deal of evidence. What’s kind of weird to me is that cocaine is not a performance-enhancing drug. It seems, however, that that doesn’t matter in the ITF’s rules and the case is still labeled under the Anti-Doping policy. I don’t think she’ll ever try to make a comeback after this. I wonder if this horrible ending to her career will affect her Hall of Fame chances. Will a bad decision in 2007 affect her 15 Grand Slam title career?

I’ve not had a chance to read the ruling in its entirety, but from what I’ve read so far, the ITF was remarkably thorough in their investigation, making this an extremely tough case to appeal.