Today, September 30, Martina Hingis is celebrating the final day of her two-year drug suspension, as well as her 29th birthday.

The former world No.1 discusses the ban for Sports Illustrated, how she dealt with the accusation, and once again claims she has never taken cocaine.

SI.com: From an emotional standpoint, how do feel you've handled the past two years?

Hingis: OK. There were hard times and it was frustrating knowing I did nothing wrong but couldn't really fight this. It was my reputation and I knew the truth. But the process didn't really let me fight.

SI.com: Given your outspoken personality, I think it surprised a lot of people that maybe you weren't as forceful, deciding, for instance, not to appeal. Do you regret that?

Hingis: Like you say, I always spoke [honestly] even if I wasn't always politically correct. I spoke the truth even when the truth may have hurt me. But the system was set up in such a way that there was nothing I could do.

SI.com: Bottom line: have you ever …

Hingis: No. Taken cocaine? Never. No [recreational] drugs. I don't know even the effects. I've maybe been in a position where I could have. But never, no. If I had ever taken cocaine, I would have said so.

SI.com: Before this happened, did you ever worry about a situation like this?

Hingis: No, because I probably had between 80-100 tests and no problems. The only thing I would ever take was aspirin and I was very particular about these things. Even if I had a flu I'd call my doctor and say, "What can I take?" I was always very cautious. I never took anything that was not approved first. (via Down the Line, photo: Life.com)

The many rehabs for drug addiction welcome patients from all walks of life, and give them similar treatment while inside.

Jelena Jankovic and Victoria Azarenka were the only Top 8 seeds not to have fallen in the first two rounds of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo and on Wednesday they went through to the quarterfinals. Maria Sharapova also advanced to the last eight.

The seventh-seeded Jankovic won her third-round match when Elena Vesnina retired with a left thigh injury while trailing 6-1 3-0. The eighth-seeded Azarenka beat Lucie Safarova 7-5 6-4 in the last match of the day.

The 2005 Toray Pan Pacific Open champion Sharapova once again played a three-setter against fellow Russian Alisa Kleybanova, fighting back from a first-set loss to win 2-6 6-2 6-2. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Li Na has signed with IMG, the leading client management company in tennis, and has thus joined IMG’s top clients including women’s tennis superstars such as Maria Sharapova, Venus Williams, Lindsay Davenport, Jelena Jankovic, Monica Seles, and others.

"We are very pleased to have Li Na as an IMG client," said Max Eisenbud, IMG senior vice president who will manage the Chinese world No.16.

"She has been one of the most successful players in China’s history and in 2009 became Asia and China’s No. 1 player with a world ranking of No. 18. She has been largely hailed as being instrumental in advancing the sport within China." (source: On the Baseline, photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Venus and Serena Williams have for the first time in their doubles career qualified for the doubles event at the Sony Ericsson Championships.

"I love playing doubles with Venus as we have so much fun on the court. This year, we actually decided to put more emphasis on our doubles careers and going to Doha has been on our mind all season," said Serena, who has already qualified for the singles event at the season-ending Championships.

During the 2009 season the Williams sisters have won three Grand Slam doubles titles (Australian Open, Wimbledon, US Open) and a title at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford.

The world’s top eight singles players and top four doubles teams from the 2009 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour season will compete for a share of the record $4.55 million at the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Qatar. (source: On the Baseline, photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Now we can stop counting… Elena Dementieva of Russia and Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark have quickly joined a bunch of top players in their early Pan Pacific Open exit.

Third seed Elena Dementieva was beaten 6-2 6-7(3) 6-1 by Kateryna Bondarenko in the second round, and was soon after accompanied by fourth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, who retired due to a viral infection, while trailing Aleksandra Wozniak 0-5 in the first set.

Dementieva had never in their four previous encounters lost a set to Kateryna Bondarenko, and she blamed bad line calls and fatigue for the outcome of today's match.

"There were way too many bad calls from the chair umpire today," said the Russian. "I'm surprised they don't have a challenge system at such a big event."

During the Pan Pacific Open here on Women’s Tennis Blog we just mentioned the numerous upsets. This time, we should give some well-deserved attention to Maria Sharapova, who almost double-bageled Samantha Stosur to enter the last 16. Stosur saved two match points at 0-5 in the second set, and lost 6-0 6-1.

Note: Just one Top 10 player, Serena Williams, didn’t enter the $2 million Tokyo event, and only two of the nine that entered the tournament have reached the third round – Jelena Jankovic and Victoria Azarenka. (source: Reuters, photo courtesy of Women Who Serve)

Top seed Dinara Safina, second seed Venus Williams and fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova all suffered upsets in the second round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open. The fact that so many of them got upset at the same time kind of makes their individual losses milder, and early losers Ana Ivanovic and Flavia Pennetta look better.

World No.1 and defending champion Dinara Safina fell to 18-year-old Taiwanese qualifier Chang Kai-Chen, ranked 132nd, 7-6(5) 4-6 7-5. Safina had an opportunity to close out the match in the third set, but double-faulted, dropped her serve, and went on to lose.

Venus Williams lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6(6) 7-5, while Svetlana Kuznetsova, who just like Safina and Williams had a bye in the first round, lost 7-5 4-6 6-3 to Germany's Andrea Petkovic. (source: BBC, photo: Jean-Sebastien Marceau)

Kimiko Date Krumm won her eighth career title and first in 13 years, just one day ahead of her 39th birthday, beating second-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 6-3 6-3 in the Hansol Korea Open final.

"I realized one more time after this game that we don't know about tennis unless we actually play it," said Date Krumm, who is confident she can play tennis for a couple of more years.

Date Krumm took out top seed Daniela Hantuchova in the quarterfinals, and defending champion Maria Kirilenko in the semifinals.

The world No.155 Japanese was ranked as high as No.4 in the world. Another interesting fact about her career is that she didn’t play competitive tennis from 1996 to 2008. (source: Associated Press, photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

More than three years went by without Shahar Peer winning a title, but the Israeli is back in the winner’s circle with back-to-back titles at last week’s Guangzhou International Women’s Open and this week's Tashkent Open.

Peer, seeded second at the International-level tournament in Tashkent, defeated Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan 6-3 6-4 in the final.

The world No.113 Amanmuradova was playing her second career singles Tour final, having been a runner-up to Michaella Krajicek in Tashkent four years ago.

Peer, ranked 46th in the world, has earned her fifth career title, and impressively, she didn't drop a set en route to the two successive titles. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Ana Ivanovic’s slump is still strong, as she followed her first-round loss at the US Open with a first-round exit at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.

The Serbian world No.11 Ivanovic was buried under a deluge of unforced errors and Czech Lucie Safarova defeated her 6-4 7-6(1).

"I know how Ana is feeling and I feel it with her," said Safarova, who is now tied at 2-2 in career meetings with Ivanovic. "She's struggling with her serve and when that goes, all your game goes."

Additional info: World No.10 Flavia Pennetta of Italy fell to compatriot Roberta Vinci 6-1 6-2 in the opening round, and was the first Top 10 member to exit the $2 million tournament, featuring nine of the world's Top 10 women’s tennis players. (source: Reuters, photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Serena Williams is featured in a new campaign for Tampax, Procter & Gamble’s tampons. The advertisements and online videos show Mother Nature and her "monthly gift" attempting to throw Serena off her game – on and off the tennis court.

The ads will appear in October 2009. Here is a video featuring behind-the-scenes footage of Serena Williams and Mother Nature facing off.