Martina Hingis

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Martina Hingis (born September 30, 1980 in Košice, Czechoslovakia, now Slovakia) is a former World No. 1 Swiss tennis player. She has won five Grand Slam singles titles (three Australian Open, one Wimbledon, and one US Open). She has also won nine Grand Slam women's doubles titles, including holding all these for a calendar Grand Slam in 1998. She set a series of "youngest-ever" records before ligament injuries in both of her ankles forced her to withdraw from professional tennis at the relatively young age of 22.

On November 29, 2005, after several surgeries and long recuperations, the 25-year-old Hingis announced that she would return to the WTA tour, starting her professional comeback at a low-key tournament in Gold Coast, Australia on January 2006. Six months into her comeback, Hingis has climbed to the number 15 spot in the world rankings, and is currently dating fellow tennis player Radek Stepanek.[link]

Playing Style

Childhood and early career

Hingis was born to two accomplished tennis players: a Czech mother, Melanie Molitorová, and a Slovak father, Karol Hingis. Molitorová once ranked No. 10 among women in Czechoslovakia; her father is a tennis trainer in Košice. They named their daughter 'Martina' (originally Martina Hingisová - Molitorová) after Martina Navrátilová. Hingis' parents divorced when she was a young girl. She moved with her mother to Moravia for a short period, then to Switzerland.

Hingis began hitting tennis balls when she was two years old, and entered her first tournament at four. In 1993, 12-year-old Hingis became the youngest player to win a Grand Slam junior title: the girls' singles at the French Open. In 1994, she retained her French Open junior title, won the girls' singles title at Wimbledon, and was ranked the World No. 1 junior player.

Hingis at US Open in 1995

She made her professional debut in October 1994, two weeks after her 14th birthday. In 1995, she became the youngest player to win a match at a Grand Slam tournament when she advanced to the second round at the Australian Open.

Hingis was twice rated among FHM magazine's 100 sexiest women, and her championship doubles partnership with tennis's all-time glamour girl Anna Kournikova (two Grand Slam championships) in the late 1990s and early-2000s attracted a great deal of attention. Jestingly, they announced that they were "The Spice Girls of Tennis".

Grand Slam success

Hingis becomes the youngest Grand Slam singles winner in the 20th century by winning the 1997 Australian Open.

In 1996, Hingis became the youngest Wimbledon champion when she teamed with Helena Suková to win the women's doubles title aged 15 years and 9 months. She also won her first professional singles title that year at Filderstadt, Germany. She reached the singles semi-finals at the 1996 Australian and US Opens, and she lost to Steffi Graf in a five-set final (4-6, 6-4, 0-6, 6-4, 0-6) at the year-end WTA Tour Championships. Following her win at Filderstadt, Hingis capped a great autumn by beating the reigning Australian Open champion and #1 (co-ranked with Graf) player, Monica Seles, 6-2 6-0 in the final at Oakland.

In January 1997, Hingis became the youngest Grand Slam singles winner in the 20th century by winning the Australian Open aged 16 years and 3 months. In March, she became the youngest-ever player to attain the World No. 1 ranking. And in July, she became the youngest singles champion at Wimbledon since Lottie Dod in 1887. She went on to win the US Open title by triumphing over another up-and-coming star, Venus Williams, in the final. The only Grand Slam singles title she failed to win that year was the French Open, where she lost in the final to Iva Majoli.

In 1998, Hingis won all four of the Grand Slam women's doubles titles [the Australian Open with Mirjana Lucic, and the other three events with Jana Novotná), and she became only the third woman to simultaneously hold the No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles. She also retained her Australian Open singles title by beating Conchita Martínez in straight sets in the final, and lost in the final of the US Open to Lindsay Davenport. Davenport ended an 80-week stretch Hingis' had enjoyed as the No. 1 single player in October 1998, but Hingis ended the year by beating Davenport in the final of the Tour Championships.

1999 saw Hingis win her third successive Australian Open singles crown as well as the doubles title (with teammate Anna Kournikova). She then reached the French Open final and was three points away from victory in the second set against Steffi Graf, but ended up losing 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. During the match, Hingis had infuriated an already partisan crowd by arguing with the umpire over several line calls (crossing the net in one instance), taking a bathroom break early in the final set, and twice delivering a rare underhand serve on match point. In tears after the match, Hingis was comforted by her mother as she returned to the court for the trophy ceremony. After a shock first-round 6-2, 6-0 loss to Jelena Dokic at Wimbledon, Hingis bounced back to reach her third consecutive US Open final, where she lost to Serena Williams. Hingis won a total of seven singles titles that year and reclaimed the No. 1 singles ranking. She also reached the finals of the Chase Championships (The former WTA Championships), but lost 4-6, 2-6 to Lindsay Davenport.

In 2000, Martina and Mary Pierce were runners-up in the Australian Open Women's Doubles tournament.

Injuries and hiatus from tennis

Martina Hingis receiving treatment for her injured ankle

Hingis' three-year stranglehold on the Australian Open singles title came to an end in 2000 when she lost in the final to Lindsay Davenport 6-1, 7-5. Though she won no Grand Slams that year, she held on to the No. 1 ranking following nine tournament wins including the Tour Championships.

Hingis reached her fifth consecutive Australian Open final in 2001, where she lost to Jennifer Capriati 6-4, 6-3. She briefly ended her coaching relationships with her mother Melanie early in the year, but had a change of heart two months later just before the French Open. Hingis underwent surgery on her right ankle in October 2001.

Coming back from injury, Hingis won the Australian Open doubles final at the start of 2002 (again teaming with Kournikova) and reached a sixth straight Australian Open final in singles, again facing Capriati. But having led by a set and 4-0 (and even having a few match points), Hingis went on to lose 4-6, 7-6, 6-2. In May 2002, she needed another ankle ligament operation, this time on her left ankle. After that, she continued to struggle with injuries and was never able to recapture her best form. Her doctors thought that she was able to play, and some believed that her losses were more a result of the new power game (as played by Davenport, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Jennifer Capriati, etc.) passing her by than any debilitating physical ailments.

In 2003, at the age of 22, Hingis announced her retirement from tennis after losing her battle with severe ankle problems (ligament damage) and dwindling results. In several interviews, she indicated she was attending an advanced English course at AKAD in Zürich in order to broaden her career opportunities.

During her tennis career, Hingis had won 40 singles titles and 36 doubles events. She held the World No. 1 singles ranking for a total of 209 weeks. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine put her in 22nd place in its list of 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS era.

In February 2005 Hingis made an unsuccessful return to competition at an event in Pattaya, Thailand, where she lost to Germany's Marlene Weingartner in the first round. After the loss, she claimed that she had no further plans to attempt a comeback.

Return to the game

Hingis resurfaced in July 2005, playing singles, doubles, and mixed doubles in World Team Tennis and notching up singles victories over two top 100 players. She also shut out Martina Navrátilová in singles competition on July 7. With these promising results behind her, Hingis announced on November 29 her return to the WTA Tour in 2006.

Hingis at the Australian Open 2006

Hingis began her WTA comeback in the Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourt tournament, where she reached the semifinals before losing to then no. 23-ranked Flavia Pennetta. She also played at the Sydney International tournament, losing in the opening round to Justine Henin-Hardenne in straight sets. Upon her return, Hingis had a WTA rank of no. 349.

Hingis made her Grand Slam comeback debut at the 2006 Australian Open, advancing to the quarterfinals with a slew of straight set victories over Vera Zvonareva, Emma Laine, Iveta Benešová and Samantha Stosur. She was beaten by then no. 2 ranked Kim Clijsters in a tough three-setter. However, Hingis won the mixed doubles finals with teammate Mahesh Bhupathi of India. This was her first career Grand Slam mixed doubles title, and fifteenth overall (5 singles, 9 doubles).

Several later tournaments brought further success, including wins over a number of top players such as Maria Sharapova, Lindsay Davenport, Elena Dementieva, Anastasia Myskina, Venus Williams, and Svetlana Kuznetsova. On May 19, 2006, Hingis posted her landmark 500th career singles match victory in the quarterfinals of the Tier I Italian Open in Rome, beating Top 20 player Pennetta, and two days later won the tournament - her 41st WTA Tour singles title and first in more than four years by defeating Dinara Safina in the final 6-2 7-5. She also beat arch-rival Venus Williams 0-6 6-3 6-3 in the semi-final for the first time since the 2001 Australian Open.

Hingis continued her great form by reaching her second Grand Slam quarterfinal of the year at the French Open. Hingis was one of the favorites to capture the only Grand Slam that was missing from her collection, however she lost to the World No.2 Kim Clijsters 6-7(5) 1-6. A few weeks later at Wimbledon, Hingis was again a dark horse to win the title, but lost to Ai Sugiyama in the third round, 5-7 6-3 4-6. Her current ranking is #13.

\"Quotes\"

• "She's here with her girlfriend. She's half a man already" (referring to Amélie Mauresmo on the eve of their 1999 Australian Open Final).

• "Being black only helps them. Many times they get sponsors because they are black. And they have had a lot of advantages because they can always say, 'It's racism.' They can always come back and say, 'Because we are this color, things happen.'" (referring to the "advantages" that Venus and Serena Williams have in a Time Magazine article, 2001).

• "It was probably one Russian too many. It used to be two Williams sisters and a Davenport. Now there's a whole army of Russians in the way." (Toray 2006 Final post-match interview)

• "She's old and slow" (responding in a 1999 press conference on why she terminated her doubles partnership with former Wimbledon champ, Jana Novotna)

• "Sometimes it lasts less long because your priorities change or because, in your mind, the motivation goes. Physically you can only keep up with everyone for so long. Players will dominate for one or two years at the most."

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (5)

Mary Pierce

Jana Novotná

Venus Williams

Conchita Martínez

Amélie Mauresmo

Runner-ups (7)

Iva Majoli

Lindsay Davenport

Steffi Graf

Serena Williams

Lindsay Davenport

Jennifer Capriati

Jennifer Capriati

Performance timeline

Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-8 (quarter finals up to finalist).
¹ The San Diego tournament achieved Tier I status only in 2004.
² If ITF women's circuit (Hardcourt: 12-2; Carpet: 6-1) and Fed Cup (10-0) participations are included, overall win-loss record stands at 508-113.

WTA Tour singles titles (41)

Legend Grand Slam (5) WTA Championships (2) Tier I Event (16) WTA Tour (18)

Titles by Surface Hard (18) Clay (7) Grass (2) Carpet (14)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	1996-10-13	Filderstadt, Germany	Carpet	Anke Huber (Germany)	6-2 3-6 6-3
2.	1996-11-10	Oakland, USA	Carpet	Monica Seles (USA)	6-2 6-0
3.	1997-01-12	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Jennifer Capriati (USA)	6-1 5-7 6-1
4.	1997-01-26	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Mary Pierce (France)	6-2 6-2
5.	1997-02-02	Tokyo (Pan Pacific), Japan	Carpet	Steffi Graf (Germany)	walkover
6.	1997-02-16	Paris, France	Carpet	Anke Huber (Germany)	6-3 3-6 6-3
7.	1997-03-30	Key Biscayne, USA	Hard	Monica Seles (USA)	6-2 6-1
8.	1997-04-06	Hilton Head Island, USA	Clay	Monica Seles (USA)	3-6 6-3 7-65
9.	1997-07-06	Wimbledon, England	Grass	Jana Novotná (Czech Republic)	2-6 6-3 6-3
10.	1997-07-27	Stanford, USA	Hard	Conchita Martinez (Spain)	6-0 6-2
11.	1997-08-03	San Diego, USA	Hard	Monica Seles (USA)	7-64 6-4
12.	1997-09-07	US Open, New York, USA	Hard	Venus Williams (USA)	6-0 6-4
13.	1997-10-12	Filderstadt, Germany	Carpet	Lisa Raymond (USA)	6-2 6-4
14.	1997-11-16	Philadelphia, USA	Carpet	Lindsay Davenport (USA)	7-5 6-77 7-64
15.	1998-02-01	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Conchita Martinez (Spain)	6-3 6-3
16.	1998-03-15	Indian Wells, USA	Hard	Lindsay Davenport (USA)	6-3 6-4
17.	1998-05-04	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Jana Novotná (Czech Republic)	6-3 7-5
18.	1998-05-17	Rome, Italy	Clay	Venus Williams (USA)	6-3 2-6 6-3
19.	1998-11-22	WTA Tour Championships, New York, USA	Carpet	Lindsay Davenport (USA)	7-5 4-6 6-4 6-2
20.	1999-01-31	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Amélie Mauresmo (France)	6-2 6-3
21.	1999-02-07	Tokyo (Pan Pacific), Japan	Carpet	Amanda Coetzer (South Africa)	6-2 6-1
22.	1999-04-04	Hilton Head Island, USA	Clay	Anna Kournikova (Russia)	6-4 6-3
23.	1999-05-16	Berlin, Germany	Clay	Julie Halard-Decugis (France)	6-0 6-1
24.	1999-08-08	San Diego, USA	Hard	Venus Williams (USA)	6-4 6-0
25.	1999-08-22	Toronto, Canada	Hard	Monica Seles (USA)	6-4 6-4
26.	1999-10-10	Filderstadt, Germany	Carpet	Mary Pierce (France)	6-4 6-1
27.	2000-02-06	Tokyo (Pan Pacific), Japan	Carpet	Sandrine Testud (France)	6-3 7-5
28.	2000-04-02	Key Biscayne, USA	Hard	Lindsay Davenport (USA)	6-3 6-2
29.	2000-05-07	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario (Spain)	6-3 6-3
30.	2000-06-25	's Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands	Grass	Ruxandra Dragomir (Romania)	6-2 3-0 ret.
31.	2000-08-20	Montreal, Canada	Hard	Serena Williams (USA)	0-6 6-3 3-0 ret.
32.	2000-10-08	Filderstadt, Germany	Carpet	Kim Clijsters (Belgium)	6-0 6-3
33.	2000-10-15	Zurich, Switzerland	Hard	Lindsay Davenport (USA)	6-4 4-6 7-5
34.	2000-10-29	Moscow, Russia	Carpet	Anna Kournikova (Russia)	6-3 6-1
35.	2000-11-19	WTA Tour Championships, New York, USA	Carpet	Monica Seles (USA)	6-75 6-4 6-4
36.	2001-01-08	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Lindsay Davenport (USA)	6-3 4-6 7-5
37.	2001-02-18	Doha, Qatar	Hard	Sandrine Testud (France)	6-3 6-2
38.	2001-02-25	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Hard	Nathalie Tauziat (France)	6-4 6-4
39.	2002-01-13	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Meghann Shaughnessy (USA)	6-2 6-3
40.	2002-02-03	Tokyo (Pan Pacific), Japan	Carpet	Monica Seles (USA)	7-66 4-6 6-3
41.	2006-05-21	Rome, Italy	Clay	Dinara Safina (Russia)	6-2 7-5

WTA Tour doubles titles (36)

• 2002 (2)
• * (w/ Kournikova) - Australian Open
• * (w/ Schett) - Hamburg
• 2001 (1)
• * (w/ Kournikova) - Moscow
• 2000 (7)
• * (w/ Pierce) - Roland Garros, Tokyo [Pan Pacific]
• * (w/ Kournikova) - WTA Tour Championships, Filderstadt, Zürich, Philadelphia
• * (w/ Tauziat) - Montréal [Canadian Open]
• 1999 (6)
• * (w/ Kournikova) - Australian Open, WTA Tour Championships, Indian Wells, Rome, Eastbourne
• * (w/ Novotna) - Miami
• 1998 (9)
• * (w/ Sukova) - Sydney
• * (w/ Lucic)- Australian Open, Tokyo [Pan Pacific]
• * (w/ Novotna) - Roland Garros, Wimbledon, US Open, Miami, Montréal [Canadian Open]
• * (w/ Zvereva) - Los Angeles
• 1997 (8)
• * (w/ Zvereva) - Australian Open
• * (w/ Novotna) - Paris [Indoors], Leipzig
• * (w/ MJ.Fernandez) - Hilton Head
• * (w/ Davenport) - Stanford
• * (w/ Sánchez-Vicario) - San Diego, Filderstadt, Zürich
• 1996 (2)
• * (w/ Sukova) - Wimbledon, Zürich
• 1995 (1)
• * (w/ G.Fernandez) - Hamburg

Famous matches

• 1996 Italian Open quarter-final: defeated Steffi Graf, 2-6 6-2 6-3. In a sign of things to come, Hingis defeated the reigning world number one, handing Graf her first loss on clay in nearly two years. [link]
• 1996 Chase Championships final: lost to Steffi Graf, 3-6 6-4 0-6 6-4 0-6. In the only tournament to feature a five-set finals format, Hingis stretched the world number one to the distance, before succumbing 6-0 in the fifth set. Entering the tournament with a world ranking of seventh, she ended the year as world number four. [link]
• 1997 French Open final: lost to Iva Majoli, 4-6 2-6. Majoli stunned the top-ranked Hingis, snapping her 37-match winning streak and preventing her from achieving a calendar Grand Slam. This was Hingis' first lost in 1997. Majoli summed up her performance as "the best match of my life." [link]
• 1997 US Open final: defeated Venus Williams, 6-0 6-4. The final featured the 16-year-old Hingis facing the unseeded 17-year-old Williams. Although Hingis easily defeated her opponent, the match reflected the changing of the guards in women's tennis, ushering in the new generation of power baseliners, as well as the budding rivalry between Hingis and the Williams sisters. [link] [link] [link]
• 1997 Philadelphia final: defeated Lindsay Davenport, 7-5 6-7(7) 7-6(4). After winning three straight three-set matches to reach the finals, the top-seeded Hingis held off third-ranked Davenport in a tight three-setter before claiming victory. [link]
• 1998 Chase Championships final: defeated Lindsay Davenport, 7-5 6-4 4-6 6-2. Hingis and Davenport dominated the 1998 season, winning four and six titles, respectively, coming into the tournament. Hingis won her fifth title, although she had to settle for the number two spot as Davenport finished the year as the best women's tennis player. [link]
• 1999 French Open final: lost to Steffi Graf, 6-4 5-7 2-6. In what was described as one of the most memorable women's finals in recent history, Graf won the title in her last appearance in Roland Garros, defeating the top three players in the world. Despite this, the match is remembered more for Hingis' emotional breakdown. Hingis was within three points of victory in the second set, when the match turned to Graf's favor. She earned the jeers and boos of the Parisian crowd when she served underarm, and repeatedly argued with the umpire and linesmen over the calls. On occasions, receiving warnings and penalized for points for her smashing her racquet, as well as even walking over her opponent's side of the court to argue a call. Hingis, who walked off court in tears after the match, had to be accompanied back by her mother for the awarding ceremony. [link] [link]
• 1999 Wimbledon first round: lost to Jelena Dokic, 2-6 0-6. Billed as [one of the greatest upsets in Wimbledon's 113-year history], Hingis was stunned by a qualifier in the opening round, marking only the third time in the tournament's history that the top-ranked woman lost in the first round. The loss ended her streak of making the semi-finals or better in 11 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments. Two years later, as the top seed, she would also be bundled out in the opening round, this time by 83rd-ranked Virginia Ruano Pascual, 6-4 6-2. [link]
• 1999 Munich (Grand Slam Cup) semi-final: lost to Venus Williams, 6-2 6-7(6) 9-7. In a sign of the shift in women's tennis favoring the power game players, the fourth-seeded Williams beat the top-seeded Hingis. In terms of aces delivered, Williams blasted 18, Hingis none. [link]
• 2000 Australian Open final: lost to Lindsay Davenport, 1-6 5-7. Although Hingis managed to fight back in the second set while trailing 5-1, Davenport was able to snapped her 27-match winning streak in the major. During the awarding ceremony, as a "compliment" to Davenport, Hingis said, "I just hate playing you." [link]
• 2001 Australian Open quarter-final: defeated Serena Williams, 6-2 3-6 8-6. Although critics had stated that Hingis had passed her prime and that the power game, led by the Williams sisters, was overtaking her, she still found a way to defeat Williams, despite trailing 4-1 in the final set. She went on to defeat older sister Venus in the semi-final, handing Venus her career-worst defeat, 6-1 6-1. [link] In doing so, she became the first player to beat both the Williams sisters in a Grand Slam. Ironically, she was defeated in the final by another power hitter when she lost to Jennifer Capriati 6-4 6-3. [link]
• 2002 Australian Open final: lost to Jennifer Capriati, 6-4 6-7(7) 2-6. In her sixth straight Australian Open final, Hingis once again faced Capriati. Although Hingis led 4-0 in the second set, and held four match points, she failed to close the match. The match was also controversial as the court temperature hovered in the mid-30s to high-40s (Celsius). [link] [link] In such a case, the Extreme Heat Policy called for the closure of the stadium's roof. However, this was not implemented, with authorities citing that the temperature was not high enough. [link] As both struggled with the heat, the players were given a 10-minute heat break at the end of the second set, when they immediately walked into the locker room to lie on tables and pack their limbs with ice. A year later, that policy was implemented during the finals match between the Williams sister, when the temperature soared to 42^οC [link] [link]
• 2006 Australian Open quarter-final: lost to Kim Clijsters, 3-6 6-2 4-6. In just her third tournament and her first major since her comeback, Hingis defied expectations to reach the quarter-final. She became the first wildcard and lowest-ranked woman to reach the quarters in 25 years. [link] [link]
• 2006 Tokyo (Pan-Pacific) semi-final: defeated Maria Sharapova, 6-3 6-1. Hingis defeated a Top Five player for the first time in her comeback. Behind solid groundstrokes and strong serves, she clinched her [most impressive victory of her comeback] yet. [link]
• 2006 Indian Wells fourth found: defeated Lindsay Davenport, 6-3 1-6 6-2. Renewing their rivalry that has been shelved since 2001, Hingis notched her second Top Five win in defeating Davenport. This was their earliest meeting in a tournament since their first one in 1995. [link] [link]
• 2006 Rome semi-final: defeated Venus Williams, 0-6 6-3 6-3. Hingis notched her 500th career win by beating an old rival. Although Williams defeated her weeks before in Warsaw, 4-6 7-5 6-4, to even their head-to-head series at 10-10, Hingis was able to rally from a bagel in the first set, to improve on their rivalry 11-10. She would go on to claim her first title in her comeback. [link]

External links

• WTA Tour profile for [Martina Hingis]
• [The Martina Hingis fan community]
• [Hingisnews website]
• [Martina Hingis - Étoile du tennis (French language)]

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