A flash back at the glorious era of women’s tennis, a decade ago
The 2010 tennis season features a variety of talented professional tennis players from the women’s side such as Serena Williams, Samantha Stosur, Maria Sharapova, Venus Williams and Victoria Azarenka. However, more than a decade ago, only two women from the names mentioned above made it to the list of famous female tennis stars; Serena Williams and Venus Williams. The Williams sisters managed to get noticed when outstanding players like Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Steffi Graf, Jana Novotna and Monica Seles were on top of their career.
Currently the Williams are renowned for their extra-ordinary tennis performances. Williams’ sisters might grab a few more titles; however they are in the concluding phase of their professional lives beyond any measure of speculations. On the other hand, the young players are just relishing the start of their soon-to-be glorious careers.
Talking about year 1998; it highlighted diverse women tennis stars winning every major title. The year kicked off with Martina Hingis succeeding in Australian Open tournament with Sanchez Vicario capturing the French Open title, after knocking down the Queen of Clay court, Monica Seles. Then the fabulous Jana Novotna took her major singles trophy at the grass court Grand Slam tournament.
Later on in the year, Lindsay Davenport performed remarkably well and won the Grand Slam event of United States Open Championship. The top three contenders of the season were Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams and Martina Hingis.
The following year, a controversy about Hingis’ offensive behaviour towards her opponent spread like wild fire in the media and among her fans. Prior to the singles’ final of the hard court Australian Open tournament, Martina Hingis stated about her final opponent, “Amelie Mauresmo is half a man."
Later on, Hingis knocked down Amelie in the final of the Australian Open tournament, marking it her third consecutive Australian Open win. The victory placed her just one place behind the record holder with maximum hard court Australian Open trophies.
The clay court French Open tournament during the same year also brought along some surprises. The spectators at Roland Garros wished to punish Martina for her "swaggering" attitude towards her tennis mate. In the champion match, Hingis versus all time favourite, Steffi Graf, Hingis was just three points from the title.
However, the spectators, who wanted Graf to win the trophy, mocked and taunted Hingis for her imprudent actions during the match. With nearly every single man in the stands abusing and booing her, Martina failed to control her nerves, and as a result Steffi won the trophy, in spite of the fact that she was down for most of the match.
At the grass court Grand Slam championship, Wimbledon, Lindsay Davenport defeated Steffi Graf in the final battle at the All England Club. Martina Hingis later on played in the final match of the United States Open tournament at the Flushing Meadows against the current number one Serena Williams. During that match, Hingis was already exhausted as a result of her previous tough battle with Venus Williams. Therefore, Serena took full advantage of the situation and grabbed her very first Grand Slam crown of her career.
Prior to the start of the 21st century, the players already had set their targets. Venus Williams was definitely determined to grab a couple of majors, whereas, her sister Serena Williams would continue her quest up on the ladder of Grand Slams. Martina Hingis, on the other hand, never really played the way she used to after the clay court French Open final back in 1999, contesting in just a total of three major finals in the 2000s, in contrast to nine major finals back in 90's.
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