Will Martina Hingis return to the Women’s Tour?
Martina Hingis made waves in 1994 at her debut as the youngest tennis player ever to win a Grand Slam tournament where she teamed up with Helena Sukova at that year’s Wimbledon to set a new record for the youngest Grand Slam champion in the history of tennis.
A very successful doubles player, the Swiss professional has also paired up with other players such as Anna Kournikova and Mary Pierce. Her run with Kournikova was outstandingly successful, with the team winning two Grand Slam titles at Melbourne Park during the Australian Open, and also scoring a win for themselves at the WTA Championships in 1999 and 2000; also capturing the World Number 1 ranking in the process. Hingis and Kournikova often mocked themselves by referring to their team as ‘the Spice Girls of tennis’, because of their looks. All in all, Hingis won 9 Grand Slam women’s doubles titles, also capturing herself a calendar year victory in all four Majors.
Hingis was also quite successful as a singles player, setting a large number of “youngest player ever” records. Her first such singles record as a professional was her victory at the Australian Open in 1997. She defeated her future doubles partner, Mary Pierce to reach this victory. She won five Grand Slam titles in all; 1 US Open, a Wimbledon and an Australian Open in 1997, with two more victories in Australia in the years 1998 and 1999. Martina Hingis conquered a total of 43 WTA awards and 2 ITF trophies.
However, her burgeoning career was cut short in 2002, when she was forced to retire from professional tennis at the age of 22. The reasons behind this were mostly health-related. Ligament injuries in her ankles compelled her to take some time off. However, the retirement proved to be temporary, and Hingis returned to professional tennis in 2006, rejoining the WTA tour. In this re-entry, she climbed the ATP ranking ladder all the way to World Number 6, also winning three singles titles in the bargain. However, this streak was also cut short by cocaine accusations when she tested positive for the drug during a Wimbledon tournament. Although she denied using it but she was banned from the tour for two years after which Hingis announced that she would retire permanently even after the ban.
However, there is good news for Hingis fans. She seems to have reconsidered this decision. The 29-year-old has expressed an interest in returning to the WTA tour, only as an exclusive doubles player in her third round. Hingis quite recently said, "I don't know, I couldn't say right now, it's always maybes. I need to find a partner first and commit to really wanting to do it.”
She also stated that Lindsay Davenport may be one of her potential partners. “I've been asked here and there, with Lindsay but she wanted to come back too soon and I wasn't ready for that.”
Even following the ban, Hingis maintained that she was innocent, and was welcomed back to both Wimbledon and the US Open to participate in the exhibition matches with Anna Kournikova. Perhaps these tournaments have played a part in her change of mind, as she commented, “I really enjoyed playing Team Tennis, playing singles and doubles, and the doubles felt really good.”
Tags: