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Martina Hingis (b. September 30 1980, in
Kosice|Košice, Czechoslovakia) is a former
World No. 1 woman tennis player from Switzerland.
During her career, she won five Grand Slam
(tennis)|Grand Slam singles titles (three
Australian Open, one Wimbledon
Championships|Wimbledon, and one U.S. Open
(tennis)|US Open). She also won nine Grand Slam
women's doubles titles, and captured all four of
the Grand Slam women's doubles crowns in 1998. She
set a series of "youngest-ever" records, however
in the end injuries ended her playing career at
the relatively young age of 22.

== Childhood & early career ==

Both of Hingis' parents — Slovakia|Slovak
Karol Hingis and Moravian Melánie
Molitorová — were tennis players (her
mother was once ranked the No. 10 woman player in
Czechoslovakia). They named their daughter
'Martina' (originally Martina Hingisová
Molitorová) after Martina
Navratilova|Martina Navrátilová. Hingis' parents
divorced when she was a young child, after which
she moved with her mother to Moravia for a short
period. From there they went to Switzerland, which
became Hingis' home.

Hingis began hitting tennis balls at home when she
was just two years old, and entered her first
tournament at the age of four. In 1993, Hingis
became the youngest-ever player to win a Grand
Slam junior title when she won the girls' singles
at the French Open at the age of 12. 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 made her debut on the professional tour 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, who gained the nickname of the "Swiss
Miss" on the tour, quickly won over crowds with
her attractive playing style. She lacked the
outright power of many of her strongest opponents,
but compensated for this with fluent, precise
groundstrokes, skill at the net, and outstanding
shot selection. Her bright, bubbly demeanour in
public helped make her a favourite with tennis
fans. Hingis was twice rated among FHM magazine's
100 sexiest women, and her doubles partnership
with tennis' all-time glamour girl Anna Kournikova
in the late-1990s and early-2000s attracted a
great deal of attention. (Later in her career,
Hingis' public image was somewhat tarnished by a
series of untoward comments about the race of the
Williams sisters and a blatantly homophobic
comment about her openly gay 1999 Australian Open
final opponent Amelie Mauresmo, in which she
referred to Mauresmo as "half a man". This was
rather ironic given that Hingis was named after
Martina Navratilova – one of the first openly
gay elite athletes.) 


== Grand Slam success ==

In 1996, Hingis became the youngest-ever Wimbledon
champion when she partnered Helena Sukova|Helena
Suková to win the women's doubles title aged 15
years and 9 months. She also won her first
professional singles that year at Filderstadt,
Germany. She reached the singles semi-finals at
the 1996 US Open, and she lost to Steffi Graf in a
five-set final at the year-end WTA Tour
Championships.

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 defeating 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 (Australian Open with
Mirjana Lucic, and the other three events
partnering Jana Novotná), and 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. 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. A
petulant display during the final set saw Hingis
showered with boos by the crowd and earned her a
fine for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Hingis stormed
off of the court after the conclusion of the match
and, after a lengthy delay, had to be convinced to
return and participate in the prize-presentation
ceremony. Many pundits saw this as considerable
disrespectful to Graf. Hingis bounced back from
the experience 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.

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.


== End of career == 

Coming back from injury, Hingis reached a sixth
straight Australian Open final at the start of
2002, and again faced Capriati. But having led by
a set and 4-0, Hingis went on to lose 4-6, 7-6,
6-2. In May 2002, she needed another ankle
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 insisted that she was able to play and
many believe 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, dwindling confidence
and results. During her career, she had won 40
singles titles and 36 doubles events. She held the
World No. 1 singles ranking for a total of 209
weeks.  

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. Since then, she
has said that she has no further plans to attempt
a comeback.

However, Hingis resurfaced in July 2005, playing
singles, doubles, and mixed doubles in World Team
Tennis.  She produced a 18-1 record while playing
for the New York Sportimes, with singles wins over
two top 100 players.  She also shut out Martina
Navratilova in singles competition on July 7. 
These results again fueled speculation that Hingis
was indeed considering a return to the WTA Tour.

==Grand Slam Singles finals==

===Wins (5)===

{| cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" border="1"
style="font-size: 95%; border: #aaa solid 1px;
border-collapse: collapse;"
|- bgcolor="#eeeeee"
|Year
|Championship
|Opponent in final
|Score in final
|-
| 1997 ||  Australian Open || Mary Pierce || 6-2,
6-2
|-
| 1997 ||  Wimbledon Championships|Wimbledon ||
Jana Novotná ||  2-6, 6-3, 6-3
|-
| 1997 ||  U.S. Open (tennis)|US Open || Venus
Williams ||  6-0, 6-4
|-
| 1998 ||  Australian Open || Conchita Martínez
|| 6-3, 6-3
|-
| 1999 ||  Australian Open || Amélie Mauresmo ||
6-2, 6-3
|}

===Runners-up (7)===

{| cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" border="1"
style="font-size: 95%; border: #aaa solid 1px;
border-collapse: collapse;"
|- bgcolor="#eeeeee"
|Year
|Championship
|Opponent in final
|Score in final
|-
| 1997 ||  French Open || Iva Majoli || 6-4, 6-2
|-
| 1998 ||  U.S. Open (tennis)|US Open || Lindsay
Davenport ||  6-3, 7-5
|-
| 1999 ||  French Open || Steffi Graf ||  4-6,
7-5, 6-2
|-
| 1999 ||  U.S. Open (tennis)|US Open || Serena
Williams ||  6-3, 7-6
|-
| 2000 ||  Australian Open || Lindsay Davenport ||
6-1, 7-5
|-
| 2001 ||  Australian Open || Jennifer Capriati ||
6-4, 6-3
|-
| 2002 ||  Australian Open || Jennifer Capriati ||
4-6, 7-6, 6-2
|}

===Performance timeline===

{| cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" border="1"
style="font-size: 95%; border: #aaa solid 1px;
border-collapse: collapse;"
|- bgcolor="#eeeeee"
! Tournament !! 2002 !! 2001 !! 2000 !! 1999 !!
1998 !! 1997 !! 1996 !! 1995 
|-
|Australian Open
|align="center"|F
|align="center"|F
|align="center"|F
|align="center"|W
|align="center"|W
|align="center"|W
|align="center"|QF
|align="center"|2r

|-
|French Open
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|SF
|align="center"|SF
|align="center"|F
|align="center"|SF
|align="center"|F
|align="center"|3r
|align="center"|3r

|-
|Wimbledon Championships|Wimbledon
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|1r
|align="center"|QF
|align="center"|1r
|align="center"|SF
|align="center"|W
|align="center"|4r
|align="center"|1r

|-
|U.S. Open (tennis)|US Open
|align="center"|4r
|align="center"|SF
|align="center"|SF
|align="center"|F
|align="center"|F
|align="center"|W
|align="center"|SF
|align="center"|4r

|- bgcolor="#efefef"
|Tournaments Won
|align="center"|2
|align="center"|3
|align="center"|9
|align="center"|7
|align="center"|5
|align="center"|12
|align="center"|2
|align="center"|0

|- bgcolor="#efefef"
|Win-Loss
|align="center"|34-10
|align="center"|60-15
|align="center"|77-10
|align="center"|71-13
|align="center"|67-13
|align="center"|75-5
|align="center"|51-16
|align="center"|22-13

|- bgcolor="#efefef"
|Year End Ranking 
|align="center"|10
|align="center"|4
|align="center"|1
|align="center"|1
|align="center"|2
|align="center"|1
|align="center"|4
|align="center"|16
|}

==External links==
*wta|id=80301|name=Martina Hingis
*http://www.hingis.org The Martina Hingis fan
community
*http://www.overstuffed-closet.net/martina Martina
Fans: The Martina Hingis Fanlisting

Tennis World Number Ones (women)

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