Martina Hingis is a Swiss tennis player, one of the most precocious in history. World number one at sixteen, she won five Grand Slam singles titles in the late 1990s before becoming a major doubles champion.
Martina Hingis(1980 — ?)
Martina Hingis
Suisse, Tchécoslovaquie
5 min read
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- Born September 30, 1980 in Košice, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia)
- Became world number one in 1997 at age sixteen, a record for precocity
- Won the Australian Open in 1997, 1998, and 1999
- Won Wimbledon (1997) and the US Open (1997) in singles
- Enjoyed a brilliant second career in doubles in the 2000s-2010s
Works & Achievements
First Grand Slam title, at age 15, making her the youngest major champion of the Open Era.
First of her five Grand Slam singles titles, and the start of a three-peat in Melbourne.
Title won the year she rose to world No. 1.
Third Grand Slam singles title of an exceptional season.
Victory in all four major tournaments in doubles the same year, an extremely rare feat.
Fifth and final Grand Slam singles title of her career.
Multiple titles in women's and mixed doubles, cementing her status as a doubles legend.
Anecdotes
Martina Hingis owes her first name to tennis legend Martina Navratilova. Her mother, Melanie Molitor, herself a tennis player, chose this name in admiration for the Czechoslovak champion, as an omen of the career that awaited her daughter.
At just sixteen and a half years old, in March 1997, Hingis became the youngest world number one in the history of professional tennis. That same year, she won three of the four Grand Slam tournaments, a rare dominance for such a young player.
Nicknamed the "Swiss Miss," Hingis was renowned for her tennis intelligence rather than her power. Facing opponents who hit much harder than she did, such as the Williams sisters, she compensated with exceptional court reading and positioning.
After an initial retirement in 2003 due to ankle injuries, Hingis returned to competition several times. Starting in 2015, she brilliantly reinvented herself as a doubles specialist, winning numerous Grand Slam titles in women's doubles and mixed doubles.
Hingis had a notable rivalry with her contemporaries like Lindsay Davenport, Monica Seles, and Jennifer Capriati. Her duel with the Venus and Serena Williams sisters symbolized the shift from finesse tennis to physical power tennis at the end of the 1990s.
Primary Sources
On March 31, 1997, Martina Hingis became the world No. 1 in the WTA rankings at age 16 years and 6 months, making her the youngest No. 1 in history.
Martina Hingis won the women's singles title at the Australian Open in 1997, 1998, and 1999, securing three consecutive titles in Melbourne.
Martina Hingis was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport in 2013, in recognition of her singles and doubles career.
Key Places
Birthplace of Martina Hingis, then in Czechoslovakia.
Village in the canton of St. Gallen where Hingis grew up and trained in tennis.
Site of the Australian Open, where Hingis won three consecutive singles titles.
Location of her first Grand Slam title (doubles, 1996) and her singles title in 1997.
Site of the US Open, which she won in singles in 1997.
Liens externes & ressources
Références
Œuvres
Wimbledon, double dames
1996
Open d'Australie, simple
1997
Wimbledon, simple
1997
US Open, simple
1997
Grand Chelem en double dames
1998
Open d'Australie, simple
1999
Titres du Grand Slam en double (seconde carrière)
2015-2017
