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| Birth Name(s) : Martina Hingis |
Date of Birth: September 30, 1980 |
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Full Martina Hingis Biography
| Born in Slovakia, Martina Hingis is often called the "Princess of the Women's Tennis Association" and deservedly so. Coached by her mother, Melanie Molitor, she has ranked #1 several times and continues to draw crowds to her games and tournaments. |
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Additional Martina Hingis Biography
Martina Hingis (pronounced: hɪŋˈɡɪs) (born September 30, 1980 in Košice, Slovakia) is a former World No. 1 Swiss tennis player. Known as the "Swiss Miss", 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, winning a calendar year Grand Slam in 1998, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title. She spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1 and set a series of "youngest-ever" records before ligament injuries in both ankles forced her to withdraw from professional tennis at the relatively early age of 22.
Hingis was born to two accomplished tennis players: a Czech mother, Melanie Molitorová, and a Hungarian-Slovak father living in Košice (Slovakia), Karol Hingis (Hingis Károly in Hungarian). Molitorová once ranked No. 10 among women in Czechoslovakia. Her father who was rated even number 19 in the tennis rankings of Czechoslovakia is today a tennis trainer in Košice. They named their daughter 'Martina' (originally Martina Hingisová) 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 age 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's best year was 1997 when she was the undisputed world No. 1 women's tennis player. She started the year by winning the warm-up tournament in Sydney. She then became the youngest Grand Slam singles winner in the 20th century by winning the Australian Open at age 16 years and 3 months (beating former champion Mary Pierce in the final). In March, she became the youngest top ranked player in history. In July, she became the youngest singles champion at Wimbledon since Lottie Dod in 1887 by beating Jana Novotná in the final. She then defeated another up-and-coming player, Venus Williams, in the final of the U.S. Open. The only Grand Slam singles title that Hingis failed to win in 1997 was the French Open, where she lost in the final to Iva Majoli.
In 2003, at the age of 22, Hingis announced her retirement from tennis. In several interviews, she indicated she was attending an advanced English course at AKAD in Zürich to broaden her career opportunities.
During her 8 months back on the WTA tour, Hingis has reached three Tier I finals - the first in Tokyo (falling to Elena Dementieva 6-2, 6-0, after defeating Maria Sharapova in a semifinal), then in Rome (winning the title over Dinara Safina 6-2, 7-5), and in Montreal (falling to Ana Ivanović 6-2, 6-3). She has beaten several top players in her comeback, including Sharapova, Lindsay Davenport, Dementieva, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova and Venus Williams.
Her next tournament was the last grand slam of the year, the U.S. Open, the same Open that she won exactly ten years ago for the first time. Fortunately for Hingis, she got stuck in the bottom, less competitive part of the draw. After winning in the first two rounds, many commentators had been saying that if she continued to play the way she was, she had a chance of making the semi-finals with her variety of shots instead of the hard hitting players that make up most of the womens tour. If she won in the third round, her likely opponent would have been fourth seeded, and 2004 champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova, who has been known to be great when she plays well, but very inconsistent. With the recent exit of last years champion and number two seed, Maria Sharapova, the bottom half had been blown wide open, with anyone having a chance to make the finals, including Hingis.
Hingis is renowned for her tactical approach to the game of tennis and for her technical skills, enabling her to produce a large array of shots with finesse. She lacks the power possessed by many of her contemporaries; therefore, she relies on low error rates and good shot selection to keep opponents off-balance. She often uses change of direction and pace to catch opponents off guard and sharp angles to open up the court. She is also well known for her ability to break long rallies by hitting accurate drop shots and coming to the net, where she is a skilled volleyer. A signature play of Hingis is the drop shot followed by a lob, often resulting in an easy volley or overhead to finish the point.
1996
- Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour Most Improved Player. WTA Tour Most Impressive Newcomer Award.
2007
- Surpassed U.S.$20 million in career earnings at the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, the fourth female player to do so (after Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, and Lindsay Davenport). She was fourth in the all-time money list at $20,033,600 after the tournament.
- Meredith Inspiration Award for inspiring women around the world - Family Circle Cup/Family Circle Magazine |
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