Martina Hingis has turned back the clock: at the age of 37, the “Swiss Miss” is again at the top of the double world ranking list.That’s enough for her, though.
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Martina Hingis did not ask twice to celebrate the day.Excited like a small child, the Swiss woman blown the candles on the cake to her 37th birthday.Birthday.The fact that after the first attempt not a single light was on, fit the picture.If Martina Hingis is doing something, she’s doing it right.Age doesn’t matter.Since Monday, the “Swiss Miss” has been back at the top of the double world ranking.
In 1997, at the age of 16, she was the youngest female player ever to climb the tennis throne for the first time in the singles,” said the former rival of Steffi Graf with a broad grin,”but feels as if it had been in another life,” and today she only leads a double life on the court.Currently at the side of Chan Yung-Jan from Taiwan, with whom she has only been playing since February – but has already won eight tournaments.
Hingis still doesn’t want to know anything about a comeback as a solo artist.Her motto:”I’d rather put my foot down in doubles than stand somewhere between 30th and 50th in singles.”
In 2007, after a positive cocaine test, the right-hander, born in Kosice, Slovakia, ended her successful career for the time being.Until then, she had five individual major titles on her account.What followed off-circuit were a few participations in equestrian tournaments and the line break from her husband Thibault Hutin, a French jumper.
But Hingis never let go of her true passion.Curiously enough, only a few weeks before her return to the double tour in 2013, she had already been accepted into the Hall of Fame – at the age of 32.At the festivities, Hingis posed with a wooden bat on Newport’s juice green lawn for the photo gallery of the Hall of Fame.A piece of the past – it seemed so.And she said,”Thank you, tennis.”You have laid the world at my feet and chosen me for this place in eternity.”
But Hingis did not want to settle for eternity.In the meantime, the Eastern Swiss has collected a total of 13 double and seven mixed trophies at major events.It radiates deepest satisfaction.
At the US Open in early September, Hingis won the Flushing Meadows double.She triumphed alongside Chan and won with Jamie Murray in the mixed doubles.It was their Grand Slam trophies number 24 and 25.
“Martina is a champion.She’s always ready for important points, astonishing on the defensive, and she’s got a genius hand,”said Jamie Murray, praising his partner, who has a hard time with today’s generation of players.
“I think we all used to have a little more game overview and gameplay in the old days.Especially for the very young girls, it’s often just one big bang,”Hingis recently told the Welt am Sonntag.The level of performance has become “perhaps broader,” but the game isn’t really more intelligent.
All the better that you can still watch a virtuoso of the old school like Hingis at least in the doubles competitions.