Martina Hingis

Martina Hingis is a Swiss former professional tennis player, widely regarded as one of the sport's All-Time Greats.

She achieved the World No. 1 ranking in women's singles for an astounding 209 weeks and in women's doubles for 90 weeks, notably holding both top spots simultaneously for 29 weeks.

Hingis won a remarkable 25 major titles, including five in singles and a rare women's doubles Grand Slam in 1998, along with 43 WTA Tour-level singles titles and 64 doubles titles.

Player Profile and Personal Life

Martina Hingis was born on September 30, 1980, in Košice, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia), as Martina Hingisová. She stands 170 cm tall and she plays right-handed with a two-handed backhand.

Her parents, Melanie Molitorová and Karol Hingis, were both tennis players. Her mother, a former top-10 player in Czechoslovakia, was determined for Hingis to become a top player from an early age.

Hingis spent her early childhood in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm (now in the Czech Republic). After her parents divorced when she was six, she and her mother emigrated to Trübbach (Wartau) in Switzerland when she was seven, and Hingis acquired Swiss citizenship through naturalization. Along with her native Czech and German, Hingis speaks English and French.

Her personal life has seen several engagements and marriages.

She was engaged to Czech tennis player Radek Štěpánek in November 2006, breaking it off in August 2007. Another engagement is to Swiss attorney Andreas Bieri in December 2009 ended in April 2010.

On December 10, 2010, she married French equestrian show jumper Thibault Hutin in Paris, but they separated by early 2013. On July 20, 2018, Hingis married sports physician Harald Leemann in Switzerland.

They welcomed a daughter, Lia, on February 26, 2019, before divorcing in August 2022.

Career

Martina Hingis turned professional in 1994. She quickly set a series of "youngest-ever" records in the 1990s, including becoming the youngest Grand Slam champion and youngest World No. 1.

Her period of early dominance saw her win 40 singles titles and 36 doubles titles before ligament injuries in both ankles forced her first temporary retirement in early 2003, at the age of 22.

During this time, from 1997 to 2001, she was, according to Forbes, the highest-paid female athlete in the world for five consecutive years.

After surgeries and long recoveries, Hingis returned to the WTA Tour in 2006, climbing back to World No. 6 in singles, winning two Tier I tournaments, and receiving the Laureus World Sports Award for Comeback of the Year.

She retired for a second time in November 2007 due to a hip injury and was later suspended by the International Tennis Federation for two years in January 2008 following a positive test in 2007.

In July 2013, Hingis made another comeback, focusing exclusively on doubles events.

This successful phase saw her win four major women's doubles tournaments, six major mixed doubles tournaments (completing the Career Grand Slam in mixed doubles), 27 WTA Tour doubles titles, and an Olympic silver medal in women's doubles at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Hingis retired for the third and final time after the 2017 WTA Finals, while still ranked as the doubles World No. 1.

Her significant impact on the sport was recognized by Tennis magazine, which ranked her as the eighth-greatest female player of the preceding 40 years in 2005.

TIME magazine named her one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" in June 2011.

She holds the distinction of being the first Swiss player, male or female, to win a major title and to attain a World No. 1 ranking. In 2013, Hingis was elected into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and two years later, she was appointed the organization's first-ever Global Ambassador.

Coaching Career

From 2013 to 2015, Hingis also embarked on a coaching career, working with players such as Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in 2013, Sabine Lisicki in 2014, and Belinda Bencic in 2015.

Her coaching contributed to her coachees winning a total of two singles titles and two doubles titles.

Career Record

Singles

• Career record: 548–135
• Career titles: 43
• Highest ranking: No. 1 (March 31, 1997)

Best Grand Slam Singles Performances

• Australian Open – W (1997, 1998, 1999)
• French Open – F (1997, 1999)
• Wimbledon – W (1997)
• US Open – W (1997)

Other tournaments (Singles)

• Grand Slam Cup – SF (1998)
• Tour Finals – W (1998, 2000)
• Olympic Games – 2R (1996)

Doubles

• Career record: 490–110
• Career titles: 64
• Highest ranking: No. 1 (June 8, 1998)

Best Grand Slam Doubles Performances

• Australian Open – W (1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2016)
• French Open – W (1998, 2000)
• Wimbledon – W (1996, 1998, 2015)
• US Open – W (1998, 2015, 2017)

Other tournaments (Doubles)

• Tour Finals – W (1999, 2000, 2015)
• Olympic Games – F (2016)

Mixed Doubles

• Career record: 54–12
• Career titles: 7

Best Grand Slam Mixed Doubles Performances

• Australian Open – W (2006, 2015)
• French Open – W (2016)
• Wimbledon – W (2015, 2017)
• US Open – W (2015, 2017)

Team competitions

• Fed Cup – F (1998)
• Hopman Cup – W (2001)