Martina Hingis - Australian Open Women's Tennis Players
Martina Hingis is as well known for her tears, tantrums and unkind comments, as she is for her incredible technical skills, her good shot selection and total dominance of women's tennis in the late 90s. Hingis has since retired from tennis following a 2 year ban from the sport after testing positive for cocaine abuse - although she still denies that she ever took the drug.
The Swiss sensation took the world by storm in 1997 when she became the youngest Grand Slam singles winner in the 20th century. She won the Australian Open at the tender age of 16 years and three months, defeating former champion Mary Pierce. She grabbed the top ranking, becoming the youngest player in history, and then went on to claim her second Grand Slam title by beating Jana Novotna in the women's singles final at Wimbledon.
From then on, it became the Martina Hingis show. She was unstoppable in both forms of the game, and became the only woman to hold the world no.1 ranking in both singles and doubles.
Her accomplishments in '97 & '98:
- Women's singles title at the Australian Open
- Women's singles title at Wimbledon
- Women's singles title at the US Open
- Semifinalist at the French Open
- Australian Open singles title '98
- All four Grand Slam women's doubles titles '98
- Semifinalist at the US Open - her defeat by Lindsay Davenport ended an 80-week stretch Hingis had enjoyed no.1 status!
Martina Hingis was an Australian Open women's tennis player of note, she took her third successive singles title, and also claimed the doubles crown with partner Anna Kournikova in 1999. From then on, things went a bit awry for the young star. She suffered an acrimonious defeat at the hands of crowd darling, Steffi Graf, at the French Open, was knocked out in the first round at Wimbledon and was crushed by Serena Williams in the US Open finals.
Up to her early retirement in 2003, Martina Hingis certainly held her own on the court, but never really dominated the game like she did in the 1990s. She was forced to retire because of recurring ankle injuries.
The queen of the court couldn't stay out of the limelight and in 2005 she decided to give the tennis circuit a second whirl. Her comeback debut was at the 2006 Australian Open, and although she was not successful in the singles, she walked away with the mixed doubles title. She then reached the quarterfinals at the French Open and made it to the third round of Wimbledon before crashing out of the US Open in the second round.
Her return to the grand slam tournaments was unsuccesful, and she retired early in 2008 after being banned for two years by the ITF for a doping offence. She was adamant that she had never taken drugs, yet the test taken at Wimbledon 2007 proved positive for cocaine, Hingis left the world of competitive tennis still admitting her innocence.
Martina had beaten several top Australian Open women's tennis players in her comeback, including Venus Williams, Nadia Petrova, Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova. She might have had a fighting chance in 2008, the tennis world will miss her dramatic playing style in 2009!
Now that Justine Henin and Martina Hingis have both retired, which Australian Open women's singles tennis player will break their records? For the best tennis betting experience, try William Hill, one of the world's leading bookmakers.
