Martina Hingis Biography

Born: 30 September 1980

Birthplace: Kosice, Slovakia

Best Known As: Three-time Australian Open winner

Martina Hingis turned pro at age 14 and quickly became one of the dominant tennis stars of the 1990s. In 1997 she nearly completed a rare Grand Slam, winning the Australian Open, the U.S. Open and Wimbledon and losing only in the French Open finals. Intensely competitive and a clever shotmaker, Hingis was ranked #1 in the world in women's singles in 1997, 1998 and 2000 and by the end of the year 2000 she had career prize winnings of $15 million. For a time she was part of a high-profile doubles team with fellow teen sensation Anna Kournikova. In 2002 Hingis battled ankle injuries, and in 2003 she announced that she was retiring from competitive tennis. However, she unretired three years later, making her official return to professional tennis on 2 January 2006 in the Australian women's hardcourt championships. She retired again in November 2007 after announcing that her urine sample had tested positive for cocaine at that year's Wimbledon tournament; Hingis denied playing under the influence of the drug, but said "I have no desire to spend the next several years of my life reduced to fighting against the doping officials."

Hingis's mother has said that Martina was named for tennis star Martina Navratilova... Hingis was born in Slovkia (then Czechoslovakia) but moved to Switzerland in 1987 after her mother remarried... During her days at the top of the tennis rankings, Hingis had a few much-publicized feuds with the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena.

Martina Hingis