Martina Hingis To Return To The Professional Tour

Written by: Staff on 17th July 2013

Martina Hingis To Return To The Professional Tour

epa03787059 Swiss tennis champion Martina Hingis smiles in her ceremonial blazer during her enshrinement ceremony at the International Tennis Hall of Fame for the Class of 2013 in Newport, Rhode Island, USA 13 July 2013. EPA/DOMINICK REUTER |

More than 12 years since last ascending to the WTA’s world no.1 singles ranking and 11 years since winning the last of her Grand Slam titles, at doubles in the Australian Open with Ann Kournikova, Martina Hingis is returning to competitive tennis on the women’s tour and will contest Mercury Insurance Open in Carlsbad, California later this month.

The announcement comes just a couple of days after the 32-year-old Swiss, who amassed a $20,130,657 fortune from prize money alone, was inducted into International Tennis Hall of Fame at Newport, Rhode Island on Saturday.

Hingis, who last played competitively at the 2007 US Open, has accepted a wildcard to play alongside Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova at the $794,000 event to be played at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa, starting July 29.

“My competitive spirit is still very much alive,” said Hingis who won five Grand Slam singles titles including Wimbledon in 1997 at the age of 16.

“I feel in good shape at the moment after playing World Team Tennis. I love being out on court and I am very much looking forward to making a return to competitive play at the Southern California Open. I remember winning the singles and doubles here in 1997 and winning the singles again in 1999.”

Hingis spent 209 weeks at no. 1 in singles (fourth in the all-time list behind only Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert) and 35 weeks as the no.1 in doubles. Along with her 43 singles titles, she has 37 doubles crowns, including ten Grand Slams.

Hingis set a series of “youngest-ever” records before ligament injuries in both ankles forced her to withdraw temporarily from professional tennis in 2002 at the age of 22. After several surgeries and long recuperations, Hingis returned to the WTA in 2006. She then climbed to world no. 6 and won three singles titles. On 1 November 2007, Hingis announced her retirement from tennis after testing positive for the use of cocaine during Wimbledon in 2007. She denied using the drug, but decided not to appeal the imminent ban.

Recently she has been contracted as a coach to Patrick Mouratoglou Academy and has been working with the 23^rd ranked Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Just 11 days ago she won the Ladies Invitational Doubles for a third year in a row at Wimbledon with Lindsay Davenport.

Newspaper reports also state that she is currently estranged from her husband, the Swiss equestrian show jumper Thibault Hutin.

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: American tennis news, Martina Hingis, Mercury Insurance Open, Tennis News, women tennis news, Wta

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10sBalls_com says:

July 17, 2013 at 8:08 am

Martina Hingis To Return To The Professional Tour – http://t.co/R9RNFDLomO @mhingis @BleacherReport @HuffingtonsPost @ESPNTennis
superslamtennis says:

July 17, 2013 at 8:33 am

RT @10sBalls_com: Martina Hingis To Return To The Professional Tour – http://t.co/R9RNFDLomO @mhingis @BleacherReport @HuffingtonsPost @ESP…
superpaolita_ says:

July 17, 2013 at 8:53 am

RT @10sBalls_com Martina Hingis To Return To The Professional Tour – http://t.co/0nzthvUYuA @mhingis @BleacherReport @martinahingisCH