Martina Hingis

She's back after having retired from tennis in 2002 at the peak of her form with debilitating foot and ankle injuries. She has already been accepted as a wild card for the Australian Open 2006 and has another wild card for one of the lead up events to then at the Gold Coast event in the Australia beginning January , 2006. I'd love to be able to see her play in Melbourne at the Australian Open. I'll see her on TV but I hope my pre booked tickets cover her matches.( I didn't see her)

She has such a marvelous sense of her position on the tennis court and has great tactical play. She doesn't have the power of the Williams sisters, but she may be able to avoid them as they have lost ranking points these days.

The Paktribune reports that she said, "I have always felt at home on the Australian courts. I know I’ll get some tough matches, and it will allow me to get used to the Australian summer coming from the European winter, both of which will be helpful with my preparation for the Australian Open."

I heard Martina say on a radio broadcast that she would love to play Maria Sharapova but it appears that Maria has pulled out of the Gold Coast event with a right shoulder injury. She is also an unsure starter for the Australian Open which will be very disappointing if she doesn't play.


Martina was born in Kosice, Slovakia on September 30, 1980 but at the age of 8 moved to Switzerland. She now has residences in Switzerland and at Saddlebrook, Florida, USA.

She was coached by her mother, Melanie Molitor, who named her after Martina Navratilova. Martina began skiing and playing tennis at the age of 2, entering tournaments at 4. She is also a skilled horsewoman.

Her career highlights

Martina is the winner of 40 singles titles and 36 doubles titles on the WTA Tour; 14-time Grand Slam champion (five in singles and nine in women’s doubles)
• Youngest ever to rank at No. 1 on March 30, 1997 (16 years, six months, bettering Seles’ record by nine months). She spent 209 of next 247 weeks at the top between 1997 and 2001, and the only Swiss player to reach that height with only Graf, Navratilova and Evert amassing more weeks in total at the top
• Became 24th woman at the time to pass 400 singles win milestone and third youngest behind Evert and Graf
• Her $18,344,660 is third all-time on the career prize money list behind Graf and Navratilova and she moved up into third place on that elite list during 2001 Rome; passed $10-million mark at 1999 Canadian Open
• Won at least one singles title between 1996-2002, one doubles title every year between 1995-2002 and at least one million dollars per season for seven straight years (1996-2002), including four consecutive $3-million seasons between 1997 and 2000
• Competed in 30 Grand Slams (29 of them consecutively until left ankle surgery on May 20, 2002 forced her out of Roland Garros and Wimbledon); won five singles titles (1997-99 Australian Open, 1997 Wimbledon and 1997 US Open), reached seven finals and between 1996 US Open and 2002 Australian Open.
• Ankle injuries in Filderstadt hampered her records; in 1998, sprained left ankle while running in woods to end her initial 80-week run at No. 1 while a right ankle injury during a fall vs. Davenport in 2001 SF ended her season prematurely and never returned to No. 1