Tennis Legends - Martina Hingis: Teenage sensation that became youngest winner of Wimbledon in the Open Era

Switzerland's Martina Hingis threatened to dominate women's tennis after a 1997 campaign that saw the teenage prodigy almost complete a calendar year Grand Slam at the youthful age of just 16.

Her major success was quickly halted by the rise of Serena and Venus Williams ushering in a new level of power tennis. Despite this demotion in the pecking order, Hingis had already hoovered up five Grand Slam singles titles and over 200 weeks as the world number one.

Born on September 30th, 1980 in Kosice, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia), to parents Melanie Molitorova and Karol Hingis, both who were former tennis players.

At the age of six, following her parents' split, Hingis and her mother defected communist Czechoslovakia in 1987 and moved to Switzerland. Her mother remarried and Hingis became a Swiss by naturalisation.

Hingis took the junior game by storm. She remains the youngest winner of a junior Grand Slam. When just 12, the Swiss starlet claimed the junior title at the 1993 French Open. She retained this title the following year and supplemented it with the junior Wimbledon crown. Hingis also reached the US Open junior final in 1994.

The teenage prodigy made her WTA Tour debut on home soil at an event in Zurich. Then, in May 1995, still only 14, Hingis reached her first WTA final in Hamburg.

Her maiden title materialised at the 1996 Stuttgart Open, beating Anke Huber on home soil. She quickly followed this success with a further title in Oakland the following month. The ‘Swiss Miss’ ,as she was to be nicknamed, had now arrived in the top ten.

Despite this early fulfilment of her potential, what followed in 1997 was a remarkable dominance of a full season.

The 1997 season recorded by Hingis goes down as one of the greatest in tennis history. Hingis's tapestry of titles made all the more impressive given her tender age. Capturing the Sydney International was a promising sign heading into the Australian Open. Hingis went on to win her maiden major Down Under. A 6-2, 6-2 triumph over Mary Pierce made Hingis the first player from Switzerland, male or female, to win a singles Grand Slam. More significantly, Hingis remains the youngest winner of a major singles title in the Open Era after this landmark triumph.

Four more tournaments were won before Hingis headed to Paris for the French Open. She reached the final but lost to Croat Iva Majoli. This would turn out to be her only loss in the 1997 majors.

A month later, at Wimbledon, Hingis became the youngest winner of tennis's oldest Slam in the Open Era. A victory earned with a final win over Jana Novotna. Her annus mirabilis was topped off with glory at the US Open. A comprehensive final win over Venus Williams made Hingis the youngest ever to win three Grand Slams in a calendar year.

A total of 12 titles were amassed by Hingis throughout the season. This body of work propelled Hingis to world number one. She also put together a 37-match winning streak during the campaign.

Hingis made a successful defence of the Australian Open to begin her 1998 campaign with a fourth Grand Slam triumph in the last five events.

Trophy lifts in Indian Wells, Hamburg and Rome further emphasised the dominance Hingis was exerting. However, a new brand of powerful baseliners, headlined by the Williams’ sisters and Lindsay Davenport, were ushering in a new level of power tennis. Hingis, for her craft and guile, never possessed the power of others beginning to populate the tennis firmament. Defeats to Davenport in the finals of the LA Championships and the US Open underlined these struggles.

The season finished on a high with a first success at the WTA Tour Championships. Despite this success, Hingis still dropped to number in the season-ending ranking list. In the 1999 campaign, Hingis made it a hat-trick of Australian Open titles. A straight sets win over Amelie Mauresmo gave her a fifth and ultimately final singles major.

A French Open final loss to Steffi Graf was perhaps the most demoralising loss of her career. In the 1999 showpiece, Hingis was bested by Steffi Graf. Such was her devastation, Hingis had to be cajoled by her mother/coach to return for the trophy presentation.

It was one of seven titles in a 1999 season that witnessed Hingis return to the ranking summit. A fourth successive at the 2000 Australian Open ended in defeat, losing to Davenport. Nine outright titles during the 2000 season offered partial compensation for drawing a blank at the Grand Slams. It was also enough for her to retain her season-end world number one spot.

By 2001, Hingis was beginning to suffer with injuries and the overwhelming power of bigger ball strikers. One of these, Jennifer Capriati, defeated her in the Australian Open final.

A tally of three titles in 2001 saw her drop from world number one for the last time. She yielded top spot to Capriati in October.

A sixth consecutive final at the Australian Open ended in a further loss to a renewed Capriati. This would be the last of Hingis's 12 Grand Slam singles finals.

Following a succession of surgeries and layoffs, Hingis opted to retire in 2003 when aged just 22. She'd become fatigued with competing under so much pain.

Three years later, following a period of physical and mental rehabilitation, Hingis came out of retirement in 2006. The Swiss great quickly ascended the rankings and was ensconced in the world's top ten by the season's climax. Two titles were added to her CV including a third Italian Open crown in Rome.

Hingis continued to build in this renaissance by adding the Pan Pacific Open title in the early stages of the 2007 season.

The comeback was halted in stunning fashion when in November 2007 Hingis announced she had failed a drugs test. A metabolite of cocaine had been discovered in her system. It was a minimal amount but the rules at the time didn't allow any latitude for potential unintentional digestion.

Hingis appealed the decision but a two-year ban was upheld. This curtailed the second iteration of Hingis's career. She never played singles again. Her final total of career singles titles was 43 from 69 finals.

Right from the outset as a professional Hingis enjoyed a litany of success as a doubles player. Her wonderful touch and variety make her a natural for doubles play. Her legacy in the discipline is even greater than the one she's left in singles.

Hingis first struck doubles Grand Slam glory in 1996 at Wimbledon alongside Czech Helena Sukova. In 1998, Hingis achieved a Calendar Year Grand Slam in doubles. The set began by partnering fellow teen Mirjana Lucic to win the Australian Open. The other three majors were then won in alliance with Jana Novotna. This Grand Slam feat allowed Hingis to become the youngest world number one in doubles history.

Three more doubles majors were collected prior to her initial retirement in 2003. She then played much less doubles during her second coming as a singles player in 2006-07.

Hingis, having long since served her doping ban, returned to competitive tennis in 2013. This time her comeback was purely centred on doubles play. A further quartet of women’s Grand Slam doubles titles were secured, all in tandem with Indian Sania Mirza. It left Hingis with 13 major doubles titles from 16 finals in the women’s game.

The third spell of Hingis in professional tennis saw her opt to play mixed doubles on a frequent basis. Alongside India's Leander Paes, a great of doubles, she completed a Career Grand Slam in the discipline when winning the 2016 French Open. The first mixed doubles major of her career came in 2006, at the Australian Open, alongside Paes’ compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi.

Hingis boosted her final tally of mixed doubles Grand Slams to seven, after teaming up with Brit Jamie Murray to win Wimbledon and the US Open in 2017. She ultimately finished with 64 doubles from 86 finals, including a record 17 tier 1 successes. These events are now known as 1000 tournaments.

In honour of representing her nation, Hingis was part of a Swiss trio which reached the 1998 Fed Cup final, losing 3-2 to Spain. Hingis did claim glory in the 2001 Hopman Cup alongside an up and coming Roger Federer. The Basle native has been on record saying how much he learned from playing with her.

In unison with Timea Bacsinszky, Hingis claimed a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Her only other appearance at the Olympics was as a 15 year old in the 1996 Games, losing in round two of the singles competition in Atlanta.

Hingis was romantically involved with fellow tennis players Magnus Norman and Radek Stepanek, becoming engaged to the Czech Stepanek in 2006 before calling off their wedding.

In December 2010, Hingis married French showjumper Thibault Hultin. They were separated by 2013. Hingis married sports physician Harold Leemann in July 2018. She gave birth to daughter Lia in February 2019. By August 2022, the couple were divorced.

Hingis is one of the most recent players to have achieved greatness in both singles and doubles competition. She was simultaneously ranked number one in both disciplines for 29 weeks. Her total of 209 weeks as a singles world number one is the fifth highest total of all-time. Hingis enjoyed 90 weeks as doubles world number one.

Many age records are still held by Hingis. With a more circumspect approach to allowing teenagers to develop in the professional game, Hingis could well retain possession of many of these records for decades to come. The ‘Swiss Miss’ was very much a hit when it came to rewriting the records for breaking through young.