30 Facts Every Fan Should Know About Martina Hingis – Youngest Ever World No. 1 Tennis Player

Martina Hingisova Molitor, a Swiss professional Tennis player, was born on September 30, 1980 in Kosice, Czechoslovakia. She was introduced to tennis when she was two years old and started participating in tournament at four years. Here are 30 interesting facts about the player:

1. Hingis has set series of ‘youngest ever’ records. She was the youngest ever Grand Slam champion and youngest ever World No. 1 ranked player.
2. Her mother Melanie Molitorova was a professional tennis player once ranked tenth in Czechoslovakia and her father Karol Hingis was also a tennis player of repute.
3. In 1993 as 12 years old she won the junior French Open Championship to become the youngest player to win a Grand Slam Junior title.
4. In 1994 she retained her French Open Junior title before winning the Wimbledon junior title. In the same year she also reached the finals of U.S Open.
5. Hingis turned professional by the age of 14 in October 1994 and ended the year ranked World No.87. Her progress was swift and by the end of 1995, she rose to 16th in ranking.
6. In 1996 at the age of 15 years 9 months she won her first Grand Slam doubles title with Helena Sukova. She became the youngest all time Grand Slam champion.
7. She won her first singles professional title at 1996 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Filderstadt, Germany. On the way to the title she defeated Aranxta Sanchez, Lindsay Davenport and Anke Huber.
8. She was ranked World no.10 in October 1996 and ended the year ranked no. 4 with title at Filderstadt and Oakland. She also reached finals of Zurich Open and WTA Champiomship apart from reaching quarterfinal of Australian Open and semifinals of U.S Open.
9. Hingis won the 1997 Australian Open at the age of 16 years 3 month to become the youngest Grand Slam singles winner in 20th century. She defeated Mary Pierce in the final 6-2, 6-2. It was her first singles Grand Slam title.
10. Hingis by winning the Australian Open she became world no.1 ranked player in March that year. She also became first Swiss player male or female to win the Grand Slam singles title.
11. In April 1997 she fell from a horse and tore her ankle ligament. She underwent surgery was out of tennis for five weeks to recover. Despite her surgery she won 75 of her 80 matches in 1997 including the Australian, Wimbledon and U.S Open title. She missed the French title where she lost to Iva Majoli in the finals. She became the youngest Wimbledon women singles champion that year.
12. In 1998 she won all the four Grand Slam doubles title, only the fourth women’s tennis history to do so. She retained the Australian Open singles title that year and won the year end WTA Tour championship defeating Davenport in the finals.
13. She became only the third woman to hold the no.1 ranking in both singles and doubles simultaneously in 1998. In October 1998 she lost her world no. 1 ranking to Lindsay Davenport, in the process ending her 80-week stretch as no.1 singles player.
14. In 1999 French Open she reached the finals to meet Steffi Graf. She lost the final in three sets 6-4, 5-7, 2-6. After the game she broke into tears when crowd booed her for using underhand serves and crossed the line in a discussion over umpire decision.
15. She started the year 2001 with a winning note by starring for Switzerland in the Homan Cup. She also reached her fifth consecutive Australian Open losing in the final to Jennifer Capriati.
16. On October 14, 2001 she lost her world no. 1 ranking for the last time to Jennifer Capriati. It was the least successful year with only three victories to her name. She also underwent surgery on her right ankle. In May 2002, she had her second ligament operation in her left ankle and continued to struggle with her injuries.
17. On February 03, 2003 Hingis announced her retirement from top-flight tennis. She has not won a Grand Slam for nearly three years and slipped out of world top ten for the first time in six years in October.
18. She made an attempt to return from retirement in February 2005, losing in the first round in Pattaya, Thailand. She was the part of World Team Tennis where she had encouraging results which prompted her to announce her return to WTA Tour on November 29 2005. On her return from retirement she won her first mixed doubles Grand Slam title with Mahesh Bhupathi at the 2006 Australian Open. She has series of impressive performance against top 10 ranked players.
19. She won her first title on her return from retirement at the Tier I Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome on May 22, 2006. It was her 41st WTA tour singles title and first in more than four years. In the quarterfinal stage of the championship, she posted her 500th career singles matches.
20. She won her second title of her comeback at the Tier III Sunfeast Open in Kolkata, India. She qualified for the WTA Tour Championship in Madrid and ended the year ranked no. 7
21. She was troubled by left hip injury and she withdrew from French Open in 2007. She participated in the Wimbledon and in the U.S Open championship against her doctor’s wish only to lose in the quarterfinals. She was only 60 to 70% recovered from the injury.
22. In November 2007, Hingis announced she was under investigation for testing positive for a metabolite of cocaine during urine test at Wimbledon Championship. Her urine sample contained 42 nanograms per milliliter of benzoylecgonine, less than half of required for positive confirmatory test for cocaine. Hingis appealed but in January 2008 she was suspended from the sport for two years by the International Tennis Federation.
23. In February 2010, she hinted at possible return to competitive tennis as she has committed to a full season with World Team Tennis. She participated in the Tradition-ICAP Liverpool International and in the Manchester Masters. On June 05, 2011 she paired with Lindsay Davenport to win the Roland Garros Women’s Legends title. She also won the Wimbledon Ladies Invitation Doubles title in July.
24. In April 2013 she agreed to coach Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova before dropping the idea due to disagreement. In July she announced her return from retirement and participated in series of doubles tournaments partnering Daniela Hantuchova. In 2014 she partnered Sabine Lisicki in the doubles to win at WTA Tour, Indian Wells. In the final they defeated Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in straight sets. It was her first title since 2007.
25. In the 2014 U.S Open, as a unseeded team she and Flavia Pennetta reached the finals. They defeated 3 seeded pairs en route and lost to Makarova and Vesnina in three sets. The later they won two more title at Wuhan and Moscow in the year end.
26. In the 2015 Australian Open after her early exit in the women double in the third round, she partnered Leander Paes in the mixed doubles to win her first Grand Slam title since 2006. They defeated the defending champion Kristina Mladenovic and Daniel Nestor in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3.
27. In July 2015 she won the women’s doubles title at Wimbledon with Mirza and also mixed doubles title partnering Leader Paes defeating Alexander Peya and Timea Babos, 6-1, 6-1. In September 2015 she again won both women doubles and mixed doubles title at the U.S Open. She with Paes defeated Sam Querry and Bethanie Mattek-Sands in three sets for the mixed title. In the women doubles she partnered Mirza, she overcame Casey Dellacqua and Yaroslava Shvedova , 6-3, 6-3.
28. In 2016 Hingis and Mirza won titles in Brisbane and Sidney before winning their third consecutive Grand Slam title at the 2016 Australian Open. They defeated Hlavackova and Hradecka in the final 7-6, 6-3.
29. In the 2016 Fed Cup she helped Switzerland defeat Germany to advance to semi-finals by winning her doubles match with Bencic. However they lost the semifinal to Czech Republic.
30. In May 14, 2016 she and Mirza stormed in to semifinal of Rome Masters Tennis tournament. The defeated the American pair of Raquel Atawo and Abigail Spears, 6-4, 6-2 in thrilling match lasting one hour and six minutes.