Women’s tennis has been the scene of brilliant appearances that have moved the foundations of the WTA and one of them was Martina Hingiswho in his first seasons as a professional proved to be up to the task and as a teenager reached the top of the ranking.
Along with fame and glory came also the controversies and a trial with Sergio Tacchini which caused a break in the tennis industry. Then, the doping case, the complaints and a career surrounded by both successes and scandals.
Martina Hingis, the emergence of a star
Hingis seemed to be predestined to be a star since she was born in what is now Slovakia into a family linked to tennis with the former player Melanie Molitor like his mother and the teacher Karol Hingis like his father. Both sports lovers, They baptized her with the name Martina, in honor of Navratilova and from the age of 5 they placed a racket in his hands.
This daily school bore fruit because before turning 15, under Swiss nationality in the mid-90s, the young woman She was already a professional on the circuit and in her second season1996, he began to win titles.
Las Americans Mónica Seles and Jennifer Capriati were two of his first victims in the finals before winning the Australian Open in 1997, the year in which She became number 1 in the ranking with just 16 and 182 days, being the youngest tennis player to reach the top, a record that remains to this day. to. To such a point his success came so quickly that in One of the first tournaments he won, he won a Porsche car as a prize, even though he was not yet old enough to have a driver’s license.
From that moment, the triumphs continued because In that year, 1997, he also won Wimbledon and the United States Open no less than before the northamerican Venus Williams. While at Roland Garros she was a finalist and lost to Iva Majoli.
In total, he accumulated five Grand Slam singles titles, since in 1998 and 1999 he repeated the crown in Australia. But to those we must add 13 major trophies in doubles and another 7 in mixed doubles. That is to say that In total he won 25 Grand Slams, more than Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal, if all three modalities are included.
Besides his tennis inspired Roger himselfwho was a child when Hingis broke onto the circuit: “Martina was partly the one who showed me how everything was done. It was great for Switzerland to have someone of his quality. We were very lucky. I have always been a fan of hers and I always will be,” stated Federer at Martina’s final retirement in 2017.
Scandals and a millionaire trial
What seemed to be a race destined to break all records for Martina Hingis it stalled just a couple of years later due to injuries. At the age of 22, he had already undergone surgery twice. and the physical problems seemed to have her more outside the courts than inside.
There was no rational explanation as to why a girl with so much talent and good work suffered so many injuries and she and those around them decided to hold the Italian firm Sergio Tacchini responsible which had provided her with the sports shoes between 1996 and 1999, and which she wore as a child. Thus began a lawsuit for 40 million dollars.
“According to the court complaint, Tacchini provided him with “defective” shoes that in Hingis’ opinion were “unusable in competition”, which prevented him from participating in several tournaments. In September 1998, the lawsuit states, Hingis suffered an injury during the United States Open that, examined by a specialist doctor, was attributed to a defect in the shoes,” the Spanish newspaper reported. ABC in 2001.
Finally, just over a year later the courts Americans they didn’t agree with Hingis who was even ended up being sued by the sportswear company . After this, and amid more ligament problems, in 2003 Hingis decided to retire from tennis.
Comeback and doping scandal
Martina Hingis today
In January 2006, HIngis returned to the circuit at 25 years old and added three other individual titles, Rome, Calcutta and Tokyo, in addition to two quarterfinals in Australia and one at Roland Garros. But she was no longer the same after the trial.
Far from his best level, he rediscovered the sport he loved and when it seemed that he was beginning to pick up the pace, a new blow came: a positive doping test for cocaine at Wimbledon 2007 and a two-year ban away from the circuit.
“ I tested positive but I never took drugs and I feel 100 percent innocent “He declared at that time when reading a statement to the press to announce that he was also retiring.” definitely: “I have no desire to spend the next few years of my life reduced to the fight against doping.”
Hingis gave up on that fight of which he always said he was innocent and in 2013 he returned to play some tournaments in doubles until his retirement, this time definitive, in 2017. Even in that period She was a partner of Roger Federer at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“I have always thought that I have been a better player in doubles than in singles.. My first big title was playing doubles when I was 15 years old. I enjoyed playing as a team with another teammate. It’s not to get less tired, but I always enjoyed playing with another person since it is much more fun than playing alone,” she analyzed in her last talk as a professional in 2017.
Today, away from her mother, with whom she had an internal fight due to the demands she imposed on her as a child, and in a new role as a coach of young talents, Hingis has moved away from the public scene but the public never forgets her.
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