Hingis began playing tennis at the age of two and competed in her first competition at the age of four. Hingis, just 12, became the youngest player to win a Grand Slam junior title when she won the girls' singles at the French Open in 1993. She went on to become one of the most successful players in women's tennis, winning seven Grand Slam titles between the ages of 14 and 24. Her career-high ranking was World No. 1 for 110 weeks in the mid-1990s.
Hingis started practicing tennis six hours a day when she was three years old. She said that she learned how to concentrate for such long periods of time during these sessions. In addition to training with a coach, Hingis also trained by herself by hitting balls off walls and fences. She said that this helped her develop good hand-eye coordination.
Hingis made her professional debut at the 1995 Wimbledon Championships where she lost in the first round to Jana Novotná. Two years later, at the 1997 Wimbledon Championships, Hingis reached her first Grand Slam final where she lost to Monica Seles. From then on, Hingis continued to improve and reached the top of the world rankings twice more before turning pro. She ended her amateur career after the 2000 Sydney Olympics where she won a gold medal.
Hingis, just 12, became the youngest player to win a Grand Slam junior title when she won the girls' singles at the French Open in 1993. In 1994, she defended her French Open junior championship, won the Wimbledon girls' singles title, and advanced to the US Open final.
Martina Hingis (born September 30, 1980) is a former professional tennis player from Switzerland. Her German pronunciation is [mar'ti: na 'hINGgIs]. She held the singles world No. 1 rating for 209 weeks and the doubles world No. 1 ranking for 90 weeks, holding both titles simultaneously for 29 weeks.
Forty years (September 30, 1980). Age/Martina Hingis Martina Hingis (born September 30, 1980 in Kosice, Czechoslovakia [now in Slovakia]) is a Swiss professional tennis player who became the youngest person in the "open" period to win a Grand Slam singles title and the youngest to hold the world number one ranking. At the age of 14 years and 311 days, she won the 1999 US Open women's singles championship. She has also won two other Grand Slam titles: the 2001 Australian Open and the 2002 French Open. With these three titles, Hingis becomes only the second woman after Billie Jean King to win the Golden Slam.
Hingis made her debut on the WTA Tour at the 1998 Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco where she was awarded a wild card into the first round. There she defeated top-100 player Emiliana Torrini in three sets before losing to Patricia Hyunmi Park. This was followed by another first-round exit at the ITF $50,000 event in Hamm in Germany. In 1999, Hingis turned 15 years old on September 30 and immediately jumped up in the rankings to become the number one female tennis player in the world. She remained at the top for nearly four months before being replaced by Venus Williams. Hingis then went on to have one of the best seasons in tennis history, winning seven singles titles and three doubles titles. She finished the year as the number one ranked player in the world.
Martina Hingis (born September 30, 1980 in Kosice, Czechoslovakia [now in Slovakia]) is a Swiss professional tennis player who became the youngest person in the "open" period to win a Grand Slam singles title and the youngest to hold the world number one ranking. At the age of 14 years and 311 days, she defeated her older sister Mirjam in the final of the 1995 French Open. This made her the youngest woman ever to win a Grand Slam singles title.
Hingis won a total of six WTA singles titles during her career. Her best result at the Olympic games was when she reached the gold medal match at the 2004 Athens Olympics before losing to Serena Williams. In 2009, she announced that the end of her career was near and that she would be taking some time off after being knocked out of the Australian Open in the first round by Virginie Razzano. However, Hingis has returned to competition since then and has had more success than expected, including reaching the semifinals of the French Open for the first time in her career. She also earned her biggest victory so far when she beat top-ranked Venus Williams to advance to the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon Championships for the first time in three attempts.
Hingis started playing tennis at the age of 3 when her parents took her to a local club.
Hingis made her professional debut in October 1994, just after her 14th birthday. When she reached to the second round of the 1995 Australian Open, she became the youngest player to win a match in a Grand Slam event. But she lost that match.
In 1995, Hingis won her first career title at the Wimbledon Junior Championships. A year later, she repeated this achievement at the French Open. Both these titles were vacated due to injury constraints of the organizers. In 1998, Hingis ended her junior career with a gold medal from the Olympics. She turned 15 years old on September 1st of that same year.
Hingis started 1999 by winning the New Zealand Open. That made her the youngest player to win a WTA singles title. At the end of the year, she finished as the number one ranked female tennis player in the world.
Hingis remained at the top of the rankings for almost all of 2000. She did lose two matches during this period, but still managed to retain her crown. In 2001, Hingis suffered her first major defeat at the Australian Open. She also failed to defend her Olympic gold medal due to a knee injury. After undergoing surgery, Hingis returned to action in late 2001 and successfully defended her title at the French Open.
Hingis won the 1997 Australian Open singles title at the age of 16 years, 3 months, playing more like a seasoned veteran than a youngster. She became the youngest Australian champion in history with that victory. That March, Hingis ascended to No. 1 in the global rankings, becoming the youngest person to do so. She held that position for one month. During her time as world No. 1, Hingis won four Grand Slam singles titles.
In addition to her success on the tennis court, Hingis has had an illustrious career outside of sports. She has three Olympic gold medals, two from the 2000 Sydney Olympics and one from the 2004 Athens Games, as well as a silver medal from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Hingis has also won the Wimbledon Championships twice, the French Open once, and the Golden Set eight times (a record for any female player).
Besides her athletic accomplishments, Hingis is known for her work with UNICEF. From 1993 to 1998, she served as a goodwill ambassador for the organization, traveling around the world to promote children's rights issues. In 2007, Hingis became involved in another children's charity, BUND, or "Better United Nations Development." The goal of this organization is to get young people involved in helping improve countries' health and education systems. Hingis is currently its president.
Meanwhile, Martina Hingis was busy winning Grand Slams. In 1997, the Swiss star became the uncontested world number one at this age, reaching all four major finals and winning three of them. As a result, she became the youngest Slam champion in Open Era history, as well as the youngest top-ranked player in history. Hingis went on to become the oldest person to ever hold the title back in 1998. She remained World No. 1 for nearly two years after her 23rd birthday in 1999.
Hingis lost the first set of her opening match at the Wimbledon Championships on 27 June 1997 but came back to beat Jennifer Capriati 3-6, 7-5, 10-8 in one hour and 53 minutes. The second set lasted almost an hour too - it was played entirely under darkness because of rain delays. Hingis won that match too so she ended up becoming the first player to defend her title twice.
In 1998, Hingis won the Australian Open, French Open and US Open titles. At the end of that year's edition of the Wimbledon Championships, Hingis was still in charge but she lost in the final to Venus Williams 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. However, the Swiss star regained her title the following year by defeating Monica Seles 6-3, 6-4 at the same tournament. This made Hingis win two more Grand Slam singles titles at the age of 24.
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