When strolling through the Rothenbaum facility, but especially when visiting the women’s final between Arantxa Rus and Noma Hoha Akugue, all the beautiful memories came back to Martina Hingis. “I was here in 1995 at the age of 14 for the first time in my career in a final, you never forget something like that,” said the Swiss during her flying visit to the Hamburg European Open. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the women’s tennis professional organization WTA, tournament director Sandra Reichel invited the five-time Grand Slam winner and longtime world number one.
She was happy to come. “I only have good memories of Hamburg, it’s always nice here, the Alster, the area around the stadium,” she knows and is amazed: “So many things have changed here when I was here for the first time not even a roof.” In terms of sport, she achieved something unforgettable here, winning the tournament in singles in 2000 and 1998 and in doubles in 2002 and 1995.
Hingis got on the tour early as the “Swiss child prodigy” and reached her first WTA final in Hamburg at the age of 14. To date, is the youngest-ever finalist at a pro tournament. Between 1997 and 2001 she was at the top of the world rankings for 209 weeks. She is the youngest player ever to top the singles ranking. She retired from active sport for the first time at the age of 22, but returned four years later for a year. At 32, she made another comeback, but only as a doubles player.
“There are also players today who are very good at a very young age, such as Coco Gauff,” says Martina Hingis, “but I think that women’s tennis is much more balanced today. In my time, the top 10 had already clearly differentiated themselves from the first 50 and then there was another jump. It’s different today, there are great matches in the first round.”
The fact that women’s tennis has developed so well in recent decades is certainly a credit to the WTA, “an incredible story.” Infrastructure, quality, recognition, everything has gotten better. The Grand Slam tournaments introduced equal prize money for men and women. “Unfortunately, that’s not the case in the tournaments on the WTA Tour.”
As the mother of a young daughter, she no longer has that much time to get involved in tennis. Martina Hingis was once the coach of the Swiss team in the former Fed Cup and helped the Swiss Tennis Association with her advice. She now supports her mother (and former trainer) in her tennis school: “We have some very promising talents, like the German Julia Stusek.” maybe Martina Hingis will come again. You are of course always welcome.
2023-07-29 22:48:18
#Martina #Hingis #journey
