When she tested positive for cocaine in 2007, Hingis' career looked to be headed for an abrupt, sad ending. Although she strongly denied the allegation, the Swiss Miss decided not to fight the decision and chose to retire immediately. Her love for the sport would not succumb though and in recent years, Martina has assumed a relatively active role, playing the World Team Tennis, accepting invitations to several Grand Slams, as well as coaching Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for a short period this spring. The Swiss also launched her own fashion line in collaboration with Tonic.
Probably her short-lived pro career keep haunting her, and just a few days after being inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame, Martina announced she is making a second comeback, teaming up with Daniela Hantuchova to play doubles in Carlsbad. Following her first round win, the Swiss Miss revealed her plans, which includes competing at Toronto, Cincinnati and the US Open. She made no commitment beyond that though, saying: "If it's a complete disaster, I would not want to continue, but I hope that's not the case. I don't have any expectations, but I wouldn't put myself in this position if I didn't feel that I couldn't compete at this level. In (World) Team Tennis I was good enough, but is it good enough to be able to compete at this level? We'll see."
Judging by the commanding performance in her first round match, it definitely seems Martina's level is good enough to enable her to compete with the world's best. Hingis and Daniela launched their campaign in style, rooting recent Stanford finalist, Julia Goerges and Darija Jurak, 6-1,6-1 in 51 minutes. Their next opponents are none other than Stanford winners, American Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears.
Despite the successful comeback, Hingis claims she won't be playing singles, at least "not at this point." "You have to put so much effort into it. Playing tournaments is the easy part, but it's all the behind the scenes training that people don't see, the six to eight hours of training and really the older you get, the harder it gets. I wouldn't want to come out and play one or two matches and lose in the third round. That's not my type of personality."
Probably her short-lived pro career keep haunting her, and just a few days after being inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame, Martina announced she is making a second comeback, teaming up with Daniela Hantuchova to play doubles in Carlsbad. Following her first round win, the Swiss Miss revealed her plans, which includes competing at Toronto, Cincinnati and the US Open. She made no commitment beyond that though, saying: "If it's a complete disaster, I would not want to continue, but I hope that's not the case. I don't have any expectations, but I wouldn't put myself in this position if I didn't feel that I couldn't compete at this level. In (World) Team Tennis I was good enough, but is it good enough to be able to compete at this level? We'll see."
Judging by the commanding performance in her first round match, it definitely seems Martina's level is good enough to enable her to compete with the world's best. Hingis and Daniela launched their campaign in style, rooting recent Stanford finalist, Julia Goerges and Darija Jurak, 6-1,6-1 in 51 minutes. Their next opponents are none other than Stanford winners, American Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears.
Despite the successful comeback, Hingis claims she won't be playing singles, at least "not at this point." "You have to put so much effort into it. Playing tournaments is the easy part, but it's all the behind the scenes training that people don't see, the six to eight hours of training and really the older you get, the harder it gets. I wouldn't want to come out and play one or two matches and lose in the third round. That's not my type of personality."
Independent on the results, it's a great treat to have my old time favourite back on the WTA tour. Martina is a pretty competitive player who is still hungry for success, so I am sure she will achieve great results with Daniela. If all goes well, I believe we will see the Swiss Miss play singles pretty soon, mostly probably at next year's Australian Open. You go Martina, show them how to play tennis!
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| After winning all the invitation majors she entered in the last couple of years, Hingis decided to make a second comeback to the WTA tour, teaming up with Slovak Daniela Hantuchova to play in Carlsbad. The duo won their opening match 6-1,6-1 in 51 minutes. |
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| A fan favourite all over the world, Martina's long-awaited comeback made the delight of the Carlsbad crowd, who were ecstatic to see the Swiss Miss back on action. |
photos: GETTY IMAGES
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