What Does it Take to Become a Champion?
In the late 1990s, women’s tennis was jammed packed with superstar players – Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Gabriella Sabatini, Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario and Jennifer Capriati to name just a few – all vying for championships.
The landscape with jam-packed with competition. Seemingly out of nowhere, a 15-year-old girl showed up and started winning. Martina Hingis was 15 years and nine months old when she won the 1996 Wimbledon doubles title with Helena Sukova, making her the youngest Grand Slam champion of all time. The following year, she became the youngest singles Grand Slam tournament winner of the 20th century after her victory in the Australian Open, and the youngest-ever world No. 1 when she replaced the injured Steffi Graf. Before she turned 19 years old, Hingis had won all five of her major singles titles.
When Hingis was dominating the game, her tenacity, fight, and resolve was on a different level than her opponent.
In 2013, after a few years in retirement, she made a return to the game as a doubles player, where she had once excelled reaching No. 1 and winning nine Grand Slam doubles titles in the first iteration of her career. While her skillful game could be squashed by the increasing power and physicality of the women’s game in singles, the movement, creativity and net play of doubles suits her well.
Her current doubles partner Indian Tennis star Sania Mirza said in an interview with ESPN that Hingis is enjoying success again because of her abilities and competitiveness, not her reputation.
“Nothing comes easy, no matter if you’ve been a champion or not. You still have to fight for each point. … Names don’t win you matches.”
QNET is proud to call her one of our own! Her never give up attitude, resilience and positive outlook inspires us to be the best at everything we do.
In this exclusive interview, QNET Brand Ambassador Martina Hingis, opens up about what it means to be a champion.
Quick Facts about Martina Hingis
- She was Women’s Tennis World Number 1 Champion for a total of 209 weeks.
- She has won not one but FIVE Grand Slam Titles.
- She has ELEVEN Grand Slam women’s doubles titles
- She has FOUR Grand Slam mixed doubles titles.
