Martina Hingis  leaves WTA Tour

Hingis indicates she's quit

 By CLARE NULLIS, Associated Press Writer
 February 7, 2003
GENEVA (AP) -- Martina Hingis won her first big tennis trophy at the age of 12 and wowed the world with her perfect style. Now, 10 years later, plagued by foot injury, she seems set to retire from the sport she long dominated.
In an interview Friday, Hingis gave her clearest indication to date that she is planning to withdraw from the competitive circuit and instead concentrate on studying and other off-court pursuits.
"A return to competition is inconceivable, in the short term at least. That is certain,'' the 22 year-old Swiss told the French sports newspaper L'Equipe.
" Tennis was part of my life for so many years, but now it's finished. And life goes on,'' she said.

Hingis, who won five Grand Slam tournament titles, had surgery on her right ankle in October, 2001 and on her left ankle last May. Apart from a brief comeback on the WTA tour in the fall, she sat out as Serena and Venus Williams strengthened their hold at the top, transforming the game from a match of skills into power play.
At a tournament in Paris, World No. 1 Serena Williams said Hingis made her raise the level of her game.
" I think Martina stopped at the top, and that's what I want to do,'' Williams said at the Gaz de France Open on Friday. " I don't think she stopped because she couldn't beat us (the Williams sisters).''
Since Hingis' withdrawal from competition, she has been living quietly near Zurich. She is attending college to perfect her English and pick up other qualifications for a future career. She rides horses and recently bought an 8-year-old mare Laetitia as " my after-career present.''
" There's no question of envisaging a return to the circuit,'' she told the newspaper.
In an interview last month with the Swiss sports agency, Hingis also said that she may never play competitively again. But her comments to the French paper were much more definitive.
" Stop talking about a comeback,'' she said. " You have to understand I really appreciate my new way of life ... I am 22 years old and I have my whole life ahead of me. The only thing I can no longer do is to train in a way as to remain competitive.''
Despite Hingis' apparent determination to quit, her manager Mario Widmer said it was premature to talk about definitive retirement.
" I am of the view that someone who is 22 years old can't say she's retiring because you don't know what the future holds,'' Widmer told The Associated Press. However he said it was impossible to predict when -- and if -- Hingis would play again professionally.
Widmer, the partner of Hingis' mother and trainer Melanie Molitor, said that Hingis was in " very, very good spirits.''

Hingis was just 16 years and three months old when she won the first of her three Australian Open titles in 1997, making her the youngest Grand Slam singles champion of the 20th century. She made six straight finals at the Australian Open, winning the first three and losing the last three.
She also won the 1997 Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles, and lost the French Open final that year to Iva Majoli. She spent a total of 209 weeks at No. 1 in the WTA Tour rankings, winning 40 singles titles and 36 doubles titles, including nine at Grand Slam tournaments, and earned more than $18 million.
Widmer said that Hingis had no plans to return to Florida -- where she owns a home -- to train and would stay in Switzerland to finish her studies by the summer.
" But it depends on whether she suddenly decides that she can play again,'' he said.



Report: Hingis admits ankle problems will lead to retirement
February 7, 2003
PARIS (Ticker) - Former world No. 1 Martina Hingis has all but ruled out a return to competitive tennis.

 Hingis, who topped the world rankings for four consecutive years, appears ready to retire due to severe ankle problems.
"A return to competition cannot be possible," the 22-year-old Hingis told the French sports newspaper L'Equipe from Zurich.
Hingis said she has no intentions of competing unless she can compete at the highest level.
"It's over for me but life goes on," said the former teenage prodigy in Friday's edition.
"I am not capable anymore (of doing) what's needed to be at the top. I have been at the top for long enough to exactly know what it means, and I am incapable of it."
Hingis won three Australian Opens, one U.S. Open and a Wimbledon title between 1997 and 1999.
"I don't want people to feel sorry for me, I have a great life, even without competition, I am happy," she said. "I am 22 and my whole life is ahead of me. What I am experiencing is nothing dramatic. The only thing I cannot do anymore is to remain competitive."
However, Hingis did leave open a possibility of a return to the circuit sometime in the future.
"I am not coming back - not for now anyway - that is sure and definite," she said.
Hingis first underwent surgery on her right ankle in October, 2001, and seven months later needed an operation for a similar ligament problem, but in her left ankle.
She fought her way back and reached the 2002 Australian Open final where she lost to No. 1 Jennifer Capriati. At the Indian Wells' final two months later, she lost in straight sets to Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova.
But Hingis could not sustain the success and now has started studying English in Zurich and says her studies and not tennis are her priority in life.
"What I want is (to reach) a very, very high level in English and maybe one day, start a job in marketing or something else," Hingis said. "It will depend on the opportunities."
Hingis looked to the future with optimism.
"Tennis has been an important part of me for a long time, but a new life is starting now," she said. "I have no regrets at all, tennis gave me so much, a fantastic life. I am so happy. How couldn't I be? I have money and I live in a country that I love."
Born September 30, 1980 in Kosice, Slovakia, she was named by her tennis-mad parents Melanie and Karol in honor of Martina Navratilova.
Her ambitious mother Melanie Molitor, split with Karol when Martina was four. Molitor fled to the west, although she chose Switzerland to raise her daughter.
Hingis was predictably dubbed "the Swiss Miss" as she won a host of junior titles and in 1994 she turned pro. She quickly rose in the rankings and came close to achieving the Grand Slam in 1997.
Victorious in the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, Hingis missed out in the French Open where she was defeated in the final by unheralded Croatian Iva Majoli.
Hingis won 12 tournaments that year and her 93.8 percent victory ratio was the best in the entire decade.
It seemed as though Hingis was set to dominate women's tennis for years to come, but she never reached those heights again, although she captured two more Australian Open titles.
Hingis also rebelled against her mother's authority and was often outspoken, once referring to the openly lesbian Amelie Mauresmo as, "like half a man."
A 1999 French Open final loss to Steffi Graff was perhaps her most embarrassing display of petulance.
The defeated Hingis fled the court in tears and had to be marched back on for the presentation by her mother to the whistles and jeers of the crowd.
While Hingis did not have many friends on the circuit, Majoli and her doubles partner Anna Kournikova have remained in close contact.
Hingis was the first female athlete to adorn the cover of the United States edition of GQ magazine.
Hingis was rapidly eclipsed by the emerging sister act of Venus and Serena Williams.

Roland Garros was the only Grand Slam tournament that she never won, but she still earned $18,344,660 in her career. She won 40 WTA Tour crowns in singles, plus 36 tournament victories in doubles, including nine majors.
In 1998, Hingis became the fourth woman all-time to achieve the doubles Grand Slam - all four majors within a calendar year.