Martina Hingis

Martina Hingis is a Swiss former professional tennis player known for her tactical skill and impact on women's tennis. Hingis set a series of youngest-ever records, including becoming the youngest Grand Slam champion and the youngest world No. 1. She became the youngest Grand Slam titlist in history when she teamed with Helena Sukova to win the doubles at Wimbledon at age 15. At 16, Hingis became the youngest Grand Slam singles champion of the 20th century by winning the Australian Open. She was the first Swiss player, male or female, to win a major title and to attain a world No. 1 ranking.

Hingis's 1997 season yielded 12 titles and a .938 winning percentage, marking one of the most commanding single seasons in tennis history. She captured three of the four major titles that year—Wimbledon and the US Open, in addition to her Australian Open victory—and ascended to the world No. 1 ranking. Hingis was recognized for her smart play and diverse range of shots rather than power. Between 1997 and 2002, she reached 12 Grand Slam finals, including six consecutive appearances in Melbourne. Only the French Open eluded her in her pursuit of a career Grand Slam. In 1998, Hingis won all four Grand Slam women's doubles titles, becoming only the fourth woman in tennis history to do so. When she and Jana Novotna won the US Open that year, Hingis completed a career Grand Slam, becoming the 17th player in history—and the youngest—to achieve that distinction, and the fourth to do so within a single calendar year.

Injuries to her ankles and hip led Hingis to retire at age 22. She later returned to competition, winning two more singles titles, her first mixed doubles major at the Australian Open, and returning to the Top 10. Hingis retired a second time before making another comeback, this time focusing on doubles. During her doubles-only return, she won four major women's doubles tournaments, six major mixed doubles tournaments—completing the career Grand Slam in mixed doubles—27 WTA Tour titles, and a silver medal in women's doubles at the Rio Olympics. She became only the fourth woman to complete a career Grand Slam in both women's doubles and mixed doubles. Hingis retired for the third and final time after the WTA Finals, while ranked as the doubles world No. 1.

Hingis won 43 WTA Tour-level singles titles and 64 doubles titles, including 25 major titles: five in singles, 13 in women's doubles (including the Grand Slam in 1998), and seven in mixed doubles. She also won the season-ending Tour Finals two times in singles and three times in doubles, an Olympic silver medal in doubles, and a record 17 Tier I singles titles. Hingis was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by TIME. She was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame and later appointed as the organization's first Global Ambassador.

Since retiring from professional competition, Hingis has remained active in the tennis world. She has served as an ambassador for the Swiss Tennis Academy and taken on coaching roles, mentoring players such as Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Belinda Bencic. Roger Federer has credited Hingis's influence on his own development as a player. Hingis's achievements, resilience through injury, and ongoing contributions to tennis have established her as a significant figure in the sport's history.