Meghann Shaughnessy

Meghann Shaughnessy at the 2011 Australian Open
Country	United States
Residence	Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S.
Born	(1979-04-13) April 13, 1979 (age 33) Richmond, Virginia, U.S.
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	67 kg (150 lb; 10.6 st)
Turned pro	1996
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	$3,975,223
Singles
Career record	378 - 343
Career titles	6 WTA, 6 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 11 (10 September 2001)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	QF (2003)
French Open	4R (2001)
Wimbledon	4R (2001)
US Open	4R (2003)
Doubles
Career record	315 - 185
Career titles	17 WTA, 2 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 4 (March 21, 2005)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	SF (2006)
French Open	SF (2005)
Wimbledon	QF (2004, 2005, 2006)
US Open	QF (2002, 2007, 2010)
Last updated on: October 13, 2011.

Meghann Shaughnessy (April 13, 1979 in Richmond, Virginia) is an American professional tennis player. She achieved a career-high singles ranking of #11 in 2001, and has won six WTA Tour singles titles. She is best known for her serve, which is one of the most powerful on tour, and has produced as many as 22 aces in a match.

Shaughnessy is coached by Rafael Font de Mora (managed by him since age 13 and coached by him for over 20 years). She is the niece of Dan Shaughnessy, a Boston Globe sports columnist.^[1]

Opening serves[link]

Shaughnessy made her debut on the WTA Tour in 1996 at a tournament in Budapest, and broke into the top 100 in 1998. In 2000, Shaughnessy won her first WTA singles title at Beijing, defeating Iroda Tulyaganova in the final, and breaking into the top fifty. In her breakout year of 2001, Shaughnessy achieved a career-high singles ranking of #11, won the second singles title of her career at Quebec City, and reached the finals of Hamburg and her home tournament in Scottsdale.^[2] She also recorded wins over world number five Conchita Martínez, world number four Monica Seles,^[3] and world number two Venus Williams.^[4]

In 2002, Shaughnessy began the season by reaching the final of Sydney, and recaptured her career-high #11 ranking. She also reached the quarterfinals or better of four other tournaments that year,^[2] with wins over top five players Jelena Dokić and Serena Williams.^[5][6] In 2003, Shaughnessy had another excellent year, featuring the second year end top twenty finish of her career. Shaughnessy captured her third career singles title in Canberra, and also had strong Grand Slam results, reaching her first career Slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open, and reaching the Round of 16 at both the US Open and Australian Open.^[2] Shaughnessy also scored an upset over world number two Venus Williams in the Round of 16 of the NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami. In 2004, Shaughnessy produced sub-par results, finishing just inside of the top 40, with only one top five win, over Anastasia Myskina in Dubai. However, in 2004 Shaughnessy produced the best doubles results of her career, winning seven tournaments with partner Nadia Petrova, including the WTA Year End Championships in Los Angeles.^[2] This doubles partnership is now over as Petrova is looking for a new partner for 2006.

Current form[link]

In 2005, Shaughnessy struggled with injuries and consistency. Her year began with a right leg injury, which forced her to withdraw from the Australian Open doubles competition, and from a tournament in Hyderabad. However, Shaughnessy showed signs of recovery in February, reaching the final of Memphis, defeating Nicole Vaidišová in the semifinals. The match featured Shaughnessy serving 22 aces in her 7–6 7–6 win. After Memphis, Shaughnessy struggled with back injuries for the duration of the spring, not reaching another semifinal until June at a grass tournament in 's-Hertogenbosch.

By July, Shaughnessy's ranking had dropped so low that she was forced to qualify for the Palo Alto tournament. She successfully qualified, and then surprised number five seed Vera Zvonareva in the first round,^[7] before losing to Daniela Hantuchová in the second round. A back injury forced Shaughnessy to withdraw from tournaments in Carlsbad, California and Los Angeles. As a wildcard in New Haven, she defeated number nine seed Nathalie Dechy for the first time in ten attempts,^[8] before losing to doubles partner Anna-Lena Grönefeld in the second round. At the US Open, Shaughnessy led sixteen year old Sesil Karatantcheva 6–3 5–2 in the opening round, and held two match points, before losing 3–6 7–5 7–5.

However, on March 24, 2006, Shaughnessy demolished Number 3 seed Justine Henin 7–5, 6–4 in the second round (Henin's 1st round) of the Nasdaq 100 Tournament in Miami. Shaughnessy then won a WTA-level event in Rabat, beating 8th seeded Martina Suchá in three sets, 6–2, 3–6, 6–3. It was her 4th tour title. She became the first American to win a WTA-level title in 2006 as well as the first to reach a WTA final in 2006. Shaughnessy afterwards reached the second round at Istanbul, beating 3rd seeded Anna Chakvetadze in the first round. Then she fell in the first round in the French Open to top seeded and crowd favorite Amélie Mauresmo, 6–4, 6–4.

The next year, she faced the previous year's runner-up, Svetlana Kuznetsova, in the second round of the French Open. Shaughnessy raced into a 5–0 lead in the first set, and in the sixth game held three set points on Svetlana's serve. However, Kuznetsova saved them all, won the game and recovered dramatically to clinch the set on a tie-break, before winning the second set 6–3 for the match.

Shaughnessy currently concentrates on doubles, and regularly partners with fellow American Bethanie Mattek-Sands. The pair made it to the doubles finals of the 2011 Indian Wells Masters, by defeating Alisa Kleybanova & Yan Zi (round 1), Raquel Kops-Jones & Abigail Spears (round 2), Liezel Huber & Nadia Petrova (quarter-finals) and Victoria Azarenka & Maria Kirilenko (semi-finals), but lost to Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina in the finals.

Personal life[link]

Her coach had been romantically involved with her since before she turned 18.^[9] Their romantic and coaching relationship ended in 2005; however, Shaughnessy re-united with Font De Mora as her coach during the latter part of 2006.^[10] Shaughnessy claims she was in an intimate relationship in 2004 and 2005 with Roberto Alomar without him revealing he was HIV positive.

^[11]

WTA Career Finals[link]

Singles 10 (6-4)[link]

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1.	22 October 2000	Shanghai, China	Hard (i)	Iroda Tulyaganova	7–6, 7–5
Runner-up	1.	26 February 2001	Scottsdale, United States	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	6–2, 6–3
Runner-up	2.	30 April 2001	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Venus Williams	6–3, 6–0
Winner	2.	23 September 2001	Quebec City, Canada	Hard (i)	Iva Majoli	6–1, 6–3
Runner-up	3.	13 January 2002	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Martina Hingis	6–2, 6–3
Winner	3.	12 January 2003	Canberra, Australia	Hard	Francesca Schiavone	6–1, 6–1
Runner-up	4.	19 February 2005	Memphis, United States	Hard (i)	Vera Zvonareva	7–6(3), 6–2
Winner	4.	21 May 2006	Rabat, Morocco	Clay	Martina Suchá	6–2, 3–6, 6–3
Winner	5.	26 August 2006	Forest Hills, United States	Hard	Anna Smashnova	1–6, 6–0, 6–4
Winner	6.	16 June 2007	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Edina Gallovits	6–3, 6–2

Doubles: 33 (17-16)[link]

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
Runner-up	1.	26 April 1999	Bol, Croatia	Clay	Andreea Vanc	Jelena Kostanić Michaela Paštikov	7–5, 6-7(1), 6-2
Runner-up	2.	16 May 1999	Antwerp, Belgium	Clay	Louise Pleming	Laura Golarsa Katarina Srebotnik	6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	3.	22 October 2000	Shanghai, Cina	Hard (i)	Rita Grande	Tamarine Tanasugarn Lilia Osterloh	7–5, 6–1
Winner	1.	5 November 2000	Quebec City, Canada	Hard (i)	Nicole Pratt	Kimberly Po-Messerli Els Callens	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	4.	7 January 2001	Gold Coast, Australia	Hard	Katie Schlukebir	Giulia Casoni Janette Husárová	7–6, 7–5
Runner-up	5.	4 March 2001	Scottsdale, United States	Hard	Kim Clijsters	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	w/o
Winner	2.	13 May 2001	Berlin, Germany	Clay	Els Callens	Cara Black Elena Likhovtseva	6–4, 6–3
Runner-up	6.	14 October 2001	Filderstadt, Germany	Hard (i)	Justine Henin	Lindsay Davenport Lisa Raymond	6–4, 6–7(4), 7–5
Winner	3.	31 December 2001	Gold Coast, Australia	Hard	Justine Henin	Åsa Svensson Miriam Oremans	6–1, 7–6(6)
Runner-up	7.	13 October 2002	Filderstadt, Germany	Hard (i)	Paola Suárez	Lindsay Davenport Lisa Raymond	6–2, 6-4
Winner	4.	29 September 2003	Moscow, Russia	Carpet (i)	Nadia Petrova	Anastasia Myskina Vera Zvonareva	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	8.	12 January 2004	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Dinara Safina	Cara Black Rennae Stubbs	7-5, 3-6, 6-4
Winner	5.	22 March 2004	Key Biscayne, United States	Hard	Nadia Petrova	Svetlana Kuznetsova Elena Likhovtseva	6–2, 6–3
Winner	6.	5 April 2004	Amelia Island, United States	Clay	Nadia Petrova	Myriam Casanova Alicia Molik	3–6, 6–2, 7–5
Winner	7.	3 May 2004	Berlin, Germany	Clay	Nadia Petrova	Janette Husárová Conchita Martínez	6–2, 2–6, 6–1
Winner	8.	10 May 2004	Rome, Italy	Clay	Nadia Petrova	Paola Suárez Virginia Ruano Pascual	2–6, 6–3, 6–3
Winner	9.	19 July 2004	Los Angeles, United States	Hard	Nadia Petrova	Conchita Martínez Virginia Ruano Pascual	6–7(2), 6–4, 6–3
Winner	10.	23 August 2004	New Haven, United States	Hard	Nadia Petrova	Martina Navrátilová Lisa Raymond	6–1, 1–6, 7–6(4)
Winner	11.	8 November 2004	Los Angeles, United States	Hard	Nadia Petrova	Cara Black Rennae Stubbs	7–5, 6–2
Runner-up	9.	19 March 2005	Indian Wells, United States	Hard	Nadia Petrova	Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez	7–6(3), 6–1
Winner	12.	13 September 2005	Bali, Indonesia	Hard	Anna-Lena Grönefeld	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	6–3, 6–3
Winner	13.	7 January 2006	Gold Coast, Australia	Hard	Dinara Safina	Cara Black Rennae Stubbs	6–2, 6–3
Winner	14.	5 March 2006	Acapulco, Mexico	Clay	Anna-Lena Grönefeld	Shinobu Asagoe Émilie Loit	6–1, 6–3
Runner-up	10.	18 March 2006	Indian Wells, United States	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Lisa Raymond Samantha Stosur	6–2, 7–5
Runner-up	11.	16 April 2006	Charleston, United States	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Lisa Raymond Samantha Stosur	3-6, 6-1, 6-1
Runner-up	12.	31 July 2006	San Diego, United States	Hard	Anna-Lena Grönefeld	Cara Black Rennae Stubbs	6–2, 6–2
Winner	15.	8 January 2007	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Anna-Lena Grönefeld	Marion Bartoli Meilen Tu	6–3, 3–6, 7–6(2)
Runner-up	13.	21 February 2010	Memphis, United States	Hard (i)	Bethanie Mattek-Sands	Michaëlla Krajicek Vania King	7–5, 6–2
Winner	16.	17 May 2010	Warsaw, Poland	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Cara Black Yan Zi	6-3, 6-4
Runner-up	14.	28 August 2010	New Haven, United States	Hard	Bethanie Mattek-Sands	Květa Peschke Katarina Srebotnik	7–5, 6–0
Winner	17.	7 February 2011	Paris, France	Hard (i)	Bethanie Mattek-Sands	Vera Dushevina Ekaterina Makarova	6-4, 6-2
Runner-up	15.	19 March 2011	Indian Wells, United States	Hard	Bethanie Mattek-Sands	Elena Vesnina Sania Mirza	6-0, 7-5
Runner-up	16.	10 April 2011	Charleston, United States	Clay	Bethanie Mattek-Sands	Sania Mirza Elena Vesnina	6-4, 6-4

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Meghann Shaughnessy

• Meghann Shaughnessy at the Women's Tennis Association
• Meghann Shaughnessy at the International Tennis Federation

Sabine Lisicki

Lisicki in 2012
Full name	Sabine Lisicki
Country	Germany
Residence	Bradenton, Florida, United States
Born	(1989-09-22) 22 September 1989 (age 22) Troisdorf, West Germany
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Turned pro	2006
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	$2,194,075
Singles
Career record	195–123
Career titles	3 WTA, 2 ITF
Highest ranking	12 (21 May 2012)
Current ranking	13 (28 May 2012)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	4R (2012)
French Open	2R (2008, 2011)
Wimbledon	SF (2011)
US Open	4R (2011)
Doubles
Career record	37–25
Career titles	1 WTA, 0 ITF
Highest ranking	35 (9 April 2012)
Current ranking	53 (28 May 2012)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	1R (2010)
French Open	1R (2008)
Wimbledon	F (2011)
US Open	2R (2008, 2010)
Last updated on: 28 May 2012.

Sabine Lisicki (/lɨˈzɪki/; born 22 September 1989 in Troisdorf) is a German professional tennis player.

Lisicki has won three WTA singles tournaments in her career (one in 2009 and two in 2011) and one doubles tournament (in 2011). She reached the semi-finals of the 2011 Wimbledon Championships and also reached the quarterfinals of the 2009 Wimbledon Championships. She achieved her career high rank of World No. 12 on 21 May 2012. After struggling with injuries in 2010, Lisicki rebounded in 2011 and re-entered the top 100 of the world rankings. She is only the second player in Wimbledon history to make it to the semifinals while entering the tournament as a wildcard.^[1]

Career[link]

Since 2004 Lisicki has trained at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida, USA where she is sponsored and managed by IMG. She is coached by her father who studied sport science in Wrocław and Cologne.^[2]

Lisicki had a successful year in 2007 on the ITF circuit and climbed from World No. 497 to World No. 198 in the WTA rankings. She won two titles, one in Jersey and the other in Toronto, Canada. She defeated top-seed Katie O'Brien on 2 August 2007 at the Odlum Brown Vancouver Open.^[3]

In 2006, Lisicki competed at the 2006 Sunfeast Open – Singles Qualifying in Kolkata where she crushed Ragini Vimal 6–1, 6–0 in the first round, but lost in the qualifying round to Sanaa Bhambri of India.

2008[link]

Lisicki at the 2008 US Open

At the 2008 Australian Open, Lisicki's first Grand Slam tournament, she defeated the number 16-seeded player, Dinara Safina and Mariya Koryttseva to reach the third round as a qualifier. She lost her third round match to Caroline Wozniacki. In the first round of Fed Cup against the United States, Lisicki defeated Lindsay Davenport in straight sets.

Lisicki next reached the fourth round of the Miami 2008 Sony Ericsson Open, a Tier I event, where she defeated sixth seeded Anna Chakvetadze in straight sets. However, she was beaten in the next round by Elena Dementieva.

At the 2008 Wimbledon Championships, Lisicki lost in the first round to the 2007 runner up and the number 11 seed Marion Bartoli.

In October, Lisicki reached her first WTA final at the Tashkent Open where she lost in three sets to fellow teenager Sorana Cîrstea of Romania.

2009[link]

Lisicki started her year at the Hopman Cup in Perth where she advanced to the third round before losing to Dominika Cibulková in straight sets. At the Australian Open, Lisicki defeated the 30th seed Aleksandra Wozniak in the opening round before losing to Aussie Samantha Stosur in straight sets. She then took part in Germany's 3–2 win over Switzerland in their Fed Cup World Group II tie, defeating Timea Bacsinszky but losing to Patty Schnyder.

At the Cellular South Cup in Memphis, Lisicki reached the semi-finals, defeating no. 3 seed Lucie Šafářová on the way before losing to eventual winner Victoria Azarenka. Lisicki then took part in the first Premier Mandatory tournament of the year in North America. At the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, she lost in the first round to Elena Vesnina. At the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, she lost in the second round to 26th seed Iveta Benešová.

During the clay-court season, Lisicki lost in the second round of the MPS Group Championships in Ponte Vedra Beach to eventual finalist and no. 5 seed Aleksandra Wozniak. On the green clay at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, Lisicki won her first WTA Tour title without dropping a set, defeating the 5th seed Caroline Wozniacki in the final. She had previously defeated 2nd seeded Venus Williams in the third round and no.6 seed Marion Bartoli in the semi-finals. She then took part in Germany's Fed Cup World Group play-off win against China. She defeated World No. 16 Zheng Jie in the first singles match, and partenered with Anna-Lena Grönefeld to win the decisive doubles match.

Lisicki advanced to the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart before losing to third-seeded Jelena Janković in straight sets. She then advanced to the quarter-finals at the Estoril Open in Portugal where she lost to compatriot Anna-Lena Grönefeld, retiring when 6–2 down. At the French Open, Lisicki lost to Lucie Šafářová in the first round.

On her first match on grass at the AEGON International in Eastbourne, Lisicki lost to Samantha Stosur in the first round. In doubles, Lisicki and her partner Ana Ivanović lost in the first round to World No. 1's Cara Black and Liezel Huber.

Lisicki at the 2009 Toray Pan Pacific Open

Lisicki played her first Grand Slam quarter-final at the 2009 Wimbledon Championships, where she was beaten by World No.1 Dinara Safina.^[4] To reach the quarter final, she had defeated Anna Chakvetadze in the first round, Patricia Mayr in the second round, the recent French Open champion and No. 5 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third round, and 9th seed Caroline Wozniacki in the 4th round.

Seeded 23rd, Lisicki advanced to the second round at the 2009 US Open, but lost to qualifier Anastasia Rodionova. On Rodionova's match point, Lisicki slipped while going to return a backhand and injured her left ankle. She left the court in a wheelchair as Rodionova advanced to the third round. Lisicki later reported^[5] that an MRI showed no tears. The injury was a sprain, and Lisicki returned to her base in Florida for rehabilitation.

Lisicki returned to the tour at the Toray Pan Pacific Open at the end of September, where she reached the second round, but losing in three sets to 7th seeded Jelena Janković.

In October, Lisicki reached the Final of Luxembourg, but lost there to Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland. On her way to the final she beat Iveta Benešová, Polona Hercog, Patty Schnyder and Shahar Pe'er.

Lisicki qualified for the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions. She lost her first round robin match to Aravane Rezaï, but won her second round robin match against Melinda Czink.

2010[link]

Lisicki started the 2010 season by playing at the Hopman Cup for Germany. She won her singles ties against Elena Dementieva and Laura Robson but lost to Yaroslava Shvedova. Partnering with Philipp Kohlschreiber, they lost all their doubles matches, so Germany did not proceed to the finals.

Lisicki then travelled to Melbourne to compete in the Australian Open where she was the 21st seed. However she was defeated in the second round by Alberta Brianti in three sets. Her first tournament after the Australian Open was the Pattaya Open in Bangkok where she was the second seed. However, she lost her second round match to home player Tamarine Tanasugarn.

She then went to Dubai to compete in the Dubai Tennis Championships. She lost her second round match against Venus Williams.

Her next two tournaments were at Indian Wells and Miami. In both tournaments, Lisicki retired in the second round because of an ankle injury. The injury sidelined her for five months, and she withdrew from tournaments at Ponte Vedra and Charleston. She also missed the Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

Coming into the 2010 US Open ranked world number 96, Lisicki advanced to the second round before losing to 7th seeded Vera Zvonareva.

After the US Open, Lisicki failed to qualify for the Luxembourg Open leading to her dropping out of the top 100.

2011[link]

Lisicki playing in the 2011 Wimbledon Championships where she made her first Grand-Slam semi-final

Lisicki started the 2011 season at the ASB Classic in Auckland. She lost to Yanina Wickmayer in three sets in the second round. In the Australian Open, Sabine played the qualifying tournament and lost in the second round to Vesna Manasieva 7–6, 6–4.

After losing at 2011 BNP Paribas Open to Sorana Cîrstea in the qualifying rounds, Lisicki lifted her form and reached the third round at the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open, where she was defeated by Maria Sharapova.

At the 2011 Family Circle Cup, Lisicki reached the third round, but lost to Sania Mirza in two sets.

At the 2011 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Lisicki lost in the third round against her compatriot Julia Görges, eventual champion of the tournament. In doubles, Lisicki partnered with former world no. 1 doubles player Samantha Stosur to win her first ever career doubles title.

At the 2011 French Open, she advanced to the second round against the number three seed, Vera Zvonareva. Lisicki had a match point at 5–2 of the third set, but she lost the point and eventually the match, 4–6, 7–5, 7–5. Afterwards, she lay on the court, sobbing, and was taken off on a stretcher due to injury.^[6]

At the 2011 AEGON Classic, Lisicki reached the final where she defeated Slovak Daniela Hantuchová in 6–3, 6–2, to win her second WTA Tour title.

At the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, Lisicki received a wildcard to enter the tournament, advancing to the semifinals of a major for the first time, and beating third seed and recent French Open champion Li Na in the second round. She was eliminated by Maria Sharapova in straight sets 4–6, 3–6 after leading the first set 3–0.^[7] This is the first time in 12 years that a German woman (since Steffi Graf reached the Wimbledon finals in 1999) has reached the semifinal stage of a Grand Slam. Lisicki is the second wild-card entry to reach the women's semifinals in Wimbledon history.^[8] In doubles, Lisicki partnered with Samantha Stosur and lost in the final 6–3, 6–1.^[9]

At the 2011 Bank of the West Classic, Lisicki beat 4th seed and doubles partner Samantha Stosur and 5th seed Agnieszka Radwanska, but fell to Serena Williams in the semifinals 1–6, 2–6.

At 2011 Western & Southern Open Lisicki lost to Shahar Pe'er in the first round 4–6, 6–7 despite being 5–0 down in the second set.^[10]

Lisicki then traveled to Dallas to compete in the inaugural 2011 Texas Tennis Open as the 5th seed. After advancing to the semifinals with an easy win over qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko, she crushed 8th seed Irina-Camelia Begu 6–0, 6–1 to advance to the final. Sabine won her 3rd title, defeating qualifier Aravane Rezaï, having dropped no more than three games each match of the way to her victory. She moved to a new career-high rank of No. 18 on 29 August.

Lisicki at the 2011 Texas Tennis Open where she won her third title

Seeded 22nd at the 2011 US Open, she easily advanced to the second round with a straight-sets win over Alona Bondarenko. She was scheduled to play Venus Williams in the second round, but Williams withdrew before it started due to her recent diagnosis of Sjögren's syndrome. Lisicki dispatched Irina Falconi 6–0, 6–1 to advance to the fourth round for the first time, before ultimately being defeated by second seed Vera Zvonareva 2–6, 3–6.

At the China Open Liscki defeated Zheng Saisai in straight sets but withdrew from her second round match against Kaia Kanepi.

Lisicki was named the WTA comeback player of the year in November.^[11]

2012[link]

Lisicki's first tournament in 2012 was the 2012 ASB Classic Tournament where she was the number 1 seed. In the first round, she defeated Virginie Razzano 6–4, 6–4. In the second round, she defeated Mona Barthel 7–6, 3–6, 6–3. In the quarter-final, she faced Angelique Kerber, 2011 US Open semi-finalist, and was losing 4–6, before retiring, due to a back injury, in the second set at a score of 3–4. In doubles, she entered with Chinese player Peng Shuai and they won their first round match against Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci 6–2, 6–3. Both the Italians would go on to the Australian Open in four weeks time. In the second round, they pulled out due to the injury picked up by Lisicki in the quarterfinal of the singles tournament against Angelique Kerber.

Then she entered the 2012 Apia International Sydney where she was unseeded. Before the first round of the tournament began, she pulled out with her recent back injury and gave her place to Lucky Loser, Alexandra Dulgheru.

She competed in the Australian Open where she was the fourteenth seed. In the first round, she faced Swiss Stefanie Vögele and beat her 6–2, 4–6, 6–4. In the second round, she deafeated Shahar Pe'er 6–1, 6–2. In the third round, she beat eighteenth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 2–6, 6–4, 6–2.^[12] She was defeated by Russian Maria Sharapova 6–3 2–6 3–6. Lisicki took the first set, winning six consecutive games after being down 0–3, but was unable to match Sharapova in the following two sets.

Lisicki at the 2012 Dubai Tennis Championships

At the 2012 Fed Cup, Lisicki played for her country of Germany alongside Julia Görges, Anna-Lena Grönefeld and Angelique Kerber. She started off the meeting between Germany and the Czech Republic by facing Iveta Benešová. She lost the match by a score of 6–2, 4–6, 2–6. In her second match, she faced Wimbledon Champion Petra Kvitová and also lost 7–6, 4–6, 1–6. Germany lost the meeting by a score of 1–4.

Her next tournament was supposed to be the 2012 Open GDF Suez where she was to be the fifth seed. She pulled out before the tournament began with a viral illness.

She then competed in the 2012 Qatar Ladies Open where she was the ninth seed. In the first round she met compatriot and the unseeded Angelique Kerber and lost 6–4, 4–6, 1–6 to continue a losing streak dating back to the fourth round of the Australian Open. In Doubles, she was the fourth seed along with Russian Maria Kirilenko. They received a bye into the second round. There they met Andreja Klepač and Alicja Rosolska. They bet them at a score of 6–2, 4–6, [10–8]. In the third round they met fifth seeds Nuria Llagostera Vives and Anastasia Rodionova. They lost the first set 4–6 and in the second set, Llagostera Vives and Rodionova took an early 3–1 led but Lisicki and Kirilenko were able to bring the score back to level. The two teams swapped a break of serve to bring the score to 4–4. The teams held serve and brought the set to a tiebreak. Lisicki and Kirilenko won 7–3 to level the score at 1 set each. In the third set, they lost at a score of [8–10] and hence lost the match.

Her next tournament was the 2012 Dubai Tennis Championships where she was supposed to face fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the first round. However, after second seed Petra Kvitová withdrew, she became the ninth seed and received Kvitová's bye into the second round. Their she met Iveta Benešová and beat her 6–3, 6–3. In the quarterfinals, she faced the fifth seed Agnieszka Radwańska but lost 2–6, 1–6.

She then went to 2012 Indian Wells where she was the eleventh seed. She received a bye into the second round where she faced Spaniard Lourdes Domínguez Lino. She lost 1–6, 4–6. In doubles, she competed with compatriot Julia Görges. They bet Americans Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears at a score of 6–2, 6–7, [10–7]. They faced Czech pair and 2011 French Open champions Lucie Hradecká and Andrea Hlaváčková. They lost 2–6, 4–6.

She then went to the 2012 Sony Ericsson Open where she was the twelfth seed. She got a bye to the second round where she faced Sofia Arvidsson. Lisicki won 6-3, 6-2. She faced Peng Shuai in the third round. She won 6-4, 7-5 and then faced Li Na in the fourth round. There Lisicki lost the match 6-3, 4-6, 2-6.

Her next tournament was the 2012 Family Circle Cup where she was the sixth seed. She received and bye into the second round. She will face lucky loser Andrea Hlaváčková. In doubles, she paired with 2012 Australian Open champion Vera Zvonareva. They faced top seeds Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond in the first round.

At the 2012 Family Circle Cup, Lisicki was the sixth seed. She received a bye into the second round. There she faced lucky loser Andrea Hlaváčková. She won 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. She faced qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova in the third round and won 7-5, 6-4. In the quarter-final, she faced Serena Williams. At a score of 1-4 to Serena, Lisicki fell and injured her left ankle. She retired from the match in tears sending Serena to the semis. In doubles, she paired with 2012 Australian Open women's doubles champion, Vera Zvonareva. They faced top seeds Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond and lost 2-6, 2-6.

As a result of the fall in her quarter-final match, Lisicki was forced to sideline at the Fed Cup World Group Play-off tie against Australia. She was also forced to pull out of the 2012 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix from which she was defending a quarter-final spot in singles and the doubles title which she won with Samantha Stosur. Lisicki also missed the 2012 Mutua Madrid Open, a Premier Mandatory tournament.

After nearly a month off the tour, Lisicki returned as the twelfth seed in the 2012 Internazionali BNL d'Italia. She faced Marina Erakovic in the first round. She lost 6-7^(4-7), 6-4, 3-6. She then traveled to the 2012 Internationaux de Strasbourg where she was the top seed. She again faced a first round shock losing to Pauline Parmentier 4-6, 4-6.

She then traveled to Paris to play the second Grand Slam of the year, the French Open, where she was the twelfth seed. On the red clay of Roland Garros, Lisicki lost 4-6, 3-6 to American Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

Personal life[link]

Her parents emigrated to West Germany from Poland in 1979; her father, Dr. Richard Lisicki, is of German and Polish descent, and her mother, Elisabeth, of Polish.^[2][13][14] Her father is her coach and her mother, Elizabeth, is a painter specializing in ceramics. She started playing at the age of 7, (introduced by her father). Lisicki currently lives in Bradenton, Florida. She is fluent in German, English and Polish. Her off-court interests include reading, music and athletics. Her favorite book is Lance Armstrong's autobiography and her favorite music is pop and R&B.

Career statistics[link]

Grand Slam finals[link]

Doubles: 1 (0–1)[link]

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	2011	Wimbledon	Grass	Samantha Stosur	Květa Peschke Katarina Srebotnik	3–6, 1–6

Singles performance timeline[link]

Only Main Draw results in WTA Tour are considered. This table is current through the 2012 Australian Open.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sabine Lisicki

• Sabine Lisicki at the Women's Tennis Association
• Sabine Lisicki at the International Tennis Federation
• Sabine Lisicki at the Fed Cup
• Official website

Awards
Preceded by Justine Henin	WTA Comeback Player of the Year 2011	Succeeded by Incumbent

v t e Women's Tennis Association: Top German female singles tennis players as of 28 May 2012 1. Angelique Kerber (10 ) 2. Sabine Lisicki (13 1) 3. Andrea Petkovic (15 ) 4. Julia Görges (27 ) 5. Mona Barthel (32 ) 6. Tatjana Malek (164 1) 7. Annika Beck (165 1) 8. Sarah Gronert (166 1) 9. Kristina Barrois (196 3) 10. Dinah Pfizenmaier (198 4)

v t e Women's Tennis Association: Top German female doubles tennis players as of 28 May 2012 1. Julia Görges (32 ) 2. Anna-Lena Grönefeld (34 ) 3. Sabine Lisicki (53 4) 4. Kristina Barrois (66 ) 5. Jasmin Wöhr (68 ) 6. Andrea Petkovic (109 4) 7. Tatjana Malek (120 5) 8. Angelique Kerber (173 4) 9. Kathrin Wörle (191 2) 10. Karolina Nowak (332 3)

Nicole Pratt

Country	Australia
Residence	Orlando, USA
Born	(1973-03-05) 5 March 1973 (age 39) Mackay, Australia
Height	1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Weight	54 kg (120 lb; 8.5 st)
Turned pro	1989
Retired	2008
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Career prize money	US$2,404,547
Singles
Career record	456–441
Career titles	1 WTA, 5 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 35 (17 June 2002)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	4r (2003)
French Open	2r (5 times)
Wimbledon	3r (2006)
US Open	3r (2003)
Doubles
Career record	348–347
Career titles	9 WTA, 9 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 18 (17 September 2001)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	QF (2000, 2001 & 2005)
French Open	QF (2005)
Wimbledon	2r (1990, 2004, 2005 & 2007)
US Open	SF (2002)

Nicole Pratt (born 5 March 1973 in Mackay) is a retired professional female tennis player from Australia.

She is the middle sibling of five children of cane farmers and was taught to play by her father, George, who was a top junior player. She attended school in Calen and received a tennis scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra. She turned professional at 18.

She became Australia's no. 1 ranked female player in January 2001. She won her first WTA Title at the Hyderabad Open and reached the third round of the Australian Open in 2004.

In August 2006, at age 33, Pratt reached her first ever Tier I quarterfinal at Toronto. Soon after this she rose back up into the top 100. In 2007, Pratt entered the Sydney Medibank International where she reached the 2nd round after defeating Dinara Safina in the 1st round. She was then beaten by Kim Clijsters in straight sets. At the 2007 Australian Open, she was beaten in 1st round by Virginie Razzano of France and at the 2007 Acapulco Open was beaten by Melissa Torres (es). During 2007 she was drafted by the Boston Lobsters of the WTT pro league.

At the 2008 Australian Open, after losing her first match to Nadia Petrova, a tearful  Pratt announced her retirement from professional tennis.^[1] She currently coaches Australian female player, Casey Dellacqua. After the 2009 Australian Open, Nicole Pratt and Casey Dellacqua decided to go different ways.^[2]

WTA Tour finals ()[link]

Singles[link]

Win (1)[link]

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	22 February 2004	Hyderabad, India	Hard	Maria Kirilenko	7–6(3), 6–1

Runner-up (1)[link]

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	14 October 2001	Shanghai, China	Hard	Monica Seles	6–2, 6–3

Doubles (13)[link]

Wins (9)[link]

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	25 June 2000	's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Erika de Lone	Karina Habšudová Catherine Barclay-Reitz	7–6(6), 4–3 retired
2.	5 November 2000	Quebec, Canada	Hard	Meghann Shaughnessy	Kimberly Po-Messerli Els Callens	6–3, 6–4
3.	19 August 2001	Toronto, Canada	Hard	Kimberly Po-Messerli	Katarina Srebotnik Tina Križan	6–3, 6–1
4.	21 September 2003	Shanghai, China	Hard	Émilie Loit	Tamarine Tanasugarn Ai Sugiyama	6–3, 6–3
5.	18 July 2004	Stanford, USA	Hard	Eleni Daniilidou	Claudine Schaul Iveta Benešová	6–2, 6–4
6.	15 May 2005	Prague, Czech Republic	Clay	Émilie Loit	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová Jelena Kostanić Tošić	6–7(6), 6–4, 6–4
7.	13 January 2006	Hobart, Australia	Hard	Émilie Loit	Jelena Kostanić Tošić Jill Craybas	6–2, 6–1
8.	11 February 2007	Pattaya City, Thailand	Carpet (i)	Mara Santangelo	Chia-Jung Chuang Yung-Jan Chan	6–4, 7–6(4)
9.	24 February 2007	Memphis, USA	Carpet (i)	Bryanne Stewart	Akiko Morigami Jarmila Gajdošová	7–5, 4–6, [10–5]

Runner-ups (4)[link]

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
1.	24 May 1998	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Rachel McQuillan	Dominique Monami Florencia Labat	6–3, 6–1
2.	16 September 2001	Waikoloa, USA	Hard	Els Callens	Katarina Srebotnik Tina Križan	6–2, 6–3
3.	14 September 2003	Bali, Indonesia	Hard	Émilie Loit	Angelique Widjaja María Vento-Kabchi	7–5, 6–2
4.	3 March 2007	Acapulco, Mexico	Clay	Émilie Loit	Arantxa Parra Santonja Lourdes Domínguez Lino	6–3, 6–3

ITF Circuit titles[link]

Singles Winner (5)[link]

• 2000 - $75k Midland, USA
• 1998 - $25k Rockford, USA
• 1995 - $25k Port Pirie, Australia
• 1995 - $25k Mount Gambier, Australia
• 1993 - $25k Nuriootpa, Australia

Doubles Winner (9)[link]

• 2006 - $75k Las Vegas, USA (w/ Casey Dellacqua)
• 1997 - $50k Tashkent, Uzbekistan (w/ Erika de Lone)
• 1996 - $50k Wilmington, USA (w/ Erika de Lone)
• 1993 - $10k Bangkok, Thailand (w/ Suzanna Wibowo)
• 1992 - $10k Burgdorf, Switzerland (w/ Kristin Godridge)
• 1992 - $50k Jakarta, Indonesia (w/ Angie Woolcock)
• 1991 - $25k Mount Gambier, Australia (w/ Kristin Godridge)
• 1990 - $10k Bournemouth, United Kingdom (w/ Kirrily Sharpe)
• 1990 - $10k Swansea, United Kingdom (w/ Kirrily Sharpe)

Year End Singles Ranking[link]

• 2007-70
• 2006-78
• 2005-127
• 2004-51
• 2003-53
• 2002-49
• 2001-52
• 2000-55
• 1999-58
• 1998-113
• 1997-102
• 1996-198
• 1995-297
• 1994-182
• 1993-204
• 1992-177
• 1991-241
• 1990-218
• 1989-447

References[link]

External links[link]

• Nicole Pratt at the Women's Tennis Association
• Nicole Pratt - Official Site
• Nicole Pratt at the International Tennis Federation

Martina Hingis

Hingis playing for the New York Sportimes in the 2011 WTT.
Country	Switzerland
Residence	Hurden, Switzerland
Born	(1980-09-30) 30 September 1980 (age 31) Košice, (then Czechoslovakia, now in modern Slovakia)
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	59 kg (130 lb; 9.3 st)
Turned pro	1994
Retired	2007
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	US$20,130,657 (7th in all-time rankings)
Singles
Career record	548–133 (80.5%)
Career titles	43 WTA, 2 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 1 (31 March 1997)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	W (1997, 1998, 1999)
French Open	F (1997, 1999)
Wimbledon	W (1997)
US Open	W (1997)
Other tournaments
Championships	W (1998, 2000)
Olympic Games	2R (1996)
Doubles
Career record	286–54 (84.1%)
Career titles	37 WTA, 1 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 1 (8 June 1998)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	W (1997, 1998, 1999, 2002)
French Open	W (1998, 2000)
Wimbledon	W (1996, 1998)
US Open	W (1998)
Mixed Doubles
Career titles	1
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	W (2006)
Last updated on: 8 June 2011.

Martina Hingis (born 30 September 1980) is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1.^[1] She won five Grand Slam singles titles (three Australian Opens, one Wimbledon, and one US Open). She also won nine Grand Slam women's doubles titles, winning a calendar year doubles Grand Slam in 1998, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title.

Hingis set a series of "youngest-ever" records before ligament injuries in both ankles forced her to withdraw temporarily from professional tennis in 2002 at the age of 22. After several surgeries and long recuperations, Hingis returned to the WTA tour in 2006. She then climbed to world number 6 and won three singles titles. On 1 November 2007, Hingis announced her retirement from tennis after testing positive for cocaine during Wimbledon in 2007. She denied using the drug, but decided not to appeal the imminent ban.^[2][3]

In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by Time.^[4]

Childhood and early career[link]

Hingis was born in Košice, (then part of Czechoslovakia, now in modern Slovakia), to accomplished tennis players^[5] Melanie Molitorová and Karol Hingis. Molitorová was a professional tennis player, who was once ranked tenth among women in Czechoslovakia, and was determined to develop Hingis into a top player as early as pregnancy.^[6] Her father was ranked as high as nineteenth in the Czechoslovakian tennis rankings. Hingis's parents divorced when she was six, and she and her mother relocated around a year later to Trübbach in Switzerland.^[6] Her father, who continued to live in Košice as a tennis coach, said in 1997 that he had seen little of his daughter after the split.^[7]

Hingis began playing tennis when she was two years old and entered her first tournament at age four.^[8] In 1993, 12-year-old Hingis became the youngest player to win a Grand Slam junior title: the girls' singles at the French Open.^[9] In 1994, she retained her French Open junior title, won the girls' singles title at Wimbledon, and reached the final of the US Open.^[10]

She made her professional debut in October 1994, two weeks after her 14th birthday. She ended the year ranked World No. 87,^[10] and in January 1995, she became the youngest player to win a match at a Grand Slam tournament when she advanced to the second round of the Australian Open.^[11]

Grand Slam success and period of dominance[link]

In 1996, Hingis became the youngest Grand Slam champion of all time, when she teamed with Helena Suková at Wimbledon to win the women's doubles title at age 15 years and 9 months.^[12] She also won her first professional singles title that year at Filderstadt, Germany. She reached the singles quarterfinals at the 1996 Australian Open and the singles semifinals of the 1996 US Open. Following her win at Filderstadt, Hingis defeated the reigning Australian Open champion and co-top ranked (with Steffi Graf) Monica Seles in the final at Oakland. Hingis then lost to Graf at the year-end WTA Tour Championships.

In 1997, Hingis became the undisputed World No. 1 women's tennis player. She started the year by winning the warm-up tournament in Sydney. She then became the youngest Grand Slam singles winner in the 20th century by winning the Australian Open at age 16 years and 3 months (beating former champion Mary Pierce in the final). In March, she became the youngest top ranked player in history. In July, she became the youngest singles champion at Wimbledon since Lottie Dod in 1887 by beating Jana Novotná in the final. She then defeated another up-and-coming player, Venus Williams, in the final of the US Open. The only Grand Slam singles title that Hingis failed to win in 1997 was the French Open, where she lost in the final to Iva Majoli. She won the Australian Open women's doubles with Natasha Zvereva.

Hingis (right) in 2002, with doubles partner Anna Kournikova.

In 1998, Hingis won all four of the Grand Slam women's doubles titles, only the fourth in women's tennis history to do so,^[13] (the Australian Open with Mirjana Lučić and the other three events with Novotná), and she became only the third woman to simultaneously hold the No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles. She also retained her Australian Open singles title by beating Conchita Martínez in straight sets in the final. Hingis, however, lost in the final of the US Open to Lindsay Davenport. Davenport ended an 80-week stretch Hingis had enjoyed as the No. 1 singles player in October 1998, but Hingis finished the year by beating Davenport in the final of the WTA Tour Championships.

1999 saw Hingis win her third successive Australian Open singles crown as well as the doubles title (with Anna Kournikova). She then reached the French Open final and was three points away from victory in the second set before losing to Steffi Graf. During the match, Hingis had infuriated an already partisan crowd by arguing with the umpire over several line calls. In the second set, she crossed to the other side of the net to inspect her own ball mark, thereby incurring a mandatory one-point penalty. She was also booed for taking a bathroom break early in the final set, and twice delivering underhand serves. After the match, Hingis rushed from the court in tears, and only returned to the court for the trophy ceremony after being comforted by her mother.^[14] Following the French Open, Martina revealed at Wimbledon that her mother was no longer her coach.^[15] After a shock first-round 6–2, 6–0 loss to Jelena Dokić at Wimbledon,^[16] Hingis bounced back to reach her third consecutive US Open final, where she lost to Serena Williams. Hingis won a total of seven singles titles that year and reclaimed the No. 1 singles ranking. She also reached the final of the WTA Tour Championships, where she lost to Lindsay Davenport.

In 2000, Hingis again found herself in both the singles and doubles finals at the Australian Open. This time, however, she lost both. Her three-year hold on the singles championship ended when she lost to Davenport. Later, Hingis and Mary Pierce, her new doubles partner, lost to Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs. Hingis captured the French Open women's doubles title with Pierce and produced consistent results in singles tournaments throughout the year. She reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon before losing to Venus Williams. Although she did not win a Grand Slam singles tournament, she kept the year end No. 1 ranking because of nine tournament championships, including the WTA Tour Championships where she won the singles and doubles titles.

Injuries and hiatus from tennis[link]

In 2001, Switzerland, with Hingis and Roger Federer on its team, won the Hopman Cup. Hingis was undefeated in singles during the event, defeating Tamarine Tanasugarn, Nicole Pratt, Amanda Coetzer, and Monica Seles.^[17]

Hingis reached her fifth consecutive Australian Open final in 2001, defeating both of the Williams sisters en route, before losing to Jennifer Capriati. She briefly ended her coaching relationship with her mother Melanie early in the year^[18] but had a change of heart two months later just before the French Open. 2001 was a her least successful year in several seasons, with only three tournament victories in total. She lost her No. 1 ranking for the last time (to Jennifer Capriati) on 14 October 2001. In that same month, Hingis underwent surgery on her right ankle.

Coming back from injury, Hingis won the Australian Open doubles final at the start of 2002 (again teaming with Anna Kournikova) and reached a sixth straight Australian Open final in singles, again facing Capriati. Hingis led by a set and 4–0 and had four match points but lost 4–6, 7–6, 6–2. In May 2002, she needed another ankle ligament operation, this time on her left ankle. After that, she continued to struggle with injuries and was not able to recapture her best form.

In February 2003, at the age of 22, Hingis announced her retirement from tennis, due to her injuries and being in pain.^[19] "I want to play tennis only for fun and concentrate more on horse riding and finish my studies"^[20] In several interviews, she indicated she wanted to go back to her country and coach full time.^{[citation needed]}

During this segment of her tennis career, Hingis won 40 singles titles and 36 doubles events. She held the World No. 1 singles ranking for a total of 209 weeks (fourth most following Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, and Chris Evert). In 2005, Tennis magazine put her in 22nd place in its list of 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS era.

Return to the game[link]

2005[link]

In February 2005, Hingis made an unsuccessful return to competition at an event in Pattaya, Thailand, where she lost to Germany's Marlene Weingärtner in the first round. After the loss, she claimed that she had no further plans for a comeback.

Hingis, however, resurfaced in July, playing singles, doubles, and mixed doubles in World Team Tennis and notching up singles victories over two top 100 players and shutting out Martina Navratilova in singles on 7 July. With these promising results behind her, Hingis announced on 29 November her return to the WTA Tour in 2006.

2006[link]

Martina Hingis in the Australian Open, 2006.

At the Australian Open, Hingis lost in the quarterfinals to second-seeded Kim Clijsters. However, Hingis won the mixed doubles title with Mahesh Bhupathi of India. This was her first career Grand Slam mixed doubles title and fifteenth overall (5 singles, 9 women's doubles, 1 mixed doubles).

The week after the Australian Open, Hingis defeated World No. 4 Maria Sharapova in the semifinals of the Tier I Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo before losing in the final to World No. 9 Elena Dementieva. Hingis competed in Dubai then, reaching the quarter-finals before falling to Sharapova. At the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, Hingis defeated World No. 4 Lindsay Davenport in the fourth round before again losing to Sharapova in the semifinals.

At the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, Hingis posted her 500th career singles match victory in the quarterfinals, beating World No. 18 Flavia Pennetta, and subsequently won the tournament with wins over Venus Williams in the semifinals and Dinara Safina in the final. This was her 41st Women's Tennis Association tour singles title and first in more than four years. Hingis then reached the quarterfinals of the French Open before losing to Kim Clijsters.

At Wimbledon, Hingis lost in the third round to Ai Sugiyama.

Hingis's return to the US Open was short lived, however, as she was upset in the second round by World No. 112 Virginie Razzano of France.

In her first tournament after the US Open, Hingis won the second title of her comeback at the Tier III Sunfeast Open in Kolkata, India. She defeated unseeded Russian Olga Poutchkova in the final. The following week in Seoul, Hingis notched her 50th match win of the year before losing in the second round to Sania Mirza.

Hingis qualified for the year-ending WTA Tour Championships in Madrid as the eighth seed. In her round robin matches, she lost in three sets to both Justine Henin and Amélie Mauresmo but defeated Nadia Petrova.

Hingis ended the year ranked World No. 7. She also finished eighth in prize money earnings (U.S.$1,159,537). Hingis too ranked as number 7 on the Annual Top Google News Searches in 2006.^[21]

2007[link]

At the Australian Open, Hingis won her first three rounds without losing a set before defeating China's Li Na in the fourth round. Hingis then lost a quarterfinal match to Kim Clijsters. This was the second consecutive year that Hingis had lost to Clijsters in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and the third time in the last five Grand Slam tournaments that Clijsters had eliminated Hingis in the quarterfinals.

Hingis won her next tournament, the Tier I Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, defeating Ana Ivanovic in the final. This was Hingis's record fifth singles title at this event.

A hip injury that troubled her at the German Open caused her to withdraw from the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, where she was the defending champion, and the French Open, the only important singles title that eluded her.

In her first round match at Wimbledon, Hingis saved two match points to defeat British wildcard Naomi Cavaday, apparently not having fully recovered from the hip injury that prevented her from playing the French Open.^[22] In the third round, Hingis lost to Laura Granville of the United States, and stated afterwards she should not have entered the tournament.^[23]

Hingis's next tournament was the last Grand Slam tournament of the year, the US Open, which she had won ten years ago for the first time. Hingis lost in the third round to Belarussian teenager Victoria Azarenka. Hingis did not play any tournaments after the China Open, as she was beset by injuries for the rest of the year.^[11]

In November, Hingis admitted that she was under investigation for testing positive for cocaine. She decided to retire.^[24] Hingis was handed a 2 year ban by the ITF for testing positive at Wimbledon, back dated to October at the start of 2008.^[25]

But Hingis maintained her innocence, saying, "I have tested positive but I have never taken drugs and I feel 100 percent innocent." She also said, "I would personally be terrified of taking drugs. When I was informed [about the test] I was shocked and appalled." She is not planning to contest the positive drug test because it could take years. "Because of my age and my health problems, I have also decided to retire from professional tennis." The drug test results were released to Hingis after her third round loss to Laura Granville at Wimbledon, with both "A" and "B" urine samples failing the tests.^[26]

Retirement[link]

Hingis played an exhibition match at the Liverpool International tournament on 13 June 2008. Although this event was a warm-up for Wimbledon, it was not part of the WTA Tour. This allowed Hingis to participate without breaching the rules of her ban.^[27] In a rematch of their 1997 Wimbledon final,^[28] Hingis defeated Jana Novotná.

In 2009 Hingis partook in the BBC's dancing competition, Strictly Come Dancing. She was the bookies favourite for the competition,^[29] but she went out in the first week after performing a Waltz and a Rumba.^[30] Despite vowing to win the competition, she promised to apply the same gritty approach to the dance show that had taken her to five grand slams on the tennis court. "Everything I do I do to win. I am very competitive."^[31]

2010[link]

At the start of the year Hingis defeated former world number one Lindsay Davenport, and hinted at a possible return to tennis. In February, Martina announced she has committed to a full year with the World TeamTennis Tour in 2010.^[32] She had previously played for World Team Tennis in 2005 to assist her first comeback. Sparking thoughts that she was trying to come back to the WTA tour, she committed to playing at the Nottingham Masters.^[24] On 5 May 2010, it was announced that Anna Kournikova would reunite with her doubles partner Hingis. Kournikova was participating in competitive tennis for the first time in seven years, in the Invitational Ladies Doubles event at Wimbledon.^[33][34] Hingis also confirmed that she would play at the Tradition-ICAP Liverpool International championship in June 2010, preceding Wimbledon,^[35] before playing in the Manchester Masters after Wimbledon.^[36] Liverpool like the Nottingham and Manchester Masters are organised by her management company Northern Vision.^[37] At the Nottingham Masters, Hingis faced Michaëlla Krajicek^[38][39] (twice), Olga Savchuk^[40] and Monika Wejnert.^[41] Hingis won just once in the event, against Wejnert. After the Nottingham event Billie Jean King stated that she believed that Hingis may return to the WTA Tour on the doubles circuit, after competing in the WTT.^[42]

During Wimbledon in an interview with doubles partner Anna Kournikova, Hingis stated that she will not be returning to the tour; she has had her comeback before and it was fun.^{[citation needed]}

2011[link]

On 5 June, Hingis, in team with Lindsay Davenport, won the Roland Garros Women's Legends title, defeating Martina Navratilova and Jana Novotna in the final, 6–1, 6–2. Before facing Navratilova/Novotna, Hingis and Davenport won two round robin matches in the tournament: first against Gigi Fernandez / Natasha Zvereva (6–1 6–3), and then in the next match they prevailed over Andrea Temesvari / Sandrine Testud 6–3 6–7 and 10:0 in the Super tie-break.^[43][44]
On 3 July, Hingis partnering Lindsay Davenport won the Wimbledon Ladies' Invitation Doubles title defeating Martina Navratilova and Jana Novotna in the final, 6–4, 6–4.^[45] She also played for the New York SPORTIMES of the World TeamTennis Pro League in July 2011. She finished the season with the top winning percentage of any player competing in Women's Singles.

Playing style[link]

Hingis was renowned for her cerebral approach to the game of tennis and for her technical skills, enabling her to produce a wide array of shots with finesse. She lacked the power possessed by many of her contemporaries; therefore, she relied on low error-rates and good shot selection to keep opponents off-balance. She often used change of direction and pace to catch opponents off guard and sharp angles to open up the court. She was also well known for her ability to break long rallies by hitting accurate drop shots and coming to the net, where she was a skilled volleyer. A signature play of Hingis was the drop shot followed by a lob, often resulting in an easy volley or overhead to finish the point. Hingis often hit the ball extremely early by standing close to the baseline (or inside it) in order to take reaction time away from her opponent because she did not have sufficient power to hit winners past her opponents.

Hingis's strongest groundstroke was her two-handed backhand, which had an extremely low error-rate and great variety. Her backhand down-the-line was among her signature shots and often the shot she chose to hit with greater pace to surprise opponents during a rally.

Personal life[link]

Hingis has dated Spanish golf player Sergio García and British footballer Sol Campbell.^[46][47] She was briefly engaged to Czech tennis player Radek Štěpánek, but split from him in August 2007.^[48] She has also dated former tennis players Magnus Norman, Ivo Heuberger and Julian Alonso.^[49] In March 2010, Hingis announced that she was engaged to marry Andreas Bieri, a Swiss attorney,^[50] but the engagement was later broken off.^[51]

On 10 December 2010 in Paris, she married then-24-year-old Thibault Hutin, an equestrian show jumper who she had met at a competition the previous April.^[52]

Controversies[link]

As a teenager, Martina Hingis was known for being outspoken. During her career, Hingis has made a number of statements about her fellow players that have subsequently become the focus of attention and the source of controversy, such as:

• Referring to Amélie Mauresmo's muscular build on the eve of their 1999 Australian Open final, Hingis told reporters, "She's half a man."^[53]
• When asked in the late 1990s how she felt about the budding rivalry between herself and the then-up-and-coming Anna Kournikova, Hingis responded, "What rivalry? I win all the matches."^[54]
• After the Williams sisters (Venus and Serena) had complained of discrimination against them, Hingis told Time magazine in 2001: "Being black only helps them. Many times they get sponsors because they are black. And they have had a lot of advantages because they can always say, 'It's racism.' They can always come back and say, 'Because we are this color, things happen.'"^[55]
• At the peak of the Williams sisters' and Hingis' competitive and fierce rivalry, Hingis stated in a press conference during the 1999 US Open referring to the sisters' remarks, "They always have big mouths. They always talk a lot. It's happened before, so it's gonna happen again. I don't really worry about that."^[56]
• On the long-dominant player, Steffi Graf, Hingis said, "Steffi has had some results in the past, but it's a faster, more athletic game now than when she played. She is old now. Her time has passed." (Hingis made this comment in 1998 while Graf was on an injury-related hiatus from tennis, and before Hingis lost against the German player in the 1999 French Open final).^[57]
• Responding in a 1999 press conference on why she terminated her doubles partnership with former Wimbledon champion Jana Novotná, Hingis remarked, "She's old and slow."^[58]

Career statistics[link]

Singles performance timeline[link]

Key

Won tournament, or reached Final, Semifinal, Quarterfinal, Round 4, 3, 2, 1, played in Round Robin or lost in Qualification Round 3, Round 2, Round 1, Absent from a tournament or Participated in a team event, played in a Davis Cup Zonal Group (with its number indication) or Play-off, won a bronze or silver match at the Olympics. The last is for a Masters Series/1000 tournament that was relegated (Not a Masters Series).

• A = did not participate in the tournament
• SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played
• ²If ITF women's circuit (Hardcourt: 12–2; Carpet: 6–1) and Fed Cup (10–0) participations are included, overall win-loss record stands at 548–133.

Grand Slam singles finals[link]

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1997	Australian Open	Hard	Mary Pierce	6–2, 6–2
Runner-up	1997	French Open	Clay	Iva Majoli	6–4, 6–2
Winner	1997	Wimbledon	Grass	Jana Novotná	2–6, 6–3, 6–3
Winner	1997	US Open	Hard	Venus Williams	6–0, 6–4
Winner	1998	Australian Open (2)	Hard	Conchita Martínez	6–3, 6–3
Runner-up	1998	US Open	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	6–3, 7–5
Winner	1999	Australian Open (3)	Hard	Amélie Mauresmo	6–2, 6–3
Runner-up	1999	French Open (2)	Clay	Steffi Graf	4–6, 7–5, 6–2
Runner-up	1999	US Open (2)	Hard	Serena Williams	6–3, 7–6(4)
Runner-up	2000	Australian Open	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	6–1, 7–5
Runner-up	2001	Australian Open (2)	Hard	Jennifer Capriati	6–4, 6–3
Runner-up	2002	Australian Open (3)	Hard	Jennifer Capriati	4–6, 7–6(7), 6–2

Records[link]

• These records were attained in Open Era of tennis.