WASHINGTON — In 1997, Martina Hingis dominated the women’s professional tennis tour, winning 12 titles, including three of the four grand slams, only missing a clean sweep by falling in the finals of the French Open. Just 16 years-old when the year began, Hingis has seen her contemporaries — from Lindsay Davenport and Monica Seles on the women’s side to Pete Sampras and Boris Becker on the men’s side — long since retired.
Hingis retired too. But her comeback in 2006, while successful, only took her to number six in the world in singles. In 2013, she was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. But she continued to play — and win — with the Washington Kastles, especially with mixed doubles partner Leander Paes.
Finally, this season, Paes talked Hingis into taking their partnership beyond World Team Tennis and back to the sport’s biggest stages.
“We were pretty much unbeaten throughout the two (Kastles) seasons,” explained Hingis during an interview with WTOP last month. “And he kept asking me, ‘Come on, let’s play mixed doubles on the tour, in the grand slams.’”
Hingis demurred, unsure that their success in the Washington summers would translate to major championship competition. But Paes persisted.
“He had a great partner, winning grand slams in the past,” said Hingis of Paes, who has become one of the great doubles players of all time with eight grand slam titles in both men’s and mixed doubles. “I just felt like I wasn’t going to be a great partner, or like, good enough to hold my own at that time. But after, like, a year passed, and playing (in Washington), and feeling really comfortable with Leander and the way we played, I’m like, ‘OK, let’s give it a go.’”
So they partnered up for the Australian Open. And they won five consecutive matches, all in straight sets, to take home the title.
They earned a first-round bye at Wimbledon, only to turn in a repeat performance, winning all four of their matches in straight sets. Along the way, they took down the top-ranked pair in the world, Mike Bryan and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, then blasted their way to a 6-1 6-1 victory in the final.
“You get into this comfort zone, because the execution he has is just amazing,” Hingis said of her partner. “I mean, everyone, he just freaks people out when he’s at the net. No one can get through him.”
The duo’s success is especially impressive given the sport’s obsession with youth. Hingis herself broke onto the scene as a 15-year-old. But now, a month shy of her 35th birthday, she and her 42-year-old partner have taken the sport by storm. She couldn’t have imagined this renaissance for herself during her last comeback.
“Ten years ago? Probably not,” she said. “I mean, I was still playing singles at that time, so that was a different situation. But I was always hoping to, I always had it in the back of my head that I might come back and play some doubles.”
She’s done more than simply play, also winning her tenth women’s doubles title at Wimbledon this year, her first grand slam in that event since 2002. Now, she and Paes await their draw for the final grand slam of the year, the U.S. Open, beginning in Queens, New York this week.
“If you keep winning, then that’s the easiest part, to keep going,” she said. “I came back from Wimbledon and I was like, ‘You know, I just want to go hit some balls.’ You don’t want to take a vacation, because I don’t want to lose it.”
The duo stayed sharp over the summer by helping the Kastles to their fifth consecutive WTT title. Now they’ll try to match Serena Williams and win their third grand slam this year.
