The return of the tennis queen: Hingis is still a star at Wimbledon

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Anyone moving around the tournament grounds in Wimbledon with Martina Hingis needs patience. A selfie here, an autograph there. A fan has brought in a stack of glossy photos that he wants signed. Hingis smiles as she looks at the photos: “It was a very nice win – in Zurich against Lindsay Davenport.” The normally three minute walk from Gate 3 on Church Road to the players’ restaurant steps is ten times as long.

Everything “very British”

Hingis has not played on the tour for six years – yet she is still present – especially at Wimbledon, where the former heroes are cared for and honored like nowhere else. They are all included in the legendary All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. This is much more than a normal tennis club; it is like a mixture of a closed society, a sports club and a Nobel Prize committee. Ivy climbs the gables of the legendary Center Court and the large scoreboard with all the pairs of the day is still hand-operated. The result chronicler climbs a wooden ladder to the top rows.

Culture and history are handled here with velvet gloves, like in a museum. In an exclusive room, the players are served tea and scones. It’s all so “very British” that you always feel like Butler James from “Dinner for One” is just around the corner and stumbles upon a tiger skin.

winner 26 years ago

In front of the tournament grounds, people line up hundreds of meters long, waiting for remaining tickets. Although neither the beginning nor the end of the snake can be identified, they seem to enjoy it. So they are part of the event without being there. Queuing is England’s third national sport, alongside cricket and rugby. Martina Hingis enjoys this atmosphere: “Today I enjoy walking around the court almost more than when I was a player. At the time, I didn’t always find the tournament funny.” The rain is coming and the waiting times would have made it difficult. At that time there was no roof over the main squares. Today she can relax: “The pressure is gone.”

The 42-year-old from eastern Switzerland won the most famous tennis tournament in the world in July 1997 in the final against Jana Novotna. She was then 16 years old. A year earlier she already triumphed in doubles together with Helena Sukova. With both successes, she sets standards for sports history: she is the youngest Wimbledon tournament winner of the 20th century. A tournament employee teaches her the court-knicks that are mandatory at Wimbledon: “That was very special.” Hingis laughs when she talks about it. The naughtiness radiates from her eyes. After difficult private times, she found her balance with two failed marriages. She is the proud mother of four-year-old Lia and is only on the tennis court two or three times a week. “But I know every playground and bouncy castle near where we live.” Your world has changed: “My fans are getting old. I only have to sign autographs to older ladies and gentlemen.”

The first Swiss superstar

The East Swiss was always ahead of her time – so far that she easily overwhelmed the Swiss public with her successes. In a country that mainly applauds the alpine stars of the well-arranged ski scene and chooses wrestling kings as athletes of the year, they were not prepared for a superstar in a world sport.

The appreciation and respect Hingis receives in London is much greater than in Switzerland: “The English have a keen sense of sports history,” she says. This is also reflected on the wooden plaque in the players’ restaurant, on which the name Hingis is immortalized between Steffi Graf and Jana Novotna. In 2013, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame of international tennis, something no one from Switzerland has ever done before.

In Switzerland, on the other hand, she does not even make it to the pre-selection for the athlete of the century. And yet she now feels more appreciated: “The documentary film on Swiss television a year ago corrected my image for the better.”

“We owe everything to her”

The former stars of the game are ubiquitous at Wimbledon, and not just in the Legends Tournament. In this, Hingis plays alongside Belgium’s Kim Clijsters, 40, and hoists the balls over the net as if she were still a professional player. On her way to court, she meets Martina Navratilova, who gave Hingis her first name, and in the players’ restaurant she meets arguably the most important figure in women’s tennis history: Billie Jean King, 12-time Grand Slam winner, 6-time Wimbledon champion champion and champion of gender equality. The meeting is extremely cordial and characterized by great respect. Hingis says with emotion: “We owe everything to her. Without her, women’s tennis wouldn’t be what it is today.”

At that moment, Hingis almost speaks like a fan, which is how she feels when she observed her colleague Belinda Bencic (26) from the stands a few days earlier. Hingis is annoyed that the last Swiss woman in the tournament failed dramatically in the round of 16 against world number one Iga Swiatek: “There is no nice way to leave a tournament, but after such a good performance and two match points it’s even more annoying.” .”

Hingis now contributes her experience in top sport and her sense of the game as a co-commentator on Swiss television. She will make her debut in Paris in June. “It’s a job that takes me out of my comfort zone.” And she approaches the challenge the same way she used to before a competition: “I switch off and dive into a tunnel. In the end it’s like in sport: preparation is everything.”

“She Was So Young And So Good”

Reporter Stephan Liniger praises his assistant: “Martina is a great asset with her expertise and experience. As an active person, she has experienced almost every situation. That is why she can read the game like no other.” Kim Clijsters is now also benefiting from this. Last year she won the legend tournament together with Martina Hingis. And the Belgian still remembers her first meeting with Hingis in the WTA circus, clearly impressed: “When Martina came on tour, it was like a revelation. She was so young – and so good. And she played extremely intelligent and varied.”

More than a quarter of a century has passed since then. But watching Martina Hingis at Wimbledon thinks he’s on a journey through time. “I feel much more comfortable here today.” It seems that the five-time Grand Slam winner has a gift that many people dream of: she can stop time.

Source : Blick