World number one doubles player, Martina Hingis to retire at the end of this week’s WTA Finals in Singapore.
The 37-year-old who is playing in the doubles tournament alongside Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan made the announcement on her Facebook page on Thursday.
“Looking back now, it’s hard to believe that almost exactly 23 years ago I made my professional debut”.
” The years that followed have been some of the most rewarding years of my life, both personally and professionally, but I believe the time has come for me to retire, which I will be doing after my last match here in Singapore.”
Ms Hingis first retired as a 22-year old in 2003 due to persistent injuries after winning 5 singles Grand Slam title.
Again in 2007, she retired after a brief comeback.The Swiss returned to the tour in 2006 and although she found more success in doubles than singles, she retired for a second time a year later after being handed a two-year ban for testing positive for cocaine but maintained her innocence.
This retirement will be Hingis’s third in her career after making a return in 2013.
She had successful spells in the doubles winning 4 women’s and 6 mixed doubles grand slam titles from 2015-17.
In total, she claimed 25 grand slam titles since her WTA Tour debut in 1994, 5 in singles, 7 in mixed doubles and 13 in women’s doubles. The Swiss also won an Olympic silver alongside Timea Bacsinszky in Rio last year and also spent 209 weeks as world number one.
