Martina Hingis, the once-dominant singles player who was forced out of tennis under a cloud of cocaine suspicion is back on cloud 9 — this time as part of the top-ranked doubles team following their victory at the Australian Open.
Martina and her partner, Sania Mirza, clinched the Aussie title with a 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 victory over the Czech team of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, marking their third straight Grand Slam doubles championship and 36th consecutive unbeaten match. The duo are the reigning Wimbledon and U.S. Open champs.
Not bad for the 35-year-old former world No. 1 singles player and five-time Grand Slam titlist, who tested positive for cocaine at Wimbledon in 2007. She insisted she never used the drug, but decided to retire rather than spend years fighting the International Tennis Federation.
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She came out of retirement in 2013 to play doubles, and really started clicking with Sania last year. Now they are the No. 1-ranked team in the world.
“We’re really focused, that’s our strength — that we can practice together and we make each other better,” said Martina, celebrating her 12th career doubles crown.
“There’s not that many people who can match her in the forehand rallies, and me on the backhand side and at the net. That’s what we try to do every match.”
