ST PETERSBURG, FL, USA – Switzerland’s Martina Hingis has announced she is ending her career and retiring from professional tennis. The winner of 43 career singles titles and 64 career doubles titles (including 25 career Grand Slam titles across singles, doubles and mixed doubles), Hingis will step away from the sport, concluding a career as one of the legendary greats of the game.
Photo gallery: Martina Hingis: A glittering career in photos
The 37-year-old exits the game following a trophy-laden career that has spanned three decades, 209 weeks as the singles WTA World No.1, 70 weeks as the doubles WTA World No.1 (and counting) and an induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2013.
“I’m am really looking forward to the challenges ahead of me,” Hingis said. “I am not going to walk away [from tennis]. I will always be part of the game of tennis.”
Read more: 'I have no regrets' - Hingis reflects on career in final press conference
Hingis turned professional in 1994 and clinched her first WTA singles title in 1996 at Filderstadt. She went on to collect a total of 548 singles match wins, while her haul of 43 career singles titles is the 12th-most in WTA history. The Swiss star is also one of only six players to hold the WTA World No.1 ranking in singles and doubles at the same time.
Following two previous retirements, in 2003 and 2007, Hingis returned to professional tennis in 2013, and enjoyed phenomenal success in doubles, lifting 28 titles following her comeback. In a further testament to her extraordinary career, Hingis has announced her retirement while currently co-ranked World No.1 in doubles with Chinese Taipei’s Chan Yung-Jan, with whom she has won nine titles this year.
“Martina is a true champion and a great ambassador for the sport of women’s tennis,” said Steve Simon, WTA CEO and Chairman. “She has contributed greatly to the entire sport, both in her home country of Switzerland and across the globe. She will certainly be missed on our tour and with her accomplishments of holding the WTA No.1 ranking for 209 Weeks, 5 Grand Slam singles titles, 13 Grand Slam doubles titles and over 93 WTA singles and doubles titles she will be remembered as one of the greatest players to have played the game.”
Read more: Farewell Martina, one of the tennis greats - Mark Hodgkinson
Away from the court, Hingis has been recognized with numerous awards and accolades surrounding her accomplished career, including being named the 1997 BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year, named in the 2000 Forbes magazine Power 100, becoming the first female athlete to be on the cover of famed magazine GQ in 1998, and landed the 2000 Jerry Diamond WTA Aces Award which celebrates off court participation.
Hingis’ last professional match took place in the semifinals of the 2017 BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global with partner and co-World No.1 Chan Yung-Jan.
