Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova - the perfect doubles match
March 28th, 2008 admin Posted in News |
Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova have both led colourful lives on the WTA tour - though their careers differed considerably.
Hingis was the bigger success on the court. Her five Grand Slam victories will hold her up as a tennis great and her three years as world No.1 further enhances this claim.
The Swiss star’s 43 tournament victories put her up in the same league as Monica Seles, Justine Henin and the Williams sisters. She really is a star. However, her ban for taking cocaine while playing in a tournament has marred her career and she looks likely never to return to the WTA tour as she will be nearly 30 when she returns.
Kournikova’s career started well with a semi-final spot at Wimbledon. However, injury and constant media attention prevented her having Hingis’s success on the court. The Russian made the best of her ‘assets’ to earn her money outside of the sport, though she does still regularly play in exhibition matches in the USA. She has never officially retired from tennis - and is still only 26 years!
Although Hingis and Kournikova are never likely to play singles competitively again, wouldn’t it be great to see them competing together in doubles again? The doubles game is much different and is based more on tactics and skill rather than the ‘power’ game of singles.
Leave a Reply