Nine times grand slam champion and former world number one player, Martina Hingis has announced her comeback to the 2013 WTA doubles tour.
The Swiss champion, who was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame last week in Newport, Rhode Island, will partner Daniela Hantuchova in the Premier Level tournament in Carlsbad California form July 29 to August 4.
Hingis believed she was in good enough shape and form to play the event after playing the ever popular World Team Tennis Competition in the USA for the Washington Kastles.
“My competitive spirit is still very much alive and I love being out on court. The tournament at Onmi La Costa is the perfect place for me to start,” Hingis stated.
The former number one in singles and doubles played her last three doubles events with Hantuchova, at Miami, Los Angeles and the US Open in 2007. She also has enjoyed success in Carlsbad, winning the singles and doubles in 1997 when at the peak of her game and winning the singles one more time in 1999.
Whilst her accurate and crafty game may well still competitive on the doubles court, the 32 year old has no plans to return to the singles court where the game has moved a great deal since her second and final retirement.
After an early retirement due to injury in 2002 at the age of 22, Hingis made a return to tennis in 2006, but quit a year later after testing positive for cocaine in a routine drug test.
The Swiss champion was always susceptible to be overpowered by the big hitters but it was her counterpunching, lack of unforced errors and ability to absorb the power that saw her enjoy many wins over the likes of Lindsay Davenport and Serena Williams.
The current world number one may very well have Hingis to thank for need to go back to the drawing board to add consistency to her game as well as the power to ascend the rankings and become the complete player she now is.
Her tennis comeback, may also help through the spotlight off another controversy in her life to which she was not stranger to, in her playing days.
Hingis is currently estranged from her husband of three years, Thibault Hutin, a 26-year-old French equestrian rider, who has made serial adultery allegations against her according to a Swiss newspaper.
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