Whilst Martina Hingis and her mother enjoy the rich rewards of her millionaire lifestyle, her father, Karol, maintains a more modest lifestyle in his home country of Slovakia.

Karol, 49, lives with his mother in a high rise block of flats in Kosice, and earns a living as the groundsman of a local tennis club.

Mr Hingis, who was speaking to a Bratislavan weekly magazine, claimed that he has “to count every penny”.

Martina’s mother, Melanie, left Czechoslovakia with 9-year-old Martina in order to join her new fiancé in Switzerland, the country Martina now represents.

But Karol, who separated from his wife in 1984, maintains that he is not bitter about his humble existence, even though he rarely sees his jetsetting daughter, and simply says that “everyone has to earn their living somehow.”

And neither is he upset by the lack of credit he has received for Martina’s incredible success.

“At two years old, Martina was already playing tennis, “ he says.

“Everything that she has achieved is down to my ex-wife.”