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Hingis has no comeback plans, but no firm retirement date either, say agents
Thursday, January 16, 4:25 AM ET

By JOHN BROCK, Associated Press Writer

MELBOURNE, Australia - Martina Hingis, winner of five Grand Slam singles titles, isn't planning her return to the pro tennis tour.

But that doesn't mean the former No. 1 is quitting, her management company and WTA Tour officials said Thursday.

Hingis was quoted saying she might never play another competitive match because of ankle injuries. She had surgery on her right ankle in October 2001 and on her left ankle in May.

"It is quite possible that I will never play top-level tennis again, because my feet don't allow it," the 22-year-old Hingis told the Swiss news agency Sport Information.

However, Hingis' management company, Octagon, said a retirement announcement wasn't immediately pending.

"I definitely wouldn't call it an official retirement at this stage but she's definitely not saying as to when she's going to be coming back," Lisa Chaffey, an Octagon representative in Australia, told The Associated Press.

After the second operation, Hingis withdrew from the French Open (news - web sites) and Wimbledon (news - web sites) — the first majors she missed since turning pro in 1994. She returned to the tour in August, then went back into rehab in October.

"I am not even thinking of a comeback," she said in an interview published Wednesday.

WTA officials, in Melbourne for the Australian Open (news - web sites), said they'd been assured by Hingis' agents that their Swiss client hadn't retired. Hingis had figured in the last six Australian Open finals, winning from 1997-99 and losing the last three.

"She's not going to come back before she's really ready to come back," Chaffey said. "You never know what's going to happen. It might be six months, it might be a year, it might be a year and a half.

"It might be a situation say as with (Jennifer) Capriati, where she takes an extended time off and we see her back on the court."

After winning an Olympic gold medal at Barcelona in 1992, Capriati took time out from tennis before returning and winning her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in 2001.

Chaffey said Hingis probably regretted not taking enough time for rehabilitation after her first operation.

"She really came back too early last time, after having the surgery," she said. "Physically, she is still not up to playing at the moment at the form at which she wants.

"How long she takes off really is up in the air."

Hingis, who has been playing recreational tennis the past two months, said that when she practices more seriously pain spreads through her feet and ankles.

"Tennis was and remains my passion. But I've also grasped that after eight years on the tour, I will only return if I can practice without pain," Hingis said. "Competition is no fun if you can't come in perfectly prepared."

Current No. 1 Serena Williams (news - web sites) said she was "not 100 percent sure" Hingis would retire.

"She's had a great career, she's won many slams, she'd done so well at such a young age. I don't think she could have any regrets in her career.

"Whatever she does I think it will be a good decision — as long as she's happy with it."

Williams, 21, said Hingis wasn't too young to retire.

Hingis was just 16 years, three months old when she won the first of her three Australian Open titles in 1997, making her the youngest Grand Slam singles champion of the 20th century.

As well as her successful run in Australia, Hingis won the 1997 Wimbledon and U.S. Open (news - web sites) titles, and lost the French Open final that year to Iva Majoli.

Hingis spent a total of 209 weeks at No. 1 in the WTA Tour rankings, but she has slipped to 11th after being sidelined 10 of the last 16 months.

Martina Navratilova, who won 18 Grand Slam singles titles and is still competes in doubles on the professional tour, said Hingis' retirement would be a loss to tennis.

"I hope she'll come back and play because she's a lot of fun to watch, adds a new dimension, a different dimension to the game," she said.

Navratilova, 46, said players were burning themselves out through too much play on hard courts at a young age.

"If I had a player I was coaching, that I was working with ... I would make them play on clay a lot more and really just get on hard courts maybe once a week," Navratilova said.

Playing on hard surfaces "just takes its toll", and "the joints can't do it."

Hingis was born in Kosice, in what is now Slovakia, and later became a Swiss citizen.

She has won 40 singles titles and 36 doubles titles, including nine at Grand Slam tournaments, and has earned more than US$18 million.

In 2001, Hingis filed a US$40 million lawsuit against Italian sportswear manufacturer Sergio Tacchini, with whom she had a five-year sponsorship deal, saying her shoes were defective. Sergio Tacchini said the claims were made only so Hingis could avoid paying damages for breaching her contract with the company.

The New York State Supreme Court dismissed the suit in September because there is similar litigation pending in Milan, Italy.


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