Tennis icon ‘proud’ as Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka approach her milestones
Tennis icon Martina Hingis has revealed it makes her “proud” when her name is brought up in connection with milestones being chased by Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka.
One of the most dominant players of the late 1990s and early 2000s, former world No 1 Hingis was the winner of five Grand Slam singles titles.
The Swiss triumphed three times at the Australian Open and was also a Wimbledon and US Open champion in 1997, alongside twice reaching the French Open final.
World No 1 Sabalenka has won the Australian Open the past two seasons and the Belarusian is a warm favourite to win the title once again in 2025.
Should she achieve that, she would be the first woman to win three straight titles in Melbourne since Hingis completed her ‘threepeat’ in 1999.
Meanwhile, when Swiatek went on a 37-match win streak in 2022, that was the longest run since Hingis’s 37 consecutive wins at the start of her historic 1997 campaign.
The Pole has also matched Hingis by winning five Grand Slam singles titles and will look to move further up the all-time pecking order in 2025.
Speaking to The Sit-Down, the tennis legend admitted she was “proud” to see her name come up in connection to milestones being achieved by current stars.
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“Yeah, and I do follow tennis, so I’m totally aware of that,” said Hingis. “It makes me proud.
“At that time, you’re thinking: ‘OK, you know, it’s almost normal that you were winning those titles, because everybody expects you to do well’. And later on when I became No 1, every tournament you go to everybody expects you to always succeed and win.
“Obviously you have that kind of pressure, when you have such a winning streak, that all of a sudden, I almost felt like you get tight – when is that next time you’re going to lose? And eventually it’s going to happen.
“You talk about Sabalenka. I mean, she definitely deserves to be No 1 now this year, the way she played with winning Grand Slams.”
Hingis won 25 major titles overall, with 13 women’s doubles and seven mixed doubles titles sitting alongside her five singles Slams.
The Australian Open was her happiest hunting ground, reaching six straight women’s singles finals alongside her three singles titles, five women’s doubles titles, and two mixed titles.
Action in Melbourne begins in less than two weeks with Sabalenka and Swiatek set to be the top two seeds.
World No 1 Sabalenka will look to win her fourth Grand Slam singles title, while Swiatek targets her sixth major – and her first in Australia.
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