Missing the Swiss Miss

Before Roger Federer became a household name in men's tennis, there was another Swiss who's making headlines and dominating the women's scene at a tender age of 17.

Martina Hingis was the undisputed world number 1 women's player in 1997 and this has quickly captured my interests in tennis during my high school days (okay, I belong to the same generation yes).  To be honest, I was not really hooked to the game.  I even felt stupid during that time how they keep the scores by adding 15 for every point ( why not just use 1,2,3, & 4.. that simple right?). Why? because I was only watching WOMEN's tennis because of the pretty babes :P

Even before the countless Russian "va" babes cropped into the tennis scene a few years later, Hingis not only have great looks but she also displayed great finese in her game and not reliant solely on her strength and power.  Thinking back, she was like the Roger Federer of women's tennis at that time.  Elevating the popularity of the sport and added more excitement into the game.

Hingis stayed at the peak of her game for almost 4 years before going down with an injury which eventually slowed down her game.  On February 2002, she announced her retirement (1 of a number of retirements to come..... I guess its a trend nowadays to "unretire") and the Swiss Miss that we knew was never the same again.  She showed glimpse of her old form during her comeback, but it didn't get her deep enough into tournaments so she eventually decided to hang up for good.  Even though there are a number of younger and hotter tennis babes coming up, the game and the "beauty" that Martina brought to the sport will surely be missed.