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Switzerland's most successful tennis player Martina Hingis has announced her retirement from the sport at the age of 37, Swiss media reported Friday.
Hingis is the owner of 25 Grand Slam trophies, more than Roger Federer who has 19 singles Grand Slam titles to his name.
Hingis won the women's doubles title at the China Open on Oct. 8 with Chinese Taipei' Chan Yung-Jan, in a very successful tennis partnership that earned them No. 1 ranking.
This is the third time Hingis has announcement her retirement from tennis and the newspaper 20 Minutes headlined its frontpage story about her on Friday: "This time it's for sure: Martina hangs up her racket."
The first time she ended her career was in 2003, at the age of 22 after dealing with recurring injuries and after winning all five of her major singles titles as a teenager.
The tennis star was born in what is Slovakia, and named after another tennis star from the country, Martina Navratilova, Swissinfo, the website of the Swiss national broadcaster reported.
She came to Switzerland aged seven when her mother married a Swiss man and had had already been playing tennis for five years.
Hingis turned pro at 13, winning her first grand slam match at 14, beat the then world No 1 Steffi Graf at 15 and won her first grand slam title, and became No 1 herself - at 16.
Hingis still holds the records for the youngest winner of a grand slam singles title and youngest world No 1.
"Yet despite her success - she won five grand slam titles in singles, 13 in doubles and seven in mixed doubles - the 'Swiss Miss' has never been particularly popular within Switzerland," wrote Swissinfo.
Still in a remarkable doubles-focused comeback in 2013, a relaxed Hingis notched up more title wins.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
