Swiss miss back as grand dame at Wimbledon

MARTINA Hingis is a Wimbledon champion once again, 17 years — exactly half her life — after the last time.

Hingis teamed with Sania Mirza to win the women’s doubles final at the All England Club by defeating Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 5-7, 7-6 (4), 7-5 yesterday.

She added to her collection of Wimbledon trophies that includes the singles title from 1997, plus doubles titles from 1996 and 1998.

“It feels like it was in another life,” she said. “It’s above my expectations.”

She had another chance to earn yet another trophy overnight when she and Leander Paes faced Timea Babos and Alexander Peya in the mixed doubles final.

The No.1-seeded Hingis and Mirza trailed 5-2 in the final set before taking the last five games against second seeds Makarova and Vesninak.

“It takes guts and courage being 5-2 down in the third set,” said Hingis, who held serve to win the match, then began leaping up and down.

Play was halted at 5-5 because it was getting too dark; after a break, action resumed with the Centre Court roof closed and artificial lights on.

“When we came out at 5-all, we had goosebumps. The energy on the court — we were getting a standing ovation — it was unbelievable,” Mirza said.

“We both came out, and I said, ‘This is what we play for. This is what we work for’.”

Hingis, who reached No.1 in the rankings and won five grand slam singles titles, initially quit tennis in 2002 because of foot and leg injuries, then rejoined the circuit fulltime in 2006. She announced her retirement again in 2007, when she was given a two-year suspension for testing positive for cocaine at Wimbledon.

The Swiss star returned in recent years as a coach and now is back playing, perhaps with an eye to competing at next year’s Rio Olympics.