NEW HAVEN -- Martina Hingis owned the late 1990s on the tennis court with seven Grand Slam singles titles over a three-year stretch. More than a decade later, the "Swiss Miss" is trying to revive her career on the doubles circuit while questioning if she would ever be ready for the solo grind again.
Hingis' comeback tour, which began last month at the Southern California Open, made a brief pit stop Tuesday night at the New Haven Open at Yale, where she and partner Daniela Hantuchova were swept in straight sets by Cara Black and Vania King 6-3 6-1 in their first match in front of 3,956 fans.
"I wanted to cry," said Hingis, with a bright white smile. "I think we can play much better than that and we've shown it in the last three tournaments. It started off OK and we played pretty solid ... but then all of a sudden instead of 5-2 it's like 3-4 and it all turned around there."
After being up 3-1 in the first set, Team Hingis won only one more game the rest of the match, but the former teen sensation still stopped to sign autographs and left Stadium Court to a sea of cheers.
"It's great to have Martina back, she's really great for tennis," Black said.
The tennis world will at least get to see more of Hingis next week at the U.S. Open as a doubles act with Hantuchova, but whether the competitive juices take over and she goes solo again remains to be seen.
"Tonight is not the best night to ask," Hingis said with a chuckle. "I've always said I don't want to play singles anymore for sure and after tonight it's definitely 200 percent no. You just have to be so hungry.
"Sometimes I just feel like my life has been so great and I've been very fortunate to have this life and be on the Tour for so long, you just have to be so hungry. You have to really want it."
Hingis last played at Yale in 2002 when she was ranked eighth in the world and lost in the quarterfinals. She spent a total of 209 weeks at No. 1 in the world and was a championship contender any time she took the court at the height of her career. But ankle problems forced her out of the game and led to an early retirement in February 2003 at the ripe old age of 22. She returned in 2006 and won three singles titles, but never climbed higher than No. 6 in the world rankings. Hingis retired again in November 2007, which also happen to coincide with a failed drug test for cocaine, opting to step away instead of fight the charge.
In 2010 Hingis started playing doubles on the World Team Tennis Tour, with her most successful matches coming with partner Lindsay Davenport. But last month that changed when Hingis opted to return to the professional ranks for the third time.
However, the new Hingis does not possess quite the same inner drive as she once did.
"Sometimes I think my life is my problem because when you have those matches and you get down when you don't play well," she said. "My life is some comfortable at home and you have that comfort zone. Why would you want to suffer and put yourself into pain even in those moments when you think this is great?"
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