Successful as she’s been in making a comeback in doubles, Martina Hingis’ sojourn back in singles was nonetheless somewhat under-par. Not only did her two Fed Cup singles matches end up disappointingly, there was also a decisive break to the winning rhythm she’d been on, since partnering Sania Mirza before Indian Wells. Lastly, Hingis’ attempt to rejoin the fold of singles tennis – for the third time – also cast attention about players trying to re-enter the sport following a prolonged absence.
Instances of such comebacks have then been both fruitful and unproductive in equal measures, dotting the pages of tennis history. Three noteworthy examples that however come to mind prominently are that of Martina Navratilova, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin.
Navratilova had a good run after coming back from her absence the early 2000s.The American’s case especially stands out for not only was she in her late 40s when she took to playing competitive tennis again, but it was also selective in that she only played in the grand slams – focusing on mixed doubles.
Speaking of Clijsters and Henin, the second time round, both experienced contrasting fortunes while taking a step back into the sport for the second time.
Clijsters, who retired to start a family, was always expected to return – given her own indications to the same. Following her joining the sport again, she won three majors – two US Opens in 2009-10 and one Australian Open in 2011– and even regained the world no. 1 ranking, before calling time finally in 2012. For her compatriot though, the road back proved to be a mixed-bag.
Henin did make it to the final of the Australian Open in 2010 as a wildcard. But there, she wasn’t able to match the penetrating game of defending champion Serena Williams. While she did win a set off the American, in the end it wasn’t enough to prevent Williams from winning her (then) fifth Australian Open title. The rest of the season was equally tumultuous for Henin for even though she won a couple of titles, she wasn’t able to make deeper inroads into the remaining three grand slams. A year later, after her third round loss in the Australian Open, she chose to retire in what seemed to be an abrupt end to her comeback.
Thus there may be several factors that go into consideration about attempting comebacks, each unique to each player. However, by far the most significant denominator – common to all – is that of time. Not only the time elapsed between retirement and comeback, but also the time thought out by the players to keep continuing, irrespective of whether the results meet their expectations or not.
Navratilova and Clijsters’ successes were hinged dually. One, the way both players focused towards playing to their strengths and the other, the way each used the time spent away from professional tennis to their advantage. Contrarily, Henin in spite of being away from professional tennis for only 16 months didn’t feel inclined to extend her career to beyond a season. This, in turn, raises the question as to whether she would have been able to better her performances by prolonging her comeback for some more time instead of putting a definite stop to it.
Hingis will need to introspect upon this last facet even in the wake of her declaration, in the aftermath of her losses in the Fed Cup, of not going back to playing singles. For, unpredictability still governs the Swiss’ decisions.
Her aspiration to participate in the 2016 Rio Olympics may have brought about her decision to play the Fed Cup, after all these years. But regardless of her ambitions and her declarations, fact remains that the elapsing of time has neutralised many of the key aspects of her game as far as singles’ concerned.
She wasn’t able to do much against Agnieszka Radwanska, who has a similar game in that she doesn’t have a big-hitting and power-packed game of her own, but relies on shot placement and excellent re-direction of the return as her bread-and-butter. That she came short against an opponent with a matching style of play then needs be the crucially decisive element, aided by the passage of time, spurring her to continue playing doubles alone.
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