Hingis plays down schedule demands

The scheduling demands of professional tennis are only as hard as each player makes them, according to five-time major singles champion Martina Hingis.

The Swiss former world No.1 believes players should focus on finding a training and competition programme that works for them, rather than worry about the length of the season.

Hingis, who also won 20 Grand Slam doubles titles, shot to prominence in 1997, winning the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open in singles.

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Two decades later, she lifted her 25th Grand Slam trophy in the mixed doubles at Flushing Meadows, with British partner Jamie Murray, and explained how strategic breaks and two retirements aided her longevity at the top of the sport.

“There is always going to be talk about the schedule,” said Hingis, speaking at the 2018 Yahoo Sports Technology Awards in London.

“Every athlete has to know their own schedule and what’s good for them.

“I had a few breaks, but also what was good for me was to play a few tournaments, then have a couple of weeks to regroup and regain strength, then another few tournaments.”

Fellow Swiss Roger Federer, a 20-time Grand Slam singles winner, has used these strategic breaks to excellent effect, missing the entire clay-court season in 2017 and going on to win his eighth Wimbledon crown.

It is a trick he is aiming to repeat this season, as so many other top players in the men’s game have struggled with injury.

Serb Novak Djokovic hasn’t come to close to matching his performance levels of the 2011 season, while Britain’s Andy Murray has not played a competitive match since Wimbledon, almost a year ago, due to an ongoing hip injury.

Hingis admitted that players can get worn out towards the end of the season, but queried players’ decision to play exhibition matches if there really is a problem with the schedule.

She added: “It’s all about maintenance and what you work on in the off-season.

“We now have two and a half months in the off-season, so if that’s not enough time then I don’t know what is!

“But everyone played the IPTL (International Premier Tennis League) at the end of the day because that’s where they make the money.

“And everyone plays exhibitions because they want to play again, so I wonder why they’re arguing that the season is too long, when everyone is playing exhibitions in December.”

Hingis was at the 2018 Yahoo Sports Technology Awards upon the invitation of the Swiss Ambassador and to help her former sponsor, Yonex, in developing the technology in tennis racquets.

The STA Group started in 2013 with the Sports Technology Awards, and now spans a range of initiatives, including the STA-AP (Asia Pacific), the STA Start Ups, the STA TechTalks series and ENS Sports PR Ltd, as well as industry insights and networking events.

This year saw headline sponsorship from Yahoo Sport, as well as sponsors Sportradar and Switzerland for the STA Startups and TechTalks respectively.

The Swiss marvelled at the technological advances in tennis in her lifetime, from wooden racquets to Xbox games that recreate her swing and style for gamers to play against.

She said: “I started with wood, from when I was aged about three to seven.

“My mum cut off the grip so it was small enough and then I was eight, graphite came in.

“And now I have a few people come up to me and say they beat me on the Xbox and I think, yeah good for you, but I haven’t had a chance to play you for real!”

This year was the fifth cycle of the STAs, which enjoys ever-increasing global support from all facets of the international sports sector. For more information about the Sports Technology Awards, visit www.sportstechnologyawards.com