Tennis player Martina Hingis (born 30th September 1980) became the youngest ever World Number One in 1997, achieving the ranking at the age of 16 years and 182 days.
Between 1997 and 1999 she won five Grand Slam tournaments: the Australian Open three times, the US Open and Wimbledon once each.
She announced in February 2003 that she planned to take an indefinite break from tennis because of a recurring foot injury.
However, she embarked on a successful comeback in January 2006, winning her first major tournament in Rome in June 2006. In August 2006 she returned to the top ten, and ended 2006 at number 7.
In November 2007 she announced her retirement, still plagued by health problems and after having tested positive for cocaine at the Wimbledon tournament earlier in the year - a charge she strenuously denied.
At the time of her second retirement she was ranked 19th in the world, two places below fellow Swiss Patty Schnyder.
Hingis was born in the former Czechoslovakia, but moved to Switzerland with her mother when she was a child. She was named Martina after the Czech tennis star Martina Navratilova.
