Leander Paes of India and Martina Hingis of Switzerland show off their trophies after winning the mixed doubles final against Timea Babos of Hungary and Alexander Peya of Austria at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London Sunday. — Reuters
LONDON — Martina Hingis keeps adding to her collection of Wimbledon trophies.
The 34-year-old Swiss paired with Leander Paes of India Sunday to win the mixed doubles title, beating Alexander Peya and Timea Babos 6-1, 6-1 under the roof on Centre Court.
The 40-minute win gave Hingis her 11th Grand Slam doubles title and second in two days, after she combined with India's Sania Mirza to win the women's doubles on Saturday, coming from 5-2 down in the final set to beat Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 5-7, 7-6 (4), 7-5.
Hingis became the first player to win both the women's and mixed doubles titles at the All England Club since Cara Black in 2004.
These are the first titles at Wimbledon for Hingis since she won the women's doubles in 1998. She also won the singles championship Martina Hingis keeps adding to her collection of Wimbledon trophies. in 1997 and the women's doubles in 1996.
“It feels like it's a lifetime away,” Hingis said. “The one yesterday, obviously after 17 years last time here, the match, also the way we won it, was so much drama, coming back from 5-2 down.
“Today, I think the confidence that it gave me yesterday, to come out today with Leander, he was striking the ball, winners right and left. It was incredible, the chemistry we had today.”
Hingis, who reached No. 1 in the rankings and won five Grand Slam singles titles in the 1990s, initially quit tennis in 2002 because of foot and leg injuries, then rejoined the circuit full-time in 2006. She announced her retirement again in 2007, when she was given a two-year suspension for testing positive for cocaine at Wimbledon. At the time, she denied taking the drug but did not appeal the ruling.
Hingis and Paes also won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open this year. Sunday's win gave Paes 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, eight of them in mixed.
“It's hard to really say which one is the best one out of all of them,” he said. “But coming out and playing like that on one of the most prestigious courts that we've grown up with, and winning a title like that, again for the second time in a Grand Slam without losing a set, that is really special.”
In 2003, Paes won the mixed doubles at Wimbledon with another Martina — Navratilova. Hingis was named after Navratilova.
“You can't compare the two,” Paes said. “They're just two great legends of the game. In 2003, with Navratilova, and 2015 with Hingis, to be able to be on the court with great champions like this, it's something really special.”
It was a truly special weekend for India, with Mirza and Paes securing Grand Slam titles on consecutive days on the biggest stage in the game.
“That's the beautiful thing about India,” Paes said. “We're a big country with so many different cultures, religions, community, people from all different walks of life. To me that's what India stands for.” — AP
