NEW YORK (AP) — Five-time Grand Slam singles champion Martina Hingis leads the 2013 class for the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
The other new members of the Hall announced Monday are Cliff Drysdale, Charlie Pasarell and Ion Tiriac. Australian player Thelma Coyne Long's election was announced earlier.
Hingis won 15 major titles, including nine in women's doubles and one in mixed. The first came at Wimbledon in women's doubles in 1996 at 15 years, 9 months, making her the youngest Grand Slam champion in tennis history.
The Swiss star also was the youngest woman to reach No. 1 in the WTA singles rankings, getting there in March 1997 at 16½, and spent a total of 209 weeks in the top spot. Hingis spent 35 weeks at No. 1 in doubles, too.
"She obviously had a Hall of Fame career," said Serena Williams, who beat Hingis in the 1999 U.S. Open final. "She achieved so much at such an early age and did so much for the sport, inspired me a lot to play."
In 1997, Hingis won singles titles at three of the four Grand Slam tournaments — the Australian Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open — and lost in the French Open final. She was honored as the WTA Tour Player of the Year and AP Female Athlete of the Year.
Hingis, often troubled by foot injuries, retired for the second time in 2007, when she drew a two-year suspension for positive for cocaine at Wimbledon. Hingis denied taking the drug but did not appeal the ruling.
She finished with 43 titles in singles and 37 in doubles. Her singles record was 548-133. Hingis also led Switzerland to its only Fed Cup final in 1998 before losing to Spain.
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