Martina Hingis, the super “prodigy girl” of the women’s tennis world: unchanged play, beauty, and “divine response” to her fans.

At dusk on October 1, former women’s tennis star Martina Hingis (43) was providing fan service at the Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis Tournament 2023 held at the Ariake Colosseum.

Hingis, who had just finished an exhibition match, personally walked up to fans gathered outside the venue and signed autographs with a fan in her left hand.

She was said to be a “prodigy girl” with three records as the youngest player in the world, including the world No. 1 ranking at the age of 16 years and 6 months, her first victory in four major tournaments, and winning three titles in four major tournaments in one year. She was not blessed with a good physique for a tennis player, standing at 170 centimeters and weighing only 50 kilograms.

Nevertheless, her fans were fascinated by her clever tennis, in which she beat powerful players one after another, using her brain and technique. In addition to her good looks, her elegant behavior made her very popular in Japan. She also appeared in commercials for Glico Café Au Lait and Adidas,” said a tennis magazine editor.

She retired in 2005, but came to Japan to appear in an exhibition match held on the same day. Hingis, who has won the singles title in the tournament a record five times, wowed the audience with her spectacular doubles play reminiscent of her active days.

Fans were surprised to see that she is still playing as well as she did during her active career, even though she is now a mother with a 4-year-old daughter. Since she has returned to the game after retiring twice before (’03 and ’07), some fans asked her to “come back to active duty! Some fans even asked him to return to active duty. There is a possibility…maybe!