Martina Hingis inducted into Hall of Fame

Martina Hingis became one of the youngest members of the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday.

The five-time Grand Slam champion was officially inducted into the Hall of Fame at the enshrinement ceremony in Newport, Rhode Island.

The 32-year-old told the crowd: “Thank you, tennis. You gave me the world, and now I honestly am out of words, because there are no words to explain what I feel. You chose to give me a place here for eternity.”

Hingis is the fourth youngest player to be inducted behind Tracy Austin, who entered aged 30, Bjorn Borg (31) and Hana Mandlikova (32).

The ‘Swiss Miss’ won her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 1996 when, at the age of just 15, she claimed the women’s doubles to become the youngest-ever Grand Slam champion.

It was the first of nine Grand Slam doubles titles, while she also added another in mixed.

Australian Thelma Coyne Long, a winner of a total of 19 Grand Slam titles during a career which lasted from 1935 to 1958, was inducted in the master player category. She is now 94 and was unable to attend the ceremony for Rod Laver was present to represent her.

In addition, former players Cliff Drysdale, Charlie Pasarell and Ion Tiriac, who have all gone on to other things in the game, were enshrined in the contributor category.

Drysdale has been a long-standing broadcaster with ESPN in the US.

Pasarell, like Drysdale, was a founder of the ATP. For more than 30 years he was involved in the organisation of the tournament at Indian Wells, but to British fans will forever be remembered for his part in a marathon match at Wimbledon with Pancho Gonzales in 1969. Pasarell eventually lost 22-24 1-6 16-14 6-3 11-9 after more than five hours on court.

Tiriac, a former French Open doubles champion, became arguably more famous for his management role with a number of players, most notably Boris Becker.

He has also been involved in tournament promotion, most recently at the Madrid Open where he was the man behind last year’s controversial experiment with blue clay at the event.