By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, December 6, 2015
Roger Federer and Martina Hingis will reunite to represent Switzerland in the 2016 Olympic mixed doubles event in Rio, the Swiss media reports.
Photo credit: Christopher Levy.
Swiss Masters will reunite for an Olympic dream team next summer.
Roger Federer plans to play mixed doubles with good friend and compatriot Martina Hingis at the 2016 Olympic games in Rio, Switzerland's Le Matin Dimanche newspaper reported.
"Federer will play with Hingis. It's decided," Le Matin Dimanche reported.
The newspaper also reports the Swiss "probable teams" include Federer partnering with former Olympic teammate Stan Wawrinka. The pair won the Olympic gold medal in doubles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and led Switzerland to the 2014 Davis Cup championship.
Hingis and Belinda Bencic, who is coached by Hingis' mother, Melanie Molitor, will play doubles together in Rio. Bencic is scheduled to partner Wawrinka in mixed doubles, according to Le Matin Dimanche.
The Swiss goal is clear. "(To win) all the gold medals," Swiss Davis Cup and Olympic captain Severin Luethi told the newspaper.
Last spring, Hall of Famer Hingis played Fed Cup for Switzerland for the first time in 17 years to ensure her eligibility for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
Hingis and Federer considered partnering to play mixed doubles at the 2012 Olympic Games held at Wimbledon.
Hingis said then she just didn't have enough preparation, but times have changed and Hingis has solidified her status as one of the premier doubles players in the world.
The Swiss Miss produced a championship doubles season in 2015, partnering Leander Paes to win the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open mixed doubles crowns. Hingis and doubles world No. 1 Sania Mirza captured nine doubles titles together this season: Indian Wells, Miami, Charleston, Wimbledon, the US Open, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Beijing and the WTA Finals.
Earlier this season, Federer said he had discussed an Olympic reunion with his good friend.
"She has approached me, and I said I’d give it some thought,” Federer said. “The problem is, I don’t know how I play singles, doubles, mixed within an eight-day period...I'll obviously give it some thought because I have a lot of respect for Martina."
In 2001, Hingis and Federer partnered to lead Switzerland to the Hopman Cup championship.
In an interview with the Times of India, Hingis revealed she often reminds Federer that she taught him to win during their run to the 2001 Hopman Cup title.
"You could always see the talent. I tell him I was the one who taught him how to win titles," a giggling Hingis told the Times of India. "Before that he played a few finals but didn't win anything. Hopman Cup was his first big title and he has won a few after that, isn't it?"
In 2001, Hingis was the star attraction and Federer a rising young talent when they joined forces to lead Switzerland to the Hopman Cup championship with a win over Monica Seles and Jan-Michael Gambill in the final.
Hingis and Federer remain good friends. The Grand Slam king, who once served as a ball boy during a Hingis match, revealed he is the former No. 1's "biggest admirer."
In this International Tennis Hall of Fame video tribute to Hingis, Federer praises his former mixed doubles partner.
"I was always the biggest admirer of her," Federer says. "How, at a young age, she was able to handle the pressure and play so well. And then obviously the whole combination was just incredible."