By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, September 13, 2015
Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza won their second consecutive Grand Slam title at the US Open.
Photo credit: US Open/USTA
NEW YORK—Practice makes perfect. Sometimes, practice prompts panic.
The first practice Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis shared together nearly drove them apart.
"We had the worst first practice ever, ever," Mirza recalls of their debut practice session in Dubai. "We played, and we were like, Oh, my God, we cannot play together. We won one game I think out of 12. We were like, Maybe not. Then, yeah."
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That ignominious start has given way to an inspired Grand Slam season.
The top-seeded tandem captured their second straight Grand Slam title dispatching fourth seeds Casey Dellacqua and Yaroslava Shvedova, 6-3, 6-3, in today's US Open final.
Seventeen years after Hingis became the fourth woman in history to complete the doubles calendar Grand Slam by winning the 1998 US Open with Jana Novotna, she shows no signs of slowing down.
"All of this today, I think incredible. It's a tremendous bonus in my career of tennis," said the 34-year-old Swiss.
It is the fifth title of the season for Mirza and Hingis, who completed a thrilling comeback to win Wimbledon in July. It's also the fifth Grand Slam title of the season for the highly-creative Swiss, who partnered Leander Paes to mixed doubles titles at Melbourne, Wimbledon and New York.
It is the second championship of the weekend for Hingis, who partnered Leander Paes to the mixed doubles crown with a 6-4, 3-6, 10-7 victory over Americans Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sam Querrey on Friday in a result that was largely overshadowed by Roberta Vinci pulling off the upset of the ages in shocking world No. 1 Serena Williams.
It was a historic triumph. Hingis and Paes became just the second team in the Open Era to win three Grand Slam mixed doubles championship in one year. The 42-year-old Paes, who has also partnered the Swiss with the Washington Kastles WTT team, says his guts complement Hingis' guile, court craft and all-court artistry.
"I don't believe that I personally have the technique or the caliber of talent that Martina has," Paes said. "One thing I do have is the guts. I will go for it. My whole life is about perseverance, just trying to find a way to succeed. Sometimes the chips are against you; sometimes they fool you. "I know if I can keep Martina happy, if I can keep her relaxed, the tennis I don't even have to worry about. This young girl is phenomenal on the tennis court and off of it. We actually have our best times when we are on the practice court." The women's tournament that began with so much buzz as a march toward Serena's coronation as the first calendar Grand Slam champion in 27 years was hijacked by veteran doubles players.
Three of the four women's singles semifinalists—Williams, Vinci and US Open champion Flavia Penneta, who partnered Hingis to the 2014 Flushing Meadows doubles final—are former world No. 1 doubles players and Grand Slam doubles champions.
None of that was lost on Hingis, who won her first US Open doubles title at the age of 17 partnering Jana Novotona to the 1998 championship.
" I won the doubles in '98, and that was like finishing off the Grand Slam. I won all four in that same year. It was just like incredible," Hingis said. " Because when you win many matches, many tournaments together, you just feel like you go on court, and the way Sania was playing the last, you know, three, four matches, it was just, yeah, incredible. She was hitting bombs from the baseline, and I was able to, the last two matches, pick it up and hit some good volleys to finish it off. That's what works the best for us. We all felt like there was a little bit of nervousness, definitely, especially today because, I mean, it's been a while, 18 years."
It is a sense of doubles deja vu for the Swiss Miss, who has been around so long several of the players she played against or partnered in New York are now Hall of Famers, including Steffi Graf, Gabriela Sabatini, Lindsay Davenport, Amelie Mauresmo, Monica Seles, Gigi Fernandez, Natasha Zvereva, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Novotna and Hingis herself.
"But it feels like it's doing it all over again. It's like I don't think about, Okay, last time it was 18 years ago," Hingis said. "It's what counts for me is like right now today in this moment. I know I have the support and the trust that I have for her shots and for her game. It's even building up every time we step out together."
A decision in the desert launched the partnership that has risen to the Grand Slam promised land.
Coming together made perfect sense given Mirza's massive forehand and preference for playing the deuce side and Hingis' concise two-handed backhand.
Parental guidance has shaped their shared rule of engagement. Hingis' mother, Melanie Molitor, was a strong player herself, coached Martina through much of her singles career and is the long-time coach of Belinda Bencic, who beat No. 1 Serena Williams and No. 2 Simona Halep in succession to win Toronto last month. Mirza's father, Imran, is a vocal presence at many of their matches and has helped the pair in WTA events where on-court coaching is permitted.
"I think the understanding for each other and for the sport and for, like, Leander said the culture, the upbringing (is similar)," Hingis said. "Although we come from different parts of the world, it's the way our parents, you know, Imran, Sania's dad, taught her how to play tennis, was always there and very supportive. I had the same in my mother.
"I think the way we were brought up is very similar. Tennis was priority. Everything else around it was, you know, tried to make us better as a tennis player, but also my mother was not her first—she played tennis and she was professional, but also came from another sport."
The former world No. 1 singles player believes that childhood rooted in team sports is a key to the success to her partnerships with both Mirza and Paes, whose father, Vece, played midfield on the Indian field hockey team that won the bronze medal at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.
"(Sania's) dad was a cricket family. My mother was a cross-country skier," Hingis said. "I think coming with this other mentality into tennis that is a singles sport is very different, but we have this team sport in us. I think that's to be there to build on a team and the work ethics, and all of this is there."