What’s the biggest regret of Martina Hingis’s career? The match she’s most famous for: The 1999 French Open Final, which was Steffi Graf’s last Grand Slam victory and the match that sent Hingis’ career into an eight-year tailspin.
“I wish I won that one,” she said today. “In the match I was in control, but all of a sudden it slipped away. I let it slip away. I was two points away from victory. Three points. It was 15-all. Anyway, it was just like I had it in my hands.”
What she didn’t say, somewhat disappointingly, was that she regretted her behavior at the Final, during which she called a bathroom break and returned from the locker room with a new outfit and hairstyle, argued calls, smashed her racket into the clay, slapped a WTA official, underhanded her serve on Graf’s match point and burst into tears when the Roland Garros crowd booed her during the trophy presentation.
Graf graciously said at the trophy ceremony: “You’ll have so many more chances to win, so don’t worry about it.”
It was the last [French Open] final Hingis appeared in.
