Cheated on her husband and almost fought with Kurnikova. How does Martina Hingis live? 0 9

The Pursuit of a 'Maniac'

The personal life of the athlete interested tennis fans no less than her successes on the court. The native of Košice, Slovakia, achieved a lot: she reached the top of the WTA rankings for a total of 209 weeks, winning five Grand Slam tournaments during her career.

Martina always experienced close attention from men, but one man was overly persistent, for which he even paid with prison time. Starting in 1999, 45-year-old Australian Dubravko Rajcevic, born in Yugoslavia, literally stalked Hingis around the world. He called her hotel room, showed up at her house, professed his love, and demanded to start a relationship with her. He was not deterred by distances: he traveled everywhere to follow the athlete.

It got to the point where Hingis became seriously afraid for her life, hired additional security, and reported the 'maniac' to law enforcement. “I didn’t want to talk to him anymore. I had no intention of spending any time with him. He looked at me and smiled. It felt like he was looking through me and didn’t understand what I was saying. I was very depressed, irritated by my helplessness because I couldn’t do anything to stop him,” the tennis player later admitted.

In the spring of 2000, Rajcevic flew to Miami to follow Hingis at a tournament and again began to appear in Martina's path. The police removed him from the hotel premises for the first time, prohibiting him from appearing there, but on the second day they had to arrest the Australian for stalking. As a result, the man was sentenced to two years in prison, and Hingis testified against him in court, recalling all the instances of his pursuit.

Friendship and Quarrel with Kurnikova

Another interesting story from Martina's biography is her special relationship with tennis star Anna Kurnikova. They had known each other since childhood, competing in junior tournaments. And although Hingis almost always defeated the Russian, it did not prevent them from becoming friends. Moreover, they began to compete together in doubles tournaments. Their duo, initiated by Hingis, was called the 'Tennis Spice Girls' worldwide, in analogy to the popular pop group of those years.

Over two seasons, they won nine tournaments until they had a falling out one day. In 2000, they were invited on a tour of South America, where they were to play exhibition matches against each other. While everything went well in São Paulo, Brazil, a scandal erupted in Santiago, Chile. During a point, the line judge made a mistake, and Hingis began to complain to him, seeking support from her rival friend. But Anna sided with the umpire this time, stating that he was right. Martina got angry and confronted her in the locker room after the match: “Do you think you’re the queen? I’m the queen!” After these words, 19-year-old Kurnikova burst into tears and threw a crystal vase, just gifted to her by the match organizers, at Hingis. It is said that Kurnikova's mother, Alla, was also present and told the coaches, “I don’t want my daughter to play with that bitch anymore.”

Later, the girls reconciled and played together again after some time, but the warm relationship they once had would no longer exist. By then, they would both be in their 30s, each prioritizing their personal life.

Motherly Happiness

And it is still unknown who will give way to whom: Kurnikova, who had romances with hockey players, or Hingis, who found herself in scandalous headlines. In 2007, Martina was set to marry tennis player Radek Stepanek, but at the last moment, she broke off the engagement. Then a French equestrian, Thibaut Hutin, entered her life, but the marriage did not last long. A heartbroken Thibaut later recounted in an interview that Hingis began to cheat on him in the very first year of their marriage, and they could not stay together after that.

After several short-term romances, Hingis finally met true love. Her chosen one turned out to be the doctor of the Swiss national team, Harald Liemann, whom she met before the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Meeting this man allowed Martina to fulfill her dream: to become a mother. In March 2019, she gave birth to a daughter, Lia.

Currently, 40-year-old Martina Hingis dedicates all her free time to her child, although she does not forget about tennis. She does not intend to hang up her racket, occasionally accepting invitations to participate in veterans' or exhibition tournaments.