I won't play singles anymore: Martina Hingis

TENNIS: Former world #1 Martina Hingis has yet again come out of the retirement, but she refrains from playing singles anymore.

The 32-year-old made a winning return alongside partner Daniela Hantuchova, thrashing Darija Jurak and Julia Goerges 6-1, 6-1 in the first round of the WTA Southern California Ope n 2013 in Carlsbad.

"I always had it in the back of my head in the last six years. Now, being so much closer to it, being closer to the game, closer to the matches, I was like let’s try it again and see if I can have a great time," Hingis said in a press conference.

"It’s (tennis) a different world. Even (World) Team Tennis now, it’s brutal. It’s only one set, but still like the next day I wake up and you have to put so much more effort into it. Playing tournaments, that’s the easy part. It’s all the grind behind it, behind the scenes that people don’t see. The six straight hours of training. At 17, everything seemed to be so easy. Now. I’m almost twice the age.

"It’s kind of weird just to play doubles. Team Tennis always gets you in great shape. Being the MVP, that helps, I guess, the confidence. I played a lot more the last two years than I did in the first three years when I stopped.

"I don’t have any expectations. Obviously, I wouldn’t put myself in this position if I didn’t feel fine enough to be able compete at this level. We’ll see. Team Tennis, it was good enough. Will it be good enough in this world? It’s another question.

Martina Hingis, the winner of 5 Grand Slam titles, had opted for retirement twice earlier in 2003 and 2007.