YOU wait 17 years for a Wimbledon title, then two turn up in a single weekend.
On Saturday, Martina Hingis won the women's doubles title with Sania Mirza. On Sunday, she added the mixed doubles crown with another Indian, Leander Paes.
The first was a bit of a struggle - Hingis and Mirza beat Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 5-7, 7-6-, 7-5, with the last two games taking place under the lights of the closed Centre Court roof. But the Sunday match was so simple that you wondered what had kept Hingis so long, as she and Paes thrashed the Austro-Hungarian duo, Alexander Peya and Timea Babos, 6-1, 6-1.
Now 34, the former world No 1 won three championships at Wimbledon as a teenager, one singles and two doubles. "It feels like it's a lifetime away," Hingis said after she and Paes had brushed aside Peya and Babos.
"The one yesterday, obviously after 17 years last time here, the match, also the way we won it, was so much drama, coming back from 5€‘2 down. Those five games we played almost perfect tennis. Just really mentally strong.
Today, I think [yesterday] gave me confidence. It was incredible the chemistry we had."
Although she is still obviously a world-class doubles player, Hingis has resisted any urge to make yet another stab at singles. She probably does not need the money, but above all she does not need the stress that goes with competing full-time on the singles circuit.
"I think now I just really enjoy it," she explained. "I digest it much differently than when I was 17. Singles is just so much more stress.
"We just go out there and enjoy and bring this title home. It's even more incredible."
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