Hingis Faces Foot Surgery

Former No. 1-ranked tennis player Martina Hingis is expected to require surgery on her injured left foot, representatives from her management firm, Octagon, said Wednesday.

The surgery would put her out of the upcoming French Open in Paris, ending a streak of 29 consecutive Grand Slam events since she turned pro in late 1994.

Various media reports, fueled by one of her doctors in a radio interview, placed Hingis’ career in jeopardy, but that speculation was said to be premature because medical examinations were ongoing in Switzerland.

Because of that, the timetable regarding Hingis’ future, let alone a return to the tour, is uncertain.

“Surgery is anticipated,” Octagon President Phil de Picciotto said. “It depends on the diagnosis, what the problem is and what they do to fix it.”

Hingis, 21, has had a chronic foot condition, forcing her to miss several events. She played in back-to-back tournaments in Southern California last summer and then pulled out of the Canadian Open.

More recently, Hingis withdrew from the German Open in Berlin and Italian Open in Rome after re-injuring her foot at an event in Hamburg, Germany, this month.

Her physical problems became an issue when she filed a $40-million lawsuit against Italian manufacturer Sergio Tacchini last year in separate actions in Milan and New York. Legal action is ongoing. Hingis asserted that the shoes from the company were “defective” and “unsuitable for competition,” causing the injuries. The Italian company countered by saying then that an earlier case found no basis for her claims.

Hingis, who won five Grand Slam tournaments before turning 18, has not won a Grand Slam event since the 1999 Australian Open. Since then, she has been in the final of four majors, most recently the Australian Open in January, losing to Jennifer Capriati after holding four match points.

She held the No. 1 ranking for 209 weeks, relinquishing it in October when she injured her right ankle against Lindsay Davenport. Hingis dropped to No. 7 on Monday when the latest WTA rankings were released, the first time she has been out of the top five since 1996.

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De Picciotto said that the season-ending WTA Championships, which will be held at Staples Center in November, had secured its first major corporate partner, Porsche, which will be the presenting sponsor. The company, the title sponsor of a popular women’s indoor event at Filderstadt, Germany in October, also agreed to be the sponsor of the “Race to the Championships.”