Martina Hingis likes to ring in the New Year with bang, it seems. Last year, she staged her return to professional tennis after a three-year layover, reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open with a familiar glimmer in her eye. This year, she turned up Down Under with another sparkle—on her finger, that is.
While playing at the Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourt Championships on the Gold Coast, the former World No. 1 confirmed her engagement to fellow tennis player Radek Stepanek, whom she started dating last year.
Stepanek, a Czech native who’s two years Hingis’ senior, popped the question last November in Prague, near the famed Charles Bridge. Hingis claims she has been wearing the diamond ring on her left hand ever since but that the press has only recently begun to notice it. There was no sign of sparkler last year in Madrid during the season-ending WTA Tour Championships, where an injured Stepanek was on hand to cheer on his girlfriend, but there is no hiding it now as Hingis has been photographed with the rock on her finger during practices as well as matches.
It is the first engagement for the 26-year-old Swiss, who is also of Czech origin, but she is no stranger to office romances. She has previously been linked to tennis players Julian Alonso, Ivo Heuberger, Magnus Norman, and Justin Gimblestob.
No wedding date has currently been set.
Now, from what-a-rock to a rocky romance – it isn’t all fun in the sun for lovebirds in Oz.
Another dramatic episode unfolded in the life of Aussie Mark Philippoussis, who recently announced the dissolution of his engagement to teen model/actress Alexis Barbara. Philippoussis’ career is not faring much better these days. The former top-tenner, who has struggled with knee problems in the past, tore cartilage in his right knee during his singles match at the Hopman Cup in Perth, ruling him out of his native Slam.