Mother's Day Special: The Mothers behind the Tennis Superstars

3) Melanie Molitor

Martina Hingis had a strong mother who was also her first coach. Melanie was an accomplished tennis professional herself, she was able to provide the technical and emotional support to her young marvel. Melanie was once ranked tenth among women in Czechoslovakia, and was determined to develop Hingis into a top player as early as possible. She gave Martina every kind of support she could wish for.

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Martina has won 7 singles Grand Slams, 5 mixed doubles Grand Slams and astounding 12 doubles Grand Slams, achieving a Career Grand Slam in 1998. She is a wonder herself. The 36 year old Swiss spent 209 weeks as World No.1 and is currently ranked 4 in doubles ranking.

4) Rauza Islanova

Among the few instances where the mothers were the coaches for their children, Rauza was one of the few. She is a prominent Russian coach for professional players Marat Safin and Dinara Safina who both reached World No.1. I her time, Rauza reached rank 5 in Russia in tennis. Her tutelage was pivotal for the first and only brother-sister tandem to be world champions. She also coached Elena Dementieva, Anastasia Myskina, and Anna Kournikova during the very early years of their tennis careers.

Marat held the world’s top spot for nine weeks in 2000 and won that year’s U.S. Open men’s title with a straight sets victory over Pete Sampras. Marat later won the 2005 Australian Open. While his sister remained on top spot for 22 consecutive weeks. She is also an Olympic silver medalist.

Post Edited By: Utkarsh Bhatla