Martina Hingis wins in mixed doubles at Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia — Nearly twenty years after her first Grand Slam and almost a decade since her most recent, Martina Hingis is a major winner once again.

The former world No. 1 singles player won the mixed doubles title Sunday afternoon here with partner Leander Paes, the veteran pair capturing the Australian Open mixed doubles title with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Daniel Nestor and Kristina Mladenovic.

"Not even in my wildest dreams would I have dreamed I would be standing here today, 20 years later," an emotional Hingis said during the trophy ceremony after the win. "I love this court so much. Thank you, Leander, for asking me to play."

Hingis, 35, first burst onto the tennis scene in the mid-1990s, winning the doubles crown at Wimbledon as her first major in 1996 at age 15.

A year later, she would ascend to the No. 1 ranking in singles by winning three majors, including the Australian Open. She won five singles Grand Slams overall, the last coming here in 1999.

Hingis left the game in 2002 at the age of 21 saying she was burnt out and sick of injuries, then returned in 2006. She won the mixed doubles title in Australia that year and rose to No. 6 in singles, but left the game when a drug test came back positive for cocaine in late 2007, a result she still refutes.

Hingis has dabbled in doubles since mid 2013, playing in both the women's and mixed events. She was a finalist at the US Open in doubles with Flavia Pennetta in September.

"I've had great partners," Hingis told USA Today Sports in an interview last week. "Last year was a great finish to the year by making the final at the US Open and winning two more tournaments. I'm in a good spot, a happy place, right now. I think Leander is a great partner to have. I would rather be winning tournaments in doubles than having early exits in singles."

Hingis has been asked by many around the sport to return to the singles court, but she remains that she will stick only to doubles.

"A lot of people have come up to me saying that I should be playing (singles) because I'm playing so well in doubles," she said, laughing. "You have to train double. I'm only doing half of the efforts that I would be for singles. I'm happy playing exhibitions for singles, I'm happy to play the IPTL or TeamTennis where it's one set and that's good enough for me. I'm huffing and puffing after one set."

Hingis told French outlets here earlier this week that she intends to play Fed Cup later this year, meaning she could be eligible for the 2016 Olympics in Rio. In 2012, Roger Federer famously revealed that he had asked Hingis to play the London Olympics with him in mixed doubles, but she rebuffed the offer.

Hingis' mother and former coach, Melanie Molitor, has been working with rising Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic for almost a decade. Hingis helped warm up Bencic, 17, for her singles tournament here, which saw the No. 32 seed lose in the first round.

Hingis, speaking about the chatter of her returning to singles, continued: "I played against Venus in India and beat her and played a set against Aga Radwanska, so I feel happy with where my game is at. But if it's going three sets, that's a whole different story (laughing)."

Paes, a doubles specialist and 41 years old, has eight doubles and seven mixed doubles titles to his name.