But in 1997 her potential didn't so much blossom, as explode.

She clinched the Australian Open title, defeating Mary Pierce in the final and in doing so becoming the youngest Grand Slam singles winner in the 20th century, at the age of 16 years and 3 months.

By March she had become the youngest ever world number one, and before the year was out the Wimbledon and US Open titles had also fallen to her, the only Grand Slam she failed to lift was the French Open, where she lost out in the final to Iva Majoli.

Hingis' stylish game and slight build meant many came to see her as an antidote to the power players that had emerged in the 1990s, but while her innate class and consistency regularly put her at number one in the rankings (only two players in history have spent longer at tennis' top spot), frequently she found herself falling at the final hurdle, losing more Grand Slam finals (7) than she won (5).

Her unpredictable nature though made her essential viewing. She was prone to myseterious losses, such as her first round collapse against Jelena Dokic at Wimbledon in 1999, and again against Virginia Ruano Pascual in 2001. In 1998 she panned Steffi Graf ("She is old now. Her time has passed") and then met her in the 1999 French Open final. The 'Swiss Miss' managed to further enrage the already partisan crowd by querying every line call that went against her, taking a toilet break early in the final set and twice serving underhand when facing match point.

Her acid tongued press conferences often left journalists agog, such as her views on the Williams sisters in 2001: "Being black only helps them. Many times they get sponsors because they are black. And they have had a lot of advantages because they can always say, 'It's racism!'" Injury forced her into retirement at the age of just 22, but she couldn't keep her competitive nature at bay and returned to Grand Slam action at Melbourne last year and will this year hope to improve her feat of reaching the quarter-finals.

Either way, it's unlikely to be dull.