Late autumn in Singapore is not very cold, and 37-year-old Singis sits in a lounge chair with eyes that are no less agile than they were then. She looked in a certain direction with regret, with regret, with reluctance, and with the calm of looking down on sorrow and joy, waving goodbye to her career of more than twenty years, waving goodbye to the stadium that had brought her supreme glory and endless pain.
The beginning of the story goes back to that Melbourne afternoon in 1997, wearing a sweat towel and short hair, she was full of youthful vitality from head to toe. However, it is not only the charming temperament of the Swiss princess that conquers the fans. Her mercury-pouring rhythm, dancing movements and delicate strokes attracted the admiration of the audience. Defeating France's Pierce in straight sets in two straight sets in the final, she became the youngest Grand Slam singles champion in history at the age of 16 and 3 months.
The surprises of 1997 are far from over. After defeating Dawei in the final of the US Open, Singis won the final ticket in all four Grand Slam competitions, leaving only Roland Garros with regrets. But so what? For Singis, who interpreted the phrase "debut is the peak" with strength at the age of less than 17 years old, it was only a matter of time before he achieved the annual Grand Slam. People at that time, perhaps including the Swiss princess herself, would think so. But what they didn't expect was that it would be the season that Singis was closest to the annual Grand Slam.
In the following two years, Singis won two Australian Open titles and achieved three consecutive titles, but never conquered Roland Garros. In the 1999 Susan Langren Cup battle, she could not hide her tears after losing a generation of balls. A few months later, in the Flushing final, she bid farewell to the field in frustration after losing to Serena, and the lonely figure seemed to herald the follow-up of sadness.
Bad luck began in 2001, when everything seemed as usual, and while not brilliant, Singis reached the Australian Open final for the fifth time this season and reached the final four at the French Open and the US Open. It was in this year that ankle injuries got her into trouble for the first time. Singis, who returned from surgery, reached the final for six consecutive years at the 2002 Australian Open with extraordinary perseverance, but once again lost to Capriatti.com.
In 2003, she was devastated by ankle pain and chose to hastily end her fireworks-like and short career at the age of less than 23. Although she returned to the tennis world in 2006, she also rushed to the world's 6th, revenge on her contemporaries such as Dawei, Davenport, and Dementieva, and also defeated Sharapova, Ivanovic and other offspring leaders, and won the Australian Open mixed doubles championship, but lost three times to Christers in the quarterfinals of grand slam singles. In 2007, the tired princess failed the Wimbledon cocaine test and hung up again.
Singis reappeared on the field, six years later, in 2013. This time, she held out for four years, but never appeared on the singles field. Perhaps fate wanted to compensate for the girl it had favored and ruthlessly teased, and Singis, who competed in doubles, won 10 Grand Slam titles, a WTA Finals title and a silver medal at the Rio Olympics.
The elderly Singis now has a calm demeanor when she attends various occasions, she is no longer the princess who cried at the Chatier Stadium and could not get on the podium, but also the princess who is unique among the powerful women.
From 1997 to 2021, 24 years is enough to seal any memory, but it will not obscure the surprise of the moment when you first meet the Swiss princess. The princess is no longer young, and the fairy tale leaves a flaw, but it is a touching beauty, a beauty that evokes infinite reverie because of imperfection.