By Martina Hingis
October 18 2004

“For me it was always something special to participate in a home tournament, in the Zürcher Saalsporthalle or later at the Schluefweg in Kloten. Surely it was exciting and interesting to travel the world from tournament to tournament and learn foreign cultures and languages when I was still active. Still I always enjoyed it very much playing in my home country. Here I could count on the support of the audience, here they speak Swiss-German.

Now I am here again at the Swisscom Challenge. Yet this time not as a player and not as a TV co-commentator but in a new position known as messenger. This kind of cooperation is new to me and for the tournament organization, with which I have always had a good relationship. The incentive came from my manager Mario Widmer, when he once asked me: “Don’t you feel the desire to look behind the curtains of a tournament?” Change of camp so to speak, I am looking forward to this week in Kloten.

A lot of news will come to me but I will also see familiar things. I want to try, as former pro-tennis player, to be an ally or an intermediary between players, the sponsors and the partners of the Swisscom Challenge.

I am excited about what kind of interesting experiences and events the next days will bring. In this column I will inform you about the course of the tournament. Lots of fun with the tennis and till tomorrow”.