Hingis was born to a Czech mother, Melanie Molitorová, and a Slovak father, Karol Hingis, both of whom were accomplished tennis players: her mother once ranked number 10 among women in Czechoslovakia while her father is a tennis trainer in Košice. They named their daughter 'Martina' (originally ) after Martina Navrátilová. Hingis' parents divorced when she was a young girl, after which she moved with her mother to Moravia for a short period. From there, they eventually settled in Switzerland.

Hingis began hitting tennis balls at home when she was just two years old, and entered her first tournament at the age of four. In 1993, Hingis became the youngest-ever player to win a Grand Slam junior title when she won the girls' singles at the French Open at the age of 12. In 1994, she retained her French Open junior title, won the girls' singles title at Wimbledon, and was ranked the World No. 1 junior player.

She made her debut on the professional tour in October 1994, two weeks after her 14th birthday. In 1995, she became the youngest player to win a match at a Grand Slam tournament when she advanced to the second round at the Australian Open.

Hingis, who gained the nickname of the "Swiss Miss" on the tour, quickly won over crowds with her attractive playing . She lacked the outright power of many of her strongest opponents, but compensated for this with fluent, precise groundstrokes, skill at the net, and outstanding shot selection. Her bright, bubbly demeanour in public helped make her a favourite with tennis fans. Hingis was twice rated among FHM magazine's 100 sexiest women, and her championship doubles partnership with tennis's all-time glamour girl Anna Kournikova (two Grand Slam championships) in the late 1990s and early-2000s attracted a great deal of attention. Jestingly, they announced that they were "The Spice Girls of Tennis".

In 1996, Hingis became the youngest-ever Wimbledon champion when she teamed Helena Suková to win the women's doubles title aged 15 years and 9 months. She also won her first professional singles title that year at Filderstadt, Germany. She reached the singles semi-finals at the 1996 US Open, and she lost to Steffi Graf in a five-set final at the year-end WTA Tour Championships.

In January 1997, Hingis became the youngest Grand Slam singles winner in the 20th century by winning the Australian Open aged 16 years and 3 months. In March, she became the youngest-ever player to attain the World No. 1 ranking. And in July, she became the youngest singles champion at Wimbledon since Lottie Dod in 1887. She went on to win the US Open title by defeating another up-and-coming star, Venus Williams, in the final. The only Grand Slam singles title she failed to win that year was the French Open, where she lost in the final to Iva Majoli.

In 1998, Hingis won all four of the Grand Slam women's doubles titles [the Australian Open with Mirjana Lucic, and the other three events with Jana Novotná), and she became only the third woman to simultaneously hold the No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles. She also retained her Australian Open singles title by beating Conchita Martínez in straight sets in the final, and lost in the final of the US Open to Lindsay Davenport. Davenport ended an 80-week stretch Hingis' had enjoyed as the No. 1 single player in October 1998, but Hingis ended the year by beating Davenport in the final of the Tour Championships.

1999 saw Hingis win her third successive Australian Open singles crown as well as the doubles title (with teammate Anna Kournikova). She then reached the French Open final and was three points away from victory in the second set against Steffi Graf, but ended up losing 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. Hingis bounced back from the experience to reach her third consecutive US Open final, where she lost to Serena Williams. Hingis won a total of seven singles titles that year and reclaimed the No. 1 singles ranking. She also reached the finals of the Chase Championships (The former WTA Championships), but lost 4-6, 2-6 to Lindsay Davenport.

In 2000, Martina and Mary Pierce were runners-up in the Australian Open Women's Doubles tournament.

Hingis' three-year stranglehold on the Australian Open singles title came to an end in 2000 when she lost in the final to Lindsay Davenport 6-1, 7-5. Though she won no Grand Slams that year, she held on to the No. 1 ranking following nine tournament wins including the Tour Championships.

Hingis reached her fifth consecutive Australian Open final in 2001, where she lost to Jennifer Capriati 6-4, 6-3. She briefly ended her coaching relationships with her mother Melanie early in the year, but had a change of heart two months later just before the French Open. Hingis underwent surgery on her right ankle in October 2001.

Coming back from injury, Hingis won the Australian Open doubles final at the start of 2002 (again teaming with Kournikova) and reached a sixth straight Australian Open final in singles, again facing Capriati. But having led by a set and 4-0 (and even having a few match points), Hingis went on to lose 4-6, 7-6, 6-2. In May 2002, she needed another ankle ligament operation, this time on her left ankle. After that, she continued to struggle with injuries and was never able to recapture her best form. Her doctors thought that she was able to play, and some Doubting Thomases believed that her losses were more a result of the new power game (as played by Davenport, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Jennifer Capriati, etc.) passing her by than any debilitating physical ailments.

In 2003, at the age of 22, Hingis announced her retirement from tennis after losing her battle with severe ankle problems (ligament damage) and dwindling results. During her career, she had won 40 singles titles and 36 doubles events. She held the World No. 1 singles ranking for a total of 209 weeks.

In 2005, TENNIS Magazine put her in 22nd place in its list of 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS era.

In February 2005 Hingis made an unsuccessful return to competition at an event in Pattaya, Thailand, where she lost to Germany's Marlene Weingartner in the first round. After the loss, she claimed that she had no further plans to attempt a comeback.

Hingis resurfaced in July 2005 having completed two years of a Law degree at Oxford. She played singles, doubles, and mixed doubles in World Team Tennis, notching up singles victories over two top 100 players. She also shut out Martina Navrátilová in singles competition on July 7. With these promising results behind her, Hingis announced on November 29 her return to the WTA Tour in 2006.

Hingis began her WTA comeback in the Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourt tournament, where she reached the semifinals before losing to then no. 23-ranked Flavia Pennetta. She also played at the Sydney International tournament, losing in the opening round to Justine Henin-Hardenne in straight sets. Upon her return, Hingis had a WTA rank of no. 349.

Hingis made her Grand Slam comeback debut at the 2006 Australian Open, advancing to the quarterfinals with a slew of straight set victories over Vera Zvonareva, Emma Laine, Iveta Benešová and Samantha Stosur. She was beaten by then no. 2 ranked Kim Clijsters in a tough three-setter. However, Hingis won the mixed doubles finals with teammate Mahesh Bhupathi of India. This was her first career Grand Slam mixed doubles title, and fifteenth overall (5 singles, 9 doubles).

At the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Hingis continued her successful comeback by reaching the final, which included a victory over Top Seed Maria Sharapova in straight sets before falling to second seeded Elena Dementieva. The run to the final lifted her back to Top 50 at No 48 as of February 6, 2006.

1. "It was probably one Russian too many. It used to be two Williams sisters and a (Lindsay) Davenport. Now there's a whole army of Russians in the way."(Toray 2006 Final post-match interview)

2. "Sometimes it lasts less long because your priorities change or because, in your mind, the motivation goes. Physically you can only keep up with everyone for so long. Players will dominate for one or two years at the most."