Hingis runs clinic for China's top juniors

In Beijing, Martina Hingis took some time out from competing at the China Open to run a clinic for the country’s top junior players.

The former world No. 1 offered on-court pointers during the memorable session, focusing on forehands, backhands and volleys.

The 36-year-old also shared her excitement about the growth of Chinese tennis.

"Tennis has definitely come to China,” she said. "You can see the improvement over the past 10, 15 years. Many more academies, and more top players.”

Several of the players at Hingis’ clinic attend elite tennis schools, and spend up to half the day training.

“Hopefully this will help, having the right infrastructure, the coaches, the possibilities will happen to have many more like Li Na and Shuai Peng, many more players like that in the future," she said.

The event was organized by the International Tennis Hall of Fame (ITHF), Hingis, the China Open and the Chinese Tennis Association.

Hingis encouraged the young players to learn more about tennis history and other hall of famers like Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert.

Hingis herself has a combined 22 Grand Slam singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles, and was a silver medalist at the Rio Olympics in doubles. She was inducted into the ITHF in 2013, and became its first global ambassador in 2015.

In Beijing, Hingis teamed up with CoCo Vandeweghe but lost in the second round to Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova, 6-4, 3-6, 10-8.