And more importantly, what will need to happen for her to achieve a top 5 ranking?

yes, she can. not sure if she will, but she can.

she needs to play as many good tournaments as she can qualify for (doesn't want to be playing a bunch of scrubs that don't help her rankings), but she can't play so many that she gets burned out right away.

even though i don't really like the guy, i don't think anyone has the stamina or determination to barnstorm the world playing sats and challengers like agassi did. hingis just needs to take it one tournament at a time and not worry about jumping back to the top all at once.

I would have said no before seeing her play in the Aussie. She has looked very solid, and has the game to get into the Top 5

Thanks for the replies. I made a bet with a coworker that Hingis will be top 5 by the end of the year. I think it will be really hard to do, and I don't believe it will happen, but wanted to know if it is possible. She needs to win tonight against Kim Clijsters. If she does that I will be VERY impressed.

With the Williams sisters hitting the skids it opens the female game back up for players like Hingis. Davenport is getting up there in age so she won't be a factor too much longer. Frankly, Hingis has as good a shoot as anyone at this point.