Martina looks like a million bucks. I sure do miss her out on the WTA Tour.
Martina Hingis was such a pleasure to watch on the court. I used to tape her matches and just watch her footwork. Nobody had better fundamentals than she did. Her lack of a big weapon to counter the likes of the Williams sisters, Lindsay Davenport, and Jennifer Capriati led to her relative lack of success after her stellar year of 1997. Were it not for Iva Majoli playing the match of her career that year at Roland Garros, Martina would have won the Grand Slam. Of course, Majoli was never heard from again, and Martina kept plugging away.
The argument that "Hingis wasn't that good; the Williams sisters and the other power chicks just hadn't fully developed yet" is bogus. Were it not for the Swiss Miss out there every single week as a stubborn and consistent foe, those gals would never have reached their full potential. Martina forced them to be more cerebral about their games, and it helped them tremendously. Besides, sports don't work that way; try arguing that Magic Johnson wasn't that good because Michael Jordan wasn't around yet and see how many funny looks you get.
Hingis ranks 4th all time for weeks as the #1 ranked player in the world, at 209 weeks, behind Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, and Chris Evert. Her period of dominance was a 4 1/2 year span from 1997 to 2000. She won 5 Grand Slam singles titles and nine Grand Slam doubles titles. In her career she won 43 WTA Tour singles titles, currently tied for 10th all time with Justine Henin and Venus Williams.
Hingis was the catalyst in what is perhaps the most infamous Grand Slam singles match of all time, when she lost to Steffi Graf in the finals at Roland Garros in 1999. While that match did not mean an end to her relevance on the WTA Tour, she never won a Grand Slam singles title again. Knowing Martina, you can bet she is just glad to be part of such a famous match. In fact, I think she is quoted as saying as much. That attitude is another thing that made Martina special: "Ah who cares?... life goes on"... words to live by.
After 1999, Martina would consistently face two or three of the big hitters in a row at the Grand Slams and it became too much for her to handle. Injuries began to plague her and her old cockiness on the court gave way to tentativeness and self-doubt. However, I still rooted for her during every single tournament. She was the ultimate underdog after 1999 and while she never delivered another Slam title, there were plenty of great matches along the way where Martina used her smarts and consistency to defeat opponents who were often 5-7 inches taller than her and significantly more powerful. Her matches were virtual clinics in sound tennis fundamentals. However, by that point, it just wasn't enough.
Watching Martina dissect an opponent was truly a thing of beauty, even late in her career. There will never be another player like her. She was the ultimate counter-puncher and a true competitor.
Some of the best tennis I have ever watched was while listening to Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King, and Mary Carrillo discuss Martina's game in the late 1990's while commentating a match of hers on HBO. Their wonderment of Martina's game was apparent and you could really feel their excitement. Martina was mopping up the court with a much lesser opponent and the commentary turned into a clinical discussion of Martina's skills. Their enthusiasm was infectious. After the long dominance of the superb but robotic Steffi Graf, Martina was a breath of fresh air. She was different. She was animated, and she was charismatic... and the legends knew it. They all saw themselves in Martina, because Martina could do it all. I was already hooked, but that broadcast put Martina in my psyche even more deeply. She remains there as perhaps my favorite athlete of all-time. She was that special.
Swiss Miss, you are sorely missed on the WTA Tour.
She was a heck of a player. Very strong strategically. Unfortunately, she lacked the raw power of the newer generation which followed her. Otherwise, she would have dominated them.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree, Mark. Put her tennis smarts into Ana Ivanovic's body and that player would challenge Graf's all time Slam record. I always maintained that her fundamentals were so ingrained in her from an early age that she wasn't able to change them in order to add more power. I'm not sure how correct that assessment is, but it's somewhat persuasive. I just could never figure out how someone like Justine Henin, who is shorter and more slender than Martina could have so much power while Hingis just couldn't add more. She added some, but not enough. There has to be a reason why... perhaps she was just too stubborn; i don't know.
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