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| There were not many who could stop Martina Hingis at the Australian Open from 1997-2002 |
Twenty years ago in 1995, a circumspect teenager entered the
courts of the Australian Open with lots of confidence and a talent in plenty.
It was the debut year at the Grand Slams for Martina Hingis and little was
expected from a player who had turned fourteen barely few months ago. She lost at the first hurdle in doubles and
went one step further in singles. In the next seven years, Hingis would enter the
quarter-finals each time - and from 1997 till 2002 she never missed a finals appearance in both
singles and doubles.
She once said on Australian Open - "Even though I hated
the preparation in December, I was always ready afterwards. The Australian Open
was a real welcome tournament; everyone is happy to see everyone. This series
of six consecutive finals is one of my greatest achievements. The surface
helped me; you could win with any kind of game. I also loved playing in front
of that audience".
EARLY DAYS
Hingis's first set in her maiden appearance in Australian
Open was a statement in itself. She won 6-0 against the Austrian and five years
her senior, Barbara Schett. That confidence and momentum was sufficient to win
the next set and with it the match. She made the headlines and was termed as 'a
future champion' by many experts as long as she would turn up consistently on
globetrotting tournaments. Her fairytale start was cut short by the Japanese
Kyoko Nagatsuka in straight sets in the next round. However, Martina Hingis had
arrived on the big circuit and her first round win ensured she would be the
youngest player to win a Grand slam match.
A year later, she was more experienced by playing on the
mean courts with more seasoned professionals. She won four consecutive matches
which took her to the quarter-finals without dropping a set and there she lost
to the South African Amanda Coetzer, nine years her senior.
THREE WONDER YEARS
Ranked fourth coming into the Australian Open 1997, Martina
had already tasted many successes on the WTA circuit and had a Grand Slam title
to her name (Wimbledon doubles in 1996). The 16-year old sensation from
Switzerland steadily made her way to the second week with a dominant display of
smart play and placement of strokes.
Like the previous year, she did not drop a
set and overcame the final three hurdles to claim her first singles Grand Slam
title. I had a laminated poster of hers posing on a Melbourne tram with the
Daphne Akhurst trophy. At 16 years and 3 months, she was the youngest Grand
Slam winner in the Open era. (Lottie Dod won the Wimbledon as a 15-year old -
however it was way back in 19th century before the Open era). She paired with
Natasha Zvereva to win the doubles title as well.
With two more titles at Wimbledon and US Open - and a narrow
miss at the French Open (lost to Iva Majoli in the finals), she was undoubtedly
the favourite to defend her title. And defend she did, in a dominant fashion
winning her second consecutive Australian Open defeating Conchita Martinez in
straight sets. It was a twin delight as the duo of Hingis and Mirjana Lučić won
the doubles second year running.
Having
been displaced to number two by Lindsay Davenport, Martina Hingis was faced
with a sizeable opponent who had outplayed her in many of their contests in
1998. The odds of Hingis-Davenport was the talk of the town in 1999 and it
looked good going into the last two rounds of the tournament. While Hingis
breezed through Monica Seles in the semi-finals, Davenport was stunned by the
French sensation Amélie Mauresmo. Mauresmo was the dark horse of the finals -
but Hingis had a better day on the court and won her 3rd consecutive Australian
Open in straight sets. She teamed with Anna Kournikova for the first time in a Grand
Slam and the 'spice girls' of tennis had their hands on the winner's trophy at
the end of it all.
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| Martina Hingis with her winning doubles partners at the Australian Open |
SO CLOSE AND
YET SO FAR!
Things started to go downhill after the victorious start in 1999.
It was evident Hingis lacked power in her repertoire and was found wanting when
she played the likes of Davenport and the William sisters. French Open 1999 was
a disaster when she lost the plot completely after having Steffi Graf's number
for two-thirds of the match. She wept in presence of her mother and wished she
had not exhausted mentally over a controversial line call during the match. She
had not moved on from that disastrous evening at Roland Garros. The scars of
French Open was evident as she exited in the first round at the Wimbledon two
weeks later; and the loss at the hands of Serena Williams at the US Open made
her vulnerable to the game of power tennis. Move over chess-tennis.
BEATEN AT THE LAST HURDLE THRICE
At the start of 2000, Hingis returned to what she calls
'happy slam' and it certainly was a paradise. A defending champion for the past
3 years, she breezed into her fourth consecutive Australian Open finals. The
two top ranked players faced each other and Davenport prevailed to dethrone
Hingis in straight sets. This was a jolt to Hingis. She once said "If an
opponent could blow me off the court, things got dangerous for me" and
precisely this was the case whenever she played against Davenport and the
William sisters. Very soon, another American would join the list. Hingis lost
the doubles finals and for the first time in four years, she left without a
title from Australia.
Next year, a resolved Hingis approached her play better. If
there was one surface she felt at home, it was the hard courts of the Melbourne
Park. En-route to her fifth consecutive finals, she won a marathon battle
against Serena Williams and followed by a walk in the park victory over her
elder sister, Venus. The finale was Swiss vs. America and this time against the
revived Jennifer Capriati. Capriati in search of her first title made a great
come back to tennis after having lost her way in the wilderness in the late
90's. She had it easy against Hingis in the finals. 6-4, 6-3 in favour of the
American who had to wait a good 11 years for her first Grand Slam title. The
year 2001 was the time when Hingis called off her coaching relationship with
her mother for a brief time, lost her number one ranking to Capriati and a
surgery to her right ankle. She would have another first round exit at the
Wimbledon the same year.
After having recovered from the injury, Australian Open 2002
was the right place Hingis hoped to revive her career. She made her sixth
consecutive Australian Open finals and it was a re-match from the previous
year. Hingis started off well and took the first set and at one stage led 5-1
in the second set. Capriati saved three championship points and forced a
tie-breaker. Capriati would save one more championship point before taking the
second set. How would Hingis come back from this?
Hingis breaks Capriati's serve and goes 2-1 up in the third
set. And that was that for Hingis as Capriati took control of the game there
onwards winning five games in a row to win the championship. I remember
watching the game with disbelief. Well, that's tennis!
Her sixth consecutive doubles finals at the Australian Open
ended on a happy note as she took her fourth Australian Open doubles title.
However, this victory was shadowed by the missed chances in the singles finals.
Would have we lost Hingis at the age of 22 if she had won that title? If she had won, would it have kept her in good
spirits when she soon underwent a surgery to her left ankle? Tennis was no
longer fun for Hingis as she was constantly in pain physically - and mentally
with those 'missed opportunities'. The two aspects of her life were out of sync
and Hingis, the girl that she was (22) did not want to give up the 'fun'
aspect. She chose horse riding, her passion and decided to complete her studies
when she announced her first retirement in 2003.
RETURN AS A SHADOW
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| Martina Hingis winning the mixed doubles title in 2006 with Mahesh Bhupathi |
She was not the same when the audience saw her return to her
favourite hunting ground, Melbourne. It was in 2006 and Hingis was just 25! Although
she was beaten at the quarterfinals in singles, she did go on to claim her
maiden mixed doubles title partnering with Mahesh Bhupathi. For Hingis, it was
good to be back, winning just like she did so many times in the past in
Australia. In 2007, she lost to Kim Clijsters once again in the round of eight.
She retired once again that year and this time she was under the investigation
for testing positive for a metabolite substance of cocaine. ITF suspended her
for two years later that year.
AND NOW SHE IS BACK AGAIN
As it stands, Martina Hingis in 2015 is focusing on doubles
and mixed doubles. After winning the Brisbane Open partnering Sabine Lisicki. A
third-round exit in doubles (with Flavia Pennetta) and still in the race with
Leander Paes (in semi-finals) for the mixed doubles title.
NOW AND THEN
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| How I wish to see her win this trophy one last time! |
And memories they are, my time as a teenager when I used to
wake up to watch those matches of Hingis at the Australian Open. Call me a
victim of the past, I just cannot stop the fact of recollecting Hingis and her
many a victories at the Australian Open. For six years from 1997 to 2002 - I
watched women's tennis for Hingis and Hingis alone - and if I look at it now, I
feel I have lost the 'attachment' which binds a fan crazily, living the
emotions of the stars, constantly enthralled by their play and presence on the court. What
happens when it all ends, all of a sudden without any notice? you drag yourself
forward and that's all we fans can do. It happened to me when Hingis retired in
2003 and I moved on slowly recollecting those wonder years once in a while.
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