#7 Favorite Athlete of All-Time: Martina Hingis
I was bummed out when Martina Hingis walked away from tennis at the age of 21. I loved her style of play. As I said in a post I wrote about her in January (shortly after she began her comeback after a three year absence): “She’s always been a finesse player and her style took her to number one in the rankings when she was just 16 years old. Before she bowed out of the game in 2002, she’d won 40 tournaments, including five majors. But that was before the power game took over women’s tennis. The question that tennis fans were asking when she decided to come back a few weeks ago was—could she compete with the big hitters?”
I don’t know if she’s really been able to answer that question yet. This past week, at the Rogers Cup, Hingis beat Daniela Hantuchova (ranked 17th in the world), Svetlana Kuznetsova (ranked 7th in the world—and the 2004 U.S. Open champion), and Anna Chakvetadze (ranked 29th in the world), but she lost in the final to Ana Ivanovic—a player who is known for her power game. So, while Hingis has made huge advances since returning, she doesn’t seem to be able to beat the most powerful players on the tour yet. Hopefully, she’ll figure out a way soon.
Watching Hingis play reminds me of a different era in tennis—the era that I grew up watching; the era in which strategy was king. As much as I enjoy watching two power players return ground strokes, I’ve always loved watching players like Martina Hingis, John McEnroe, and many others who knew how to hit angled shots, offensive lobs, and how to change the spin on the ball. They actually set up points rather than just blasting away from the baseline trying to blow their opponents off the court.
For the first time since 2002, Hingis has worked her way back into the Top 10 in WTA. And at the age of 25, she seems to enjoy her success more now than ever. She’s smiling again—even during matches. She’s as fit as ever. And she appears set to make a run at the U.S. Open next week. I’ll be rooting hard for her to win it all, but even if she doesn’t, she’ll be fun to watch.
Previous posts in this series:
#8, Julius Erving
#9, Mark Martin
#10, Jack Nicklaus
Technorati Tags: Martina Hingis, US Open, tennis, John McEnroe
