Time supposedly waits for nobody, yet, to the surprise of many people, Martina Hingis is amassing evidence on which to base an argument to the contrary. When she arrived at Melbourne Park a week ago, the three-time Australian Open champion was widely regarded as little more than a vignette, a nostalgic reminder of times gone by, not a contender for the title.
Three years of inactivity and a body apparently no long suited to the muscular demands of life at the highest level on the Sony-Ericsson WTA Tour seemed to suggest the Hingis comeback would not exactly be lengthy. Although she had reached the semi-final on Queensland’s Gold Coast a fortnight earlier, that tournament was regarded as a beach carnival compared with the first Grand Slam of the year.
But after three victories without dropping a set and losing just 10 games, she is through to a last 16 denuded of Venus and Serena Williams and Mary Pierce. Just eight matches into her return she is only one win away from a return to the world’s top 100.
Yesterday she dispatched Iveta Benesova, the conqueror of Pierce, who had admittedly never before progressed beyond the second round of a Grand Slam tournament. After briefly dominating in the early exchanges, Benesova was swiftly forced to conclude that Hingis had lost none of her court-craft and accuracy during the lay-off and experience was ultimately brought to bear with a 6-4 6-1 victory.
“She’s different,” said the 22-year-old Czech. “Martina is like a legend, a great champion. She made me feel so uncomfortable because she’s very clever, a smart player who knows exactly where to put the ball. It’s amazing after three years of not playing a match.”
Although she exuded the same confidence that saw her become, at 16, the youngest Grand Slam champion since the game was in its infancy, collect five Grand Slam titles and spend 209 weeks as the world’s No 1 player, Hingis remains insistent that she began her comeback with few expectations. A year ago she looked a spent force as she tried just one match on the Tour and was dispatched ignominiously in the Thai resort of Pattaya, seemingly destined for permanent retirement.
A summer playing World Team Tennis for the New York Sportimes, occasionally alongside John McEnroe, sufficiently teased her competitive spirit, however, and after widespread initial scepticism, those who crave a more varied women’s game with craft and touch as important as raw power should rejoice.
Admittedly, Hingis’s only confrontation with the elite of the game since her return came in Sydney, where she lost in straight sets to the French Open champion Justine Henin- Hardenne, but that was four matches ago. “I’m feeling better every time I go out there to play and with every match I’m getting more confidence,” she said. “To be honest, I didn’t feel that great after the Gold Coast tournament. It took me three days to recover. Now I’m feeling a lot better. I feel like my recovery is improving.”
Hingis also insisted that she appreciates an increased level of physical conditioning is required at the higher reaches of the women’s game compared with when she left it. Given that she has yet to play her old foe Serena Williams and was already tucked up in bed preparing for her 11am start when the defending champion lumbered to her third-round exit against Daniela Hantuchova on Friday, it’s reasonable to assume not all the marquee players were included in that assessment.
Hingis is convinced that her renewed commitment to the game, which previously withered with defeats and injuries, including a chronic foot condition that resulted in a protracted law suit, will be long lasting. “Right now I’d say it’s really important to me in my life; really the priority,” she said.
“Sometimes when you’re aged 17 or 18, and winning, you see there are other things outside the tennis world. Then some of the injuries appear and everything is not going your way, you think, ‘Okay, I just want to go and do something else’. With the time I had and the experiences of the outside of the world, I came to understand nothing satisfied me as much as being back on court.”
Whether that passion diminishes in the face of heavier artillery remains to be seen, but Hingis’s next opponent seems beatable. Although she is ranked 98th in the world and is not expected to reach the second week of the tournament, Australia’s Samantha Stosur appeared weighed down by the pressures of maintaining home involvement as she labored to a 7-5 4-6 6-3 victory over Austria ’s Sybille Bammer, who at the age of 25 was only playing in her second Grand Slam.
The intimidating presence of such a high-profile opponent across the net will intensify the nerves but Stosur was adamant when she said: “Everyone knows what a great player Martina is, so I have just got to go out there, forget about any pressure and revel in the occasion.”
Easier said than done, but elsewhere things do not appear quite so unthreatening. If Kim Clijsters was contemplating retiring from the tournament because of an aching lower back, her discomfort was far from evident as she disposed of Roberta Vinci’s challenge in 44 minutes.
Then again, any quick match is a good match for an aching player, and the second-seeded US Open champion was understandably delighted with her 6-1 6-2 win. “I’m still not moving like I normally can. Everything does feel a lot better, so I guess the tablets are doing their work,” said Clijsters. She meets another Italian, Francesca Schiavone, who seems to promise far more stern opposition. The 15th seed maintained the form that took her to the title at the warm-up tournament in Sydney with a 6-0 6-0 annihilation of Spain’s Maria Sanchez Lorenzo.
Anastasia Myskina’s troubles of last year, which manifested themselves in a tumble down the rankings, appear to be behind her. The 12th-seeded former French Open champion competently dispensed of Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson 6-3 6-1. Her mother’s remission from the illness she suffered last spring and a lengthy rest have rejuvenated the Russian’s game, although seventh-seeded Patty Schnyder, a 6-2 6-3 winner against Japan’s Aiko Nakamura will be a problematical opponent.
Amelie Mauresmo, seeded three, was ushered through to the fourth round by Michaella Krajicek’s retirement because of heat exhaustion. She now faces 16-year-old Nicole Vaidisova, who will be trying to go further than ever before in a Grand Slam tournament after beating Italy’s Flavia Pennetta 6-4 6-2.
Vaidisova emerged on the women’s Tour during Hingis’s hiatus from tennis, and the challenge from the 16-year-old, 6ft Czech for the returning star is eagerly awaited.
