Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, winner again on the European clay

her opponents in long rallies and long matches. She also has good direction and power on both her serve and her impressive one handed backhand (something which must be respected in tennis today). What could possibly impede her is her inconsistency at times (she's lost a couple of early round matches this year) and her mental approach, which has vastly improved, but has always been renowned for being not much better than fragile.

And the dark horses.......

#4 JANA NOVOTNA - probably not the best surface to suit her aggressive serve/volley game, but has proven very effective nonetheless. Jana grew up on the clay and has achieved a lot of success on the slow surface, winning a swag of titles and reaching the semi finals of the French in 1996.

#13 ANNA KOURNIKOVA - like Jana, she has an adaptable game for any type of surface, whether it be the fast grass of Wimbledon or the slow clay of Roland Garros. And having also grown up on the clay, perhaps it could be the very surface where Anna makes her breakthrough.

#16 AMANDA COETZER - speed and consistency, just the right ingredients for success on the clay. And she is not adverse to success on the clay, having won a major title on the surface and reached the semi finals of the French Open in 1997.

#19 CONCHITA MARTINEZ - being a typical claycourter with heavy topspin groundstrokes and a lot of consistency, it was a bit of a surprise that her Grand Slam breakthrough came at Wimbledon and not at the French Open. While she has lost some of the punch in her game which got her to #2 a couple of years ago, on the clay, she cannot be discounted, having proven at Amelia Island that she can still beat the top players on the surface.

Player Profile of the Fortnight
On each fortnightly article issue, a WTA Tour Top 100 player will feature in a new column called Player Profile of the Fortnight. This fortnight, we will take a look into the profile of MARTINA HINGIS from SWITZERLAND.

Highest Singles Ranking: 1 (March 1997)
Current Singles Ranking: 1
Current Doubles Ranking: 3
Career Win-Loss Record: 235-53
1999 Win-Loss Record: 26-4
Career Singles Titles: 22
Best Grand Slam Showing:

• WINNER - 97,98,99 Australian Open; 97 Wimbledon; 97 US Open
• FINALIST - 97 French Open; 98 US Open
• DOUBLES WINNER - 96,98 Wimbledon;
  The copyright of the article Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, winner again on the European clay in Women's Tennis is owned by Michael Cecilio. Permission to republish Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, winner again on the European clay in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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