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The great 1-2 punch - Page 2

© Michael Cecilio

Sure, Martina had a fantastic 1999, finishing the year as the #1 player in the world, having reached a tour-leading 13 finals last year including Roland Garros, the US Open and the Australian Open which accounted for her fifth and most recent Grand Slam win. But undoubtedly, for all the success Martina relished in 1999, it could only be enjoyed with a bittersweet feeling. Until the time she retires from the game, she will be forever defined by her French Open finals' collapse and the subsequent Wimbledon shock. Throw into that a disappointing run in finals with only a 7-6 conversion and a string of losses to the Williamses and Davenport (she ended the year 0-3 against Lindsay, 1-3 against Serena and 3-3 against Venus). Still, the computer doesn't lie, and finishing the year #1 means she was the best, the most consistent, the favourite week-in, week-out for that year.

But does she still feel like she is #1? Obviously, she still feels the innate invincibility that has been her trademark since the incredible run in 1997. Save for the blip against Mauresmo and the constant perplexity against Davenport, Martina has not dropped a single set to anyone on tour this year, and that includes a few heavy-duty scalps over players like Mary Pierce, Monica Seles, Barbara Schett and Sandrine Testud to name a few. But against one particular person, she is reduced to being second-rate. Against Lindsay, Martina admittedly feels like she is in fact the #2 and fails to go into a meet with the same kind of belief that she takes in to a meet against anybody else on tour.

The frustration of playing Lindsay was apparent when Hingis failed to defend her Chase Championships title by losing in the final hurdle to her nemesis 6-4 6-2. The confusion was ever so evident in Australia when she was, at one point, being thrashed 6-1 5-1. Thankfully, for the sake of the rivalry more than anything else, the result at Indian Wells was not so lopsided as for their previous four encounters. Having learnt that matching Davenport power-for-power was clearly not the way for her to win, Hingis was ready to throw deep, slow paced, topspin balls at Lindsay in order to extract the errors. Much to Hingis's delight, it worked for about a set and a half. Davenport's error count was sky-high and her service return was faltering on each return game that Hingis went up 6-4. It seemed as if Hingis was ready to right the wrongs of the past as she went up 4-2 with one break of service in the second set. But then it all faltered. As has been the case so often in the past, Lindsay got her power game going and ripped through the next four games to take the second set 6-4. The momentum shift and the utter frustration from Hingis made the third set easy pickings for Davenport as she stormed away 6-0 in the decider.

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