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Show them who's Number 1

© Michael Cecilio

They don’t call her the #1 player for nothing. Actually to be quite honest, they haven’t been calling her the #1 player at all. With the Williams sisters hoop-la at its peak stemming from Venus’s amazing winning streak (starting at Wimbledon, and following on through to Stanford, San Diego, New Haven, US Open and the Olympics), Serena’s own run of titles at Los Angeles and Tokyo and the combination of the two as a winning doubles formula at the US Open and the Olympics, world #1 Martina Hingis seemed to be just a distant memory in the eyes of the media. Perhaps it was justified as Hingis had not won a Grand Slam singles title this year, while Venus had won Wimbledon and the US Open. Nevertheless, the rankings showed that Hingis was #1, officially the best player in the world – and yet somehow she became relegated as a supporting act. She became the hunter if you will, not the hunted.

The last fortnight has changed all that. Martina Hingis could be well on her way to matching Venus’s own amazing winning streak as the Swiss Miss has begun to accumulate one of her own. Just as she wrapped up a scintillating display of form at Filderstadt where she won the title by dropping a mere 10 games – in the whole tournament, mind you – she conquered the field in her home country where she beat Lindsay Davenport in one of the most exciting finals of the whole year. Finally, a title in her home country adorns her mantelpiece, and her CV becomes even more and more complete. If we all thought that was amazing, wait up! She also won back-to-back doubles titles with her regular partner of 1999, Anna Kournikova. Barring the event in Moscow (a tournament in which she has never participated in the past but will make her debut in this fortnight), Martina Hingis has won all of the Tier I titles on the Sanex WTA Tour with her emotional victory in Zurich.

The Swiss fans may have been displeased with the fact that Hingis failed to represent Switzerland at the Olympic games last month – which would have almost guaranteed their country of another medal – however opting out of the prestigious event is what she claimed has helped her achieve this form and win these titles, especially the one in her home country. If fan support may have been waning, it certainly wasn’t evident at the weeklong tournament as fans could not get enough of their most famous sports star. She played to sold out crowds who were boisterous with foot stomping and their familiar ringing of cow bells. And Hingis reveled in every minute of it.

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