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Hingis' answers all wrong

The top seed is run out in the 1st round - again. She talks of a back injury; others wonder about head trouble.

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 26, 2001

WIMBLEDON, England -- Not long ago, the calculating Martina Hingis had it all figured out.

[AP photos] "It seems like I do really well here or I lose in the first round here," said Martina Hingis after the match. "Two, three days ago, I didn't know if I was going to come here at all. I tried. I did everything I could. It came out this way."

She was able to decode the game of every newcomer, quick to find the angle on each power player. The court was her spreadsheet as she filled in each cell, from corner to corner, with a selection of meticulous shots. Every stroke had a purpose, and everything added up, including the victories, the major titles and a No. 1 ranking.

But over two unremarkable years, Hingis' clever mind has been clouded by issues related to courts of law and courts of competition. Lately, with her world weighed by complications, the 20-year-old can't come up with the right answers.

Monday it was hard to explain how she could be so easily dismantled in the opening round of Wimbledon by the 83rd-ranked player in the world, Virginia Ruano Pascual, 6-4, 6-2.

Hingis became the only top-seeded woman to lose twice in the first round. Two years ago, she was upset by Jelena Dokic. She was a mental puddle then, going it alone without her mother and playing three weeks after she self-destructed in a petulant performance against Steffi Graf at the French Open.

Virginia Ruano Pascual, the 83rd seed of the tournament, celebrates her easy upset of the No. 1 seed.

This time Hingis provided a physical culprit for her troubles, citing a case of back tendinitis that popped up last week.

She talked about how difficult it was for her to move, how she resorted to acupuncture for relief and how she thought about withdrawing from Wimbledon, which she won in 1997.

"It seems like I do really well here or I lose in the first round here," Hingis said. "Two, three days ago, I didn't know if I was going to come here at all. I tried. I did everything I could. It came out this way."

Hingis' misguided shots and sloppy decision-making were evident in the match, but her injury wasn't. Hingis didn't seek treatment on the court nor wince in pain when she swiped at the ball.

"I didn't know she was injured," said Ruano Pascual, a 27-year-old blue-collar player on the tour. "She runs on the court, and she serves, and she does everything."

Hingis never looked comfortable, though. Was it the injury or something else? Her mother and coach, Melanie Molitor, declined to talk about her health.

Over the past two years, there have been no simple responses for Hingis. Her confidence has been shaken by the emergence of Venus and Serena Williams, and the resurrection of Jennifer Capriati. Her frame of mind also has been jumbled by failed romances, an off-and-on partnership with her mother and an array of legal issues.

In March, Hingis sat through the Miami trial of a man accused of stalking her. More than two months after Dubravko Rajcevic was sentenced to a two-year jail term, he asked to be set free after learning that the lead prosecutor, Christopher Calkin, was dating Hingis.

Hingis declined to discuss her relationship with Calkin.

Last week she filed a $40-million lawsuit against Sergio Tacchini, alleging that the clothing manufacturer supplied her with defective shoes while she endorsed the company in 1999.

Hingis didn't indicate that anything other than her injury was a distraction Monday. "I don't have a mental problem, no," she said.

In two previous matches against Ruano Pascual, Hingis had lost seven games. Monday, Hingis sprayed forehands wide, punched easy volleys long and committed 22 unforced errors. Over and over, she failed to make smart decisions.

"Maybe it's the grass, no?," Ruano Pascual said. "The court is green today. Here, everything is different for me and for her."

Once crafty, now confused, Hingis is different for sure.

"Now I have five weeks off until the next event," she said. "Sometimes you just need some time off to recover your body and soul. We'll see where I go."

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