TENNIS; For Hingis, Stress Now and Serena Williams Later - The New York Times
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Sports |TENNIS; For Hingis, Stress Now and Serena Williams Later
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Under a white sailor cap borrowed from Gilligan, Melanie Molitor flashed a series of disapproving grimaces as she fixed her eyes on the student who happens to be her daughter. Only when Martina Hingis began to use her racket as a stickpin to Daja Bedanova's spirits, and her daughter's advancement to the United States Open semifinal was secure, did Molitor's furrowed brow relax yesterday.
Sometimes a 6-2, 6-0 victory is not enough to relieve the tension, though. After her happy escape against Iva Majoli in three sets last Friday, Hingis walked off the court, turned the corner outside the locker room and found her mother waiting. While no one knew what the Czech-speaking Molitor was saying to her daughter, the scowl on her mother's face did not reflect a congratulations. A half-hour later, as the mother watched the daughter pick through her lunch, the frustration was still in the air.
''In this life, you are as you play,'' Molitor said. ''She should be aggressive. She is not an aggressive person. I can want what I want, but all I can do is sit there. It's hard, yes.''
There are tour officials and coaches who wonder if the negative energy is wearing on Hingis's already ragged confidence, if her mother's admirable work in designing her daughter's small-ball style has hit its ceiling and if a change is necessary to turn the world's No. 1 player from the underdog into a favorite against the game's big hitters.
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On Friday, the mother and daughter will be tested again when Hingis faces a very persistent Serena Williams. Determined to dig herself out of a stagnant position of being ranked No. 10, Williams desperately scrambled to catch up to Lindsay Davenport's line-drive shots during a 6-3, 6-7 (7) 7-5 quarterfinal victory.
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''She's a great competitor,'' Davenport said. ''She came back, blew a lead, but hung in there. It seems like she has a pattern of doing that. She lets a person back in the match, but she's getting better at closing that.''
Match point provided the ultimate snapshot of Williams's effort. After Davenport saved two match points in the second-set tie breaker, Williams was not going to let her third chance go. Twice Davenport pounded flat backhands into the corner. On the first, Williams stretched to flick the ball back. On the next, Williams leaned out and hit a roundhouse forehand winner to seal her victory.
''I was pretty happy,'' Williams said. ''Obviously, I'm tired of losing close matches. I really, really wanted to win this one. I was a bit elated.''
Williams was euphoric. She twirled, turned to the camera and shouted a joyous hello to the N.F.L. player LaVar Arrington, her boyfriend. Williams also greeted Davenport at the net, where they each smiled incredulously.
''It was a great match,'' Davenport said. ''I wished her luck. She said something like, 'Good fight.' ''
There were mood swings to go with the counterpunches. In the first set, Davenport had a tantalizing chance to break Williams's serve but smacked a short ball into the net with the court wide open. Williams went on to win 10 of the next 11 points on her way to the first set.
Then Davenport tugged on Williams's cape. She came up with a series of devastating inside-out forehands in the tie breaker, saving two match points to force a third set.
Williams grabbed a 3-0 lead, but allowed Davenport a glimmer of hope after a couple of sloppy games. She cleaned up her game in the end, though, channeling her power just in time. Now, Hingis is next.
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''I think that's a totally different match,'' Davenport said. ''To beat her, you can overpower her. Serena has that ability, but she just has to be careful of the unforced errors.''
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At the Australian Open, Hingis was able to dilute the power of Williams, but they have not met since. Back then, Williams was rusty and error-prone. Recently, Hingis's inability to cope with power has chipped away at her confidence. ''We'll just see,'' Hingis said earlier. ''I mean, I think I have chances. I have to believe in it. If it comes out, great. If not, I tried to do the best for it.''
In some ways, she sounds beaten already. But there is more than Hingis's self-esteem hanging in the balance. If she loses in the semifinals, there is a chance for Jennifer Capriati to take over the No. 1 ranking. Hingis probably realizes what everyone has already said: in the era of power ball, Hingis has not been the tour's best player for some time. Hingis just isn't ready to say it, too.
''That's up to you to decide,'' Hingis said. ''I think I've proven myself over four years. Might not have always won, but I won the most, and that's why I'm No. 1.''
After that roundabout response, the question was posed again: are you the best? ''I have no answer to that,'' Hingis said.
Yesterday she knew exactly how to reply to Bedanova. Although she was wary of the 18-year-old player she was once host to in her home, Hingis found a groove against a spindly teenager who had little juice in her strokes.
''I was actually surprised,'' Hingis said. ''It's like the balls are actually coming at me at a slower pace. I mean, they're long and deep. Still, I welcome this game with open arms.''
Hingis smiled wide. For once, Hingis had time to think before she hit against Bedanova, a moment to dissect the situation, an instant to craft a savvy shot on her way to a 42-minute victory. Her strength has always been strategy.
''I'm not going to hit holes into anyone,'' Hingis said. ''That's not going to happen.''
A coaching change does not appear very likely, either. On occasion, the 21-year-old Hingis has taken a step toward independence by severing ties with her mother as her coach. Each time, she has come back to Molitor within a month.
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''I think she has plenty of people always telling her they'd like to coach me, including myself,'' Hingis said. ''At this point, it's only her and myself that can help me. At the end, it's me being on the court. I have to do it. She's the best coach out there definitely for me.''
In the two days leading up to Friday's matchup, Hingis and Molitor will go over strategy. There is always a plan developed by Molitor, but Hingis has seldom followed through on her mother's advice.
''It's about getting over that barrier,'' Hingis said. ''I'm not an aggressive person.''
That's what her mother said at lunch a couple of days ago. Her mother may know best, but the application of Molitor's message is often indelicate. At any moment in a match, Hingis will look up into the players' box and see the signs of disapproval registering in her mother's face. For a No. 1 player whose mental strength has been eroded by the power players, are the distress signals a positive or a negative?
''I see what she goes through up there,'' Hingis said. ''Sometimes it's hard. But sometimes seeing how frustrated she is gets me going. My adrenaline goes up.''
She will need every ounce of it in the next round.
MATCH POINTS
The star-power doubles team of MARTINA HINGIS and JENNIFER CAPRIATI lost in straight sets to the No. 1-seeded combo of LISA RAYMOND and RENNAE STUBBS.