Martina Hingis studies women's game
NEW YORK – Hall of Famer Martina Hingis is back in a Grand Slam doubles semifinal. It's been 12 years since the last time, the 2002 Australian Open, which she won with Anna Kournikova.
At the U.S. Open the 33-year-old is playing doubles with Italy's Flavia Pennetta. The unseeded duo are playing their first Slam together and face No. 3 seeds Cara Black and Sania Mirza today.
Here are a few of the things we learned about Hingis this week at the Open:
She's still a student of the game.
Hingis always had an eye for tennis. Still does.
On Saturday she was asked about American junior Cici Bellis, who beat 12th seed Dominika Cibulkova in the first round. Hingis watched the last few games of that match. "You know, I saw her walking around and I was like, Oh, she's pretty tiny. She's not like a big hitter, but she has great explosivity in her strokes," Hingis said.
Less surprisingly Hingis is following Eugenie Bouchard, the 20-year-old Wimbledon finalist. Hingis didn't watch the 7th seed lose Monday because their matches were at the same time. But she was asked about Bouchard later, and she shared her thoughts. "I think she's done great from where she was in the beginning of the year," Hingis said. "I mean two [Slam] semis and a final – I'm sure she would sign that in no time if someone would tell her at the beginning of the year."
Hingis first took note of Bouchard when they played three or four years ago. "I was like, 'Watch out for this girl.' I think she's a great sight to have on the women's side in the game."
And of course there were all those questions about 17-year-old Swiss Belinda Bencic, who won the French Open and Wimbledon junior girls' titles last year and made it all the way to the women's quarterfinals here this year. Hingis' mom coaches Bencic, and Hingis has worked with her some.
Hingis said Saturday she could see Bencic ranked in the top 5 one day.
On Tuesday, after Bencic lost, a journalist asked Hingis about the match. "Oh we said I'm not going to talk about this anymore. It's been like every day about her," she said.
She'll name names.
Hingis will talk about the game and the players, and she'll name them by name. Seems common enough, but it's not. You don't hear other players, not the current crop anyway, do that much. Even the player on the other side of the net is often just "she" or "my opponent" or "the other girl" (we're looking at you, Jelena Jankovic).
Not so with Hingis, who'll mention Jennifer Capriati or Venus Williams or various others. Sometimes she's asked about the player specifically, other times not.
At one point Hingis discussed the importance of staying focused in a match, said it's the biggest problem juniors have. She added, "You know, if I wasn't focused I just got killed by Mary Pierce."
Later Hingis was asked about top singles players also playing doubles. Pennetta listed top singles players who do both. Hingis answered too, saying it's just a top few who don't: "Like Sharapova, Azarenka. But even Azarenka used to play, not anymore. Justine – she didn't really play doubles."
(For the record, Hingis thinks whether top singles players play doubles at Slams depends on whether they prefer practicing or playing on singles days off.)
Questions about all of the women's singles upsets? She's over them.
This year has seen upsets aplenty in women's singles. The last eight players in the singles draw consisted of two unseeded players and only one player ranked in the top 8 (Serena Williams).
"I think that the depth is really strong," Hingis said, when asked about the upsets. "I don't know. In the last Grand Slams it's been everywhere pretty much. Like Eugenie has been unexpected and made a couple of semis and a finals. She beat some players on the way to get there. There is some breakthroughs in the women's tennis. Definitely there are some youngsters that are coming up."
Later in the week Hingis was asked about a "draw that's so wide open."
"It also shows the depth," she said. "If there's the same champion it's always, 'It's boring – there's not enough depth.' And if there is depth, then it's like 'Oh God – there is no consistency.' You can't ever win. So what is it now?"
She's fond of her doubles partner.
And it's not hurting their results given they've made the semifinals in their first Slam together.
"Flavia is a great partner to have, obviously," Hingis said. "She's very experienced. Been there, done that. She was No. 1 ranked player in doubles before. I'm very fortunate to have her by my side."
The duo started playing together in Eastbourne, where they kicked things off by beating Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina. The same team they'll play in the final here if they win today. After Eastbourne came Montreal, Cincinnati and now the US Open.
When an Italian journalist asked Hingis why she chose Pennetta for a partner, Hingis rattled off several reasons. They've both been on the tour for a long time and knew each other. She was impressed with Pennetta when they played against each other in Cincinnati last year. (Hingis and Daniela Hantuchova beat Pennetta and Anabel Medina Garrigues.) The timing was right: Pennetta didn't have a regular doubles partner after Gisela Dulko retired, and Hingis wanted to focus on doubles.
But that's not all.
As the news conference finished and everyone started filing out, Hingis walked by the journalist and added, "And she's a great person – she's, like, so nice."