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Hingis happy despite loss in Australia
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-07 10:05
Martina Hingis looks across the net and sees opponents with rippling muscles.
Not that she's worried — she suspects her game has enough savvy to make her
comeback a success.
Martina Hingis of Switzerland reacts at a
press conference about her left hip flexor injury after her semi final
tennis match against Flavia Pennetta of Italy at the Mondial Australian
Women's Hardcourts Championships on the Gold Coast, Australia, Friday Jan.
6, 2006. Pennetta won the match 1-6, 7-6, 6-2.
[AP] |
Savvy was not enough, however, to carry her through Friday's semifinal — a
1-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2 loss to Italy's Flavia Pennetta. After three victories, this
was the 25-year-old Swiss star's first defeat since beginning a new chapter in
her tennis life.
"I'm very proud and happy about it," she said of her play at the Australian
women's hard-court tournament. "In the 10 days I think I've made some great
progress. Every match I faced a faster, fitter and stronger opponent so I was
able to come out with better tennis."
Hingis, a former No. 1 player with five Grand Slam singles titles, left the
tour three years ago because of foot, heal and ankle injuries. Now there's a new
ailment — a hip strain from Friday's match.
Still, she is encouraged. She received a wild card for this tournament at
Royal Pines, and the anxiety she felt before starting play was gone once she was
stroking the ball again.
"You just have general doubts about yourself when you see those big strong
girls and here I come," she said. "I'm probably half the size of most of them.
... They're all much more muscular but I've got the skills and the game and I
showed that this week."
Next stop is the Sydney International. Then, beginning Jan. 16, comes the
Australian Open, a major she won three times.
On the Gold Coast, Hingis beat Maria Vento-Kabchi of Venezuela, Klara
Koukalova of the Czech Republic and Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain.
After easily winning the first set Friday, Hingis looked ready to advance to
the final against Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic before the hip injury — a
left flexor strain — did her in. She pulled out of her semifinal doubles match
with Tatiana Golovin of Russia because of the injury.
"I've got a couple of days' rest now, so I'll just try to flush it out before
next week," Hingis said. "I've got some time."
Hingis said she tried to get through the singles semifinal.
"As a player and a competitor you try to overcome things like that and still
play until the end of the match," she said. "I don't want to take anything away
from Pennetta — she played a great match. I was able to compete with her.
"It was great tennis and everyone enjoyed it," she added. "You can't always
expect everything to be perfect with your body when you haven't done that much
in three years."
All in all, Hingis is satisfied.
"If I was to evaluate this tournament right away, I'm very happy and very
positive about what I've achieved this week," she said. "I don't think anybody
expected me to come out like this. So it's pretty good."
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