Martina Hingis: Cocky Or Confident?

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. - She speaks with the air of someone older and wiser, but laughs with the giggle indigenous to 17-year-old girls. And therein lies the paradox of Martina Hingis.

Is she simply a confident tennis player or, as so many believe, the queen of today's cocky teenagers taught to speak their minds? The verdict is as wide-ranging as her shot selection.

First up, Hingis on Hingis: "You can't say it is cocky. Once you are No. 1 in the world, you win 12 of the 17 tournaments, if you don't have the confidence, who should have the confidence?"

Point well taken.

Last year, Hingis cemented her position as the No. 1 player by winning the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. The only Grand Slam that eluded her was the French Open, which she lost to Iva Majoli in the final three weeks after having arthroscopic surgery on her left knee.

She also won nine regular WTA Tour events in 1997 and earned more than $3 million, which is more than anyone else on the tour can say.

Call me talented, not bratty

Still, players, media and tennis watchers continue to call her arrogant.

"That's her personality," Monica Seles said. "I don't know. I mean, all the younger ones now seem to have that type of attitude. . . . It will be interesting to see 10 years from now if they'll still be the same or (if) they'll change. We'll just see."

We'll see. Apparently there are things Hingis would like to change, though, starting with people's image of her. She prefers to be viewed as talented, not bratty.

"She is bothered by it," said Veronique Marchal of the Women's Tennis Association, who handles Hingis' media requests. "And she's bothered by the fact she can't change people's perception of what's out there."

What's out there is a picture of a cocky, arrogant 17-year-old with a perpetual smile who seemingly has little respect for older players.

For instance, Hingis called Steffi Graf old and her game passe. She boldly told Tracy Austin that she was going to break all of Austin's "youngest-ever" records. It doesn't stop there. Hingis reportedly responded with surprise when Pam Shriver mentioned she once was ranked No. 3 in the world. "You?" Hingis said.

That same element of surprise greeted Jennifer Capriati last year when the former child prodigy took a set off Hingis in the final at Sydney. Hingis apparently couldn't believe she dropped a set to someone ranked so low.

"Would I say she is confident? Yes," Marchal said. "She is a very confident 17-year-old just as Venus Williams. But you have to understand, it's a different era, and these kids are being raised to think differently."

Liked by other players

There is a different picture of Hingis not many outside tennis see. Marchal said Hingis is well-liked by other players, is genuinely concerned about the well-being of others and is friendly with everyone - top-ranked or not.

"She's one of the nicest players I know," said Lindsay Davenport, the No. 2 player on the tour from Newport Beach, calif., who has played doubles with Hingis.

Said Wimbledon champion Jana Novotna, who also has teamed with Hingis on the doubles court: "Martina is very natural, and she is just a very nice kid. I think she knows very well what she is doing. She is definitely very professional, and she wants to achieve so much.

"But on the other hand, she likes to be friendly with everybody. I think to have a good relationship with other players is important to her."

Seles, who seemingly has escaped Hingis' public comments, said all No. 1 players are different and bring a different personality to the top spot.

"I think it's great how mature Martina is for her age, what she has done and what she will do," Seles said. "It's quite amazing. She seems to have a great balance. I have a very high opinion of her."

Some veterans disagree

Not all the veterans carry the same opinions. While Graf uses glowing terms to describe Hingis' game, calling her clever on the court and well-established, the German star won't go as far as to say she admires the teen. Graf said she does respect her game, though.

"I don't think you could have called me arrogant at all, at any stage," Graf said. "At least I hope not. I think you can have a certain amount of arrogance and I think that's fine. But what you should never lose is respect for others."

There's very little normal about Hingis. She was named after fellow Czech countrywoman Navratilova and put on a tennis court at age 2 with a sawed-off tennis racket, where she practiced for 10-20 minutes a day.

It was then her mother, Melanie Molitor, began molding today's champion. Hell-bent on making her daughter the best, Molitor didn't let up. Hingis played her first tournament at age 4 and won her first event when she was 7 years old.

"I grew up on tennis courts," Hingis told Gentlemen's Quarterly for its June issue, before Wimbledon. "I was there night and day. I could be at the club . . . up to 16 hours a day."

Hard to win all the time

A few years later, mother and daughter moved to Switzerland - after Molitor's marriage to a Swiss salesman - where her training continued.

By 14, Hingis and her mother, who still acts as coach, decided the youngster was ready for the rigors of the professional tour. She finished her first year in 1994 ranked No. 87. Three years later, she was No. 1.

But now that foundation Hingis has been living on for the past three years has begun to shake. She managed to defend her title at the Australian Open this year, but fell to Seles in the semifinals of the French Open "I'm happy with the way I have played (this year)," Hingis said before her semifinal loss. "But it's hard because you have to continue winning, winning all the time.

". . . Once you make it to the second week, you hope to win the whole thing again. But it didn't happen, so you have to move on and try to do the same thing again."