.
.
.
.
.
WOMEN'S TENNIS: A CHANGE AT THE TOP, DESPITE THE COMPUTER
.
It was not a very good season for Martina Hingis or, to say better, 1999 was not the year full of satisfaction the young Swiss champion rightly expected after being at the top of women's tennis for the last two years. Indeed, after her victory in Australia, Martina lost in all the other competitions: a bitter final lost in Paris, a shocking elimination after the first matches at Wimbledon and another bitter final in New York.
On the other hand, all these defeats never allowed her to play with the player who, in late 1998, had beaten her in a couple of occasions (a very rare event), that is, the world numer 2 Lindsay Davenport.
Then the irresistible rise of the Williams sisters, besides Graf and Novotna's withdrawals, have contributed to creating an extremely fluid and interesting situation in the context of the fight for the world women's title.
This season came to an end last weekend with the match played in the magnificent set of the Madison Square Garden of New York.
Obviously, everybody wanted to know, after a season with so many ups and downs with four different winners in as many Slam competitions, who would be the real winner.
Like in the best script of a good western, the final was played between Hingis and Davenport, respectively the first and second ranking world players. And the last duel of 1999 will remain engraved in the memory of many people like an event characterized by a double statistical meaning, with the American player who lifts the prize for her victory in the last tournament, while Martina preserves her world top position thanks only to a few scores.
Now, leaving aside a calculation method that has often given rise to doubts and criticisms, one may even reverse the result given by numbers and "morally" declare Lindsay as the best player of the year. Indeed, her great improvements were further confirmed and consolidated in a season where the Californian tennis player was expected to repeat the excellent performance of 1998 when, also judging by the computer, she was assigned the women's leadership.
In this context, the statement made by Hingis herself after the Masters tournament is emblematic and meaningful. "Davenport is the best tennis player of the year". This is a really fair declaration that pays homage to her first rival. Yet, early this year, when the roles were inverted, Martina had given a totally different declaration. Then Davenport was the number 1 in the ranking and the Swiss player was the follower. "If you ask those who are expert on tennis who is the world number one, almost everybody will tell my name. Davenport? Many people do not even know her…"
Some eleven months have passed since when these unpleasant words were said at the eve of the first important event of the year, i.e. the Australian Open. Then Martina probably talked like a wounded little girl who has been stolen the most important "toy".
As already said, 1999 was a rather bad year for Hingis. But judging from the words said at the end of the Masters, it really seems that these disappointments have made her grow up and now she seems able to react to adversities in a less adolescent way. In a word, she is a real champion. This means being able to accept with serenity even the momentary superiority of her antagonists.
 
 

 Leadership Medica^®
Mensile di scienza  medica e attualita`
 Copyright 1997© All Rights Reserved