Hingis for relaxing rules for junior players

R. Ragu

Martina Hingis.

“I feel already like quarter Indian,” Martina Hingis had recently quipped on her endearment with Indian public owing to her ongoing successful affair with Indian tennis.

And when the Swiss miss, in the city, for the Champions Tennis League proudly displayed her most recent purchase, a pashmina shawl that she was draped in, you know that she’s soaking in more Indianness.

“I haven’t been to the Taj Mahal. That would be one place I would love to visit,” she said beaming.

In an interaction on Wednesday that lasted around half an hour, she spoke about the need to relax the rules for junior players in the WTA circuit and taking exclusively to doubles in her third spell among other things.

A few words on the phenomenal initial phase of yours that saw you become a teen champion and the lack of such teen champions of late: During my time, everybody was young. You had Steffi Graf, Arantxa Sanchez, Monica Seles and we all were like a team. Monica was only eight years older than me when she became the world No. 1. When you look back at it, what I have achieved seems incredible.

It’s very hard to do the same thing now. Most of the girls might be physically ready, but mentally to have a breakthrough at 16, to be able to participate at the highest level and sustain the same standard to win tournaments over and over again is not that easy.

They might peak once now and then but to have a steady full year is not easy. The rules have changed. I was able to play tournaments when I was 14. It’s something that was very usual at that time. Then they had brought in new rules that mandate one to stick around in the juniors circuit for longer.

In that way, the girls lose two to four years. Belinda Bencic (current World No.12) is one in the current lot who’s making rapid strides as a teenager. If one is 15 or 16 years of age and has got the ability to compete at the women’s level, they should be allowed to. That’s the phase when you progress the most, 16 to 20 years of age.

On whether she would do a Navratilova – to continue to play well beyond 40 years of age…: I’ve always enjoyed the coaching part. So who knows, I might be on tour but in a different way.

On taking exclusively to doubles Tennis in the third spell…: I made a comeback in singles eight years ago and I enjoyed it. But I think it’s time for me to play doubles which I always thought that I was very good at. I was No.1 in both singles and doubles at the same time. Everyone talked about my achievements in singles then but I had won more Grand Slam titles in doubles. I had also achieved a calendar-year slam in doubles. I always say that I’m a much better doubles player because you only have less court to cover (smiles).