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Why the Swiss Miss Missed with the Media
By Tony Profumo<br />Date: 19/9/2001
In an era of teenage tennis prodigies, Martina Hingis was the most precocious of<br />them all. Winner of the French Open junior's title at age 12; the youngest winner of an<br />adult title at Wimbledon in the 20th century at 15; and at 16, the youngest number one<br />in the world in tennis history, Martina Hingis seemed tailor made to become the<br />golden girl in a sport that sorely needed new superstars. She was smart, pretty,<br /> media friendly and wildly talented to boot. What went wrong and why? There seem to<br />be several answers. The first is that Martina Hingis plays quiet tennis. In the era of big<br /> shots-- of Pete Sampras' serve, Steffi Graf's forehand, Monica Seles' savage ground<br />strokes, Martina Hingis seems to do nothing on the manner. Others serve faster, hit harder, a few even move faster around the court. Yet<br />Hingis is the one who has won the most big titles, the most matches, the most prize<br /> money in the last five years. But this is an era when big American movies feature big<br /> explosions, not deep discussions. Flash is important and Hingis doesn't play flashy<br />tennis. She dissects her opponents the way a surgeon cuts open a patient. The world we live in today is becoming a short attention span world and what the media wants to<br />see are single strokes that end the point in a flurish, not a half dozen strokes that maneuver an opponent into a position where she is bound to make a mistake.<br />Martina Hingis wins through anticipation.Martina Hingis wins through anticipation.She is the best in the world,!maybe the best<br />ever, at being where the ball is going to land.That's harder for journalists to describe<br /> than booming first serves that cross the net at 115 mph.
The second big problemn is the personna of Martina Hingis. Its a personna many<br /> have trouble understanding. Martina Hingis made her reputation on the court at a time<br />when she found self censorhip almost impossible. When asked which of two possible opponents she hoped to play in her next match, most women players would say: "They'll both be tough." They say it over and over again, because its polite. Hingis would answer, "I'd rather play (player A), because I've never lost to her and she suits my game." Martina Hingis answered questions honestly, and tennis journalists don't like those answers. While bad boys have been common place in men's tennis, outspoken women have been rare. Billie Jean King was one, but that was a long time ago. Hingis simply threw tennis reporters for a loop by saying whatever came and at times, comes into her mind.
Why does what she says in press conferences matter. Tennis reporters in general<br />spend far less time covering the tennis itself than they do covering the side show.<br />Reporters work from "story lines." They decide what aspect of the story is important<br />and then shape the story to reflect the reality. The establishment tennis press decided<br /> even before Martina Hingis that the side show was what was really imporant. The rivalries, the perceived cat fights, the animosity in the locker room all seemed like a better story than the tennis itself. Notice many tennis reports contain very little description of what happens during the match. The stories carry lots of background material on the players, they carry as many pithy quotes from the news conferences as they can, they carry the reporters own views on who is doing well and who isn't.<br />Often, they carry views on who is a good person and who isn't.But exciting passages about the play on court? Those paragraphs are few and far between. In this age of<br />advocacy journalism, facts have become cumbersome. Its easier to make mistakes<br /> when reporting facts.Opinions cannot be faulted for inaccuracy.
The Swiss Miss also made enemies because of her habit of doing things differently.<br />She smiles on court, both when doing well and sometimes even when losing a point.<br />Tennis tradition calls for players, who get more TV close ups than most actors, play<br />poker faced, showing no emotion whatsoever. While that is changing, tennis hangs<br />on to old traditions harder than almost any other sport and Hingis was viewed as arrogant,impolite, even strange for appearing to like her sport.It has taken some years to understand that she smiles most of the time when off the court, too.
Lastly, there are a whole series of problems that are harder to prove with facts, but which this professional journalist feels have contributed to tha animosity that Martina Hingis has generated. The first is that when she first rose to the the top of tennis in 1997, she did not speak very good English. She was back then and to some extent today, remains hard to understand for reporters who work only in English. But she has slowed down her speech today. In 1997 she often spoke with all the gushing of a teenager (which, of course, she was). She ran sentences and thoughts together in a<br /> manner reporters could not fathom. That she was a normal teenager interested in horses, clothes and boyfriends all ran together in her mind and her speech and that annoyed reporters used to secretive, closed off tennis players who gave away nothing.Imagine Steffi Graf saying she wished she would have won a tournament because she had her photo shoot dress all picked out.That was a sign of silliness or immodesty when Hingis said it, at least for some reporters.Others thought she was just a normal teenage girl.
There were other problems with her comments as well. Her remarks about lesbian player Amelie Mauresmo at the 1999 Australian Open were widely reported, giving some the impression that she was anti-homosexual. This does not appear to be the<br />case, but Hingis rarely backs down once she takes a stand. Her transgression of the rules of tennis that same year at the French Open also hurt her, although getting twice thrown out of tournaments for unsportsmanlike conduct during his career has not seemed to do the same kind of damage to the reputation of Andre Agassi. He was once defaulted for spitting at the chair umpire's chair. The second time,it was for swearing repeatedly at a linesman. Hingis walked around the net and pointed to the ground.
That brings up the last point. Hingis does not have what Agassi has-- US citizenship. Martina Hingis took over women's tennis in 1997, winning almost everything in sight. American tennis has not had a home grown number one player since Chris Evert and I believe the American dominated WTA tour was terrified that a hard to understand little Swiss was going to rule the roost.
It desperately wanted an American on top and therefore was not exactly unhappy when Hingis became less than a media favorite. It tried for a time to elevate Lindsay Davenport to the top, then turned to the Williams sisters as its savors. All three had something in common. They were all Americans. Hingis, while now residing part of the year in the US, has made it plain she is a European whose heart is with her horses in the mountains of Switzerland. Had that changes, had some come west like Navratilova and Seles did, all her above mentioned transgressions would probably go away.
As long as the Swiss Miss remains the Swiss Miss, as long as she speaks her mind and refuses to learn all the "politically correct" rules, as she put it at this year's US Open, she will probably remain cast as the villain in the story lines of tennis reporters.
By Tony Profumo<br />Date: 19/9/2001
In an era of teenage tennis prodigies, Martina Hingis was the most precocious of<br />them all. Winner of the French Open junior's title at age 12; the youngest winner of an<br />adult title at Wimbledon in the 20th century at 15; and at 16, the youngest number one<br />in the world in tennis history, Martina Hingis seemed tailor made to become the<br />golden girl in a sport that sorely needed new superstars. She was smart, pretty,<br /> media friendly and wildly talented to boot. What went wrong and why? There seem to<br />be several answers. The first is that Martina Hingis plays quiet tennis. In the era of big<br /> shots-- of Pete Sampras' serve, Steffi Graf's forehand, Monica Seles' savage ground<br />strokes, Martina Hingis seems to do nothing on the manner. Others serve faster, hit harder, a few even move faster around the court. Yet<br />Hingis is the one who has won the most big titles, the most matches, the most prize<br /> money in the last five years. But this is an era when big American movies feature big<br /> explosions, not deep discussions. Flash is important and Hingis doesn't play flashy<br />tennis. She dissects her opponents the way a surgeon cuts open a patient. The world we live in today is becoming a short attention span world and what the media wants to<br />see are single strokes that end the point in a flurish, not a half dozen strokes that maneuver an opponent into a position where she is bound to make a mistake.<br />Martina Hingis wins through anticipation.Martina Hingis wins through anticipation.She is the best in the world,!maybe the best<br />ever, at being where the ball is going to land.That's harder for journalists to describe<br /> than booming first serves that cross the net at 115 mph.
The second big problemn is the personna of Martina Hingis. Its a personna many<br /> have trouble understanding. Martina Hingis made her reputation on the court at a time<br />when she found self censorhip almost impossible. When asked which of two possible opponents she hoped to play in her next match, most women players would say: "They'll both be tough." They say it over and over again, because its polite. Hingis would answer, "I'd rather play (player A), because I've never lost to her and she suits my game." Martina Hingis answered questions honestly, and tennis journalists don't like those answers. While bad boys have been common place in men's tennis, outspoken women have been rare. Billie Jean King was one, but that was a long time ago. Hingis simply threw tennis reporters for a loop by saying whatever came and at times, comes into her mind.
Why does what she says in press conferences matter. Tennis reporters in general<br />spend far less time covering the tennis itself than they do covering the side show.<br />Reporters work from "story lines." They decide what aspect of the story is important<br />and then shape the story to reflect the reality. The establishment tennis press decided<br /> even before Martina Hingis that the side show was what was really imporant. The rivalries, the perceived cat fights, the animosity in the locker room all seemed like a better story than the tennis itself. Notice many tennis reports contain very little description of what happens during the match. The stories carry lots of background material on the players, they carry as many pithy quotes from the news conferences as they can, they carry the reporters own views on who is doing well and who isn't.<br />Often, they carry views on who is a good person and who isn't.But exciting passages about the play on court? Those paragraphs are few and far between. In this age of<br />advocacy journalism, facts have become cumbersome. Its easier to make mistakes<br /> when reporting facts.Opinions cannot be faulted for inaccuracy.
The Swiss Miss also made enemies because of her habit of doing things differently.<br />She smiles on court, both when doing well and sometimes even when losing a point.<br />Tennis tradition calls for players, who get more TV close ups than most actors, play<br />poker faced, showing no emotion whatsoever. While that is changing, tennis hangs<br />on to old traditions harder than almost any other sport and Hingis was viewed as arrogant,impolite, even strange for appearing to like her sport.It has taken some years to understand that she smiles most of the time when off the court, too.
Lastly, there are a whole series of problems that are harder to prove with facts, but which this professional journalist feels have contributed to tha animosity that Martina Hingis has generated. The first is that when she first rose to the the top of tennis in 1997, she did not speak very good English. She was back then and to some extent today, remains hard to understand for reporters who work only in English. But she has slowed down her speech today. In 1997 she often spoke with all the gushing of a teenager (which, of course, she was). She ran sentences and thoughts together in a<br /> manner reporters could not fathom. That she was a normal teenager interested in horses, clothes and boyfriends all ran together in her mind and her speech and that annoyed reporters used to secretive, closed off tennis players who gave away nothing.Imagine Steffi Graf saying she wished she would have won a tournament because she had her photo shoot dress all picked out.That was a sign of silliness or immodesty when Hingis said it, at least for some reporters.Others thought she was just a normal teenage girl.
There were other problems with her comments as well. Her remarks about lesbian player Amelie Mauresmo at the 1999 Australian Open were widely reported, giving some the impression that she was anti-homosexual. This does not appear to be the<br />case, but Hingis rarely backs down once she takes a stand. Her transgression of the rules of tennis that same year at the French Open also hurt her, although getting twice thrown out of tournaments for unsportsmanlike conduct during his career has not seemed to do the same kind of damage to the reputation of Andre Agassi. He was once defaulted for spitting at the chair umpire's chair. The second time,it was for swearing repeatedly at a linesman. Hingis walked around the net and pointed to the ground.
That brings up the last point. Hingis does not have what Agassi has-- US citizenship. Martina Hingis took over women's tennis in 1997, winning almost everything in sight. American tennis has not had a home grown number one player since Chris Evert and I believe the American dominated WTA tour was terrified that a hard to understand little Swiss was going to rule the roost.
It desperately wanted an American on top and therefore was not exactly unhappy when Hingis became less than a media favorite. It tried for a time to elevate Lindsay Davenport to the top, then turned to the Williams sisters as its savors. All three had something in common. They were all Americans. Hingis, while now residing part of the year in the US, has made it plain she is a European whose heart is with her horses in the mountains of Switzerland. Had that changes, had some come west like Navratilova and Seles did, all her above mentioned transgressions would probably go away.
As long as the Swiss Miss remains the Swiss Miss, as long as she speaks her mind and refuses to learn all the "politically correct" rules, as she put it at this year's US Open, she will probably remain cast as the villain in the story lines of tennis reporters.
