[Hingie]

Play a lighter schedule similar to what Serena does.

She needs to value her time on court more. If she played a lighter schedule, i think she would actually fight more during her matches, with more determination. I think she wants to add to her title count, but to this point, she's played so much, that she plays an awful match and she's like 'well there's always next week'.

I have been an avid Hingis fan since 96 and it is really depressing to not see her play up to her potential. There will be those posters who claim that she just can't match it with today's generation of power play but i completely disagree. When she is confident, plays with variety and goes for her shots, i think she is as lethal as anyone.

I remember the days when she was aggressive, would be pushed back on a deep shot to her backhand and she's return it down the line for a winner catching it on top of the bounce - the confidence has well and truly gone for the timebeing. The only match i have seen since her comeback where she's played close to her potential is against Sharapova in Tokyo last year - other than that she really has been a shadow of her former self.

I hope this break does her the world of good. I hope she realises she's too good a player to be playing this passive style of play - she has the shots, she's the one who was known for her backhand down the line.

This break can lead to one of two scenarios:

a) she nurtures her injury, re-evaluates her tennis and comes back with desire, confidence and great play - has a great clay court season and hopefully goes further than quarter final stage at Roland Garros

OR

b) she nutures her injury, comes back unsure of herself, plays passive style, may get through a few rounds of each tournament but every time she runs into someone who's playing well, she gets pushed around, feels they will make errors if she keeps the ball in play and will eventually lose

Unfortunately for Martina, she was never the kind of player who could find form with minmal play (a trait of the Williams sisters i really wish she had). This is contrary to my suggestion she should play less but it's like she's just going through the paces and something does need to change. Not sure what the clay season holds for her, but i hope she finds her game and shows fans what made her a champion in the first place.

 

[OrdinaryfoolisNJ]

I think she should play as long and as much as she likes. When its time for her to retire, I wish her well with whatever comes next.

 

[franklinbouvier]

She should play more.
She needs matches. The game has moved on from when she dominated but in no way has it moved beyond her, hence her ranking.
More matches under her belt would give her the confidence of which you speak.

 

[hingisGOAT]

I think this injury break will do her good. She's already doing decent in the Race, so... it's not like her ranking will take too much of a beating from this break...

 

[Ackms421]

She is aware of her detrimental passiveness too; the problem is she *consistently* cracks under pressure. She also, late in her career, loses her nerve. When she lost the AO final to Capriati after having all those matchpoints, she said "I just hoped she would miss like Seles did yesterday, but she didn't miss." When Hingis is up a set and 4-1, she waits for the opponent to miss instead of trying to win the point.

Sometimes she plays that way the whole match. I think its loss of confidence. You're right, she definetly could be up there fighting it out for GS titles still today, but not if she doesn't wake up.

 

[Kart]

There will be those posters who claim that she just can't match it with today's generation of power play but i completely disagree. When she is confident, plays with variety and goes for her shots, i think she is as lethal as anyone.

Well this is it really.

It doesn't take much nowadays for Hingis' confidence to disappear on court once she gets hammered a few times by a hard hitting player.

That's not going to change with scheduling.

The unanswered question IMHO is whether she really believes her game is capable of battling those players and, if she doesn't, is she willing to make the necessary improvements ?

 

[Wannabeknowitall]

work hard on making an inside out forehand work for her.

 

[kabuki]

work hard on making an inside out forehand work for her.

When you have an amazing backhand?

More like, work hard on putting on 5lbs of muscle and taking off 5lbs somewhere else, for speed and power.

 

[Wannabeknowitall]

When you have an amazing backhand?

More like, work hard on putting on 5lbs of muscle and taking off 5lbs somewhere else, for speed and power.

Before you mention someone as an ignorant ass, you might want to try to post something that Martina hasn't been doing since 1999 and miserably failed at.

Na Li has an amazing backhand but in this day and age if you're serious about winning a slam, that shot is crucial.
It opens the court so well and with her having a good inside out forehand and a very good inside out backhand, it would be pretty hard to read Martina.

 

[Demosthenes]

i completely disagree.

martina isn't like serena at all. she plays the type of game where she needs matches to get into a groove.

she just can't show up and win, like serena can.

 

[kabuki]

Before you mention someone as an ignorant ass, you might want to try to post something that Martina hasn't been doing since 1999 and miserably failed at.

Na Li has an amazing backhand but in this day and age if you're serious about winning a slam, that shot is crucial.
It opens the court so well and with her having a good inside out forehand and a very good inside out backhand, it would be pretty hard to read Martina.

Touchy, touchy. Martina can hit an inside out forehand. The problem is, as with most of her forehands (and other strokes) there is just not enough pace. The issue is not her game, it is the physical basis by which it is played.

As an aside, I don't think an inside out forehand vs. a bh is worth it for her in general, when she has an excellent backhand, and no need to give up the court required to run around balls and hit inside out forehands.

 

[BarsonlyOne]

the desire needs to come back. ive been watching old matches of hers, and the fight that made her wins so many matches is currently not there. serena wins so many matches on pure determination alone, and when her game is not fully there, she can still beat anyone. same goes for venus, even justine. when martinas game not there, the shoulders slump and there is no fight. i was watching her match against justine at the YEC, and at 5-5 all in the tiebreak, she wins the point and in her eyes you just saw it. or against kim to go up 2-0 in the third, a big come on! the fight is what separates the best players in the world. look at graf, seles, sanchez-vicario, both vee and rena.

 

[Wannabeknowitall]

Touchy, touchy. Martina can hit an inside out forehand. The problem is, as with most of her forehands (and other strokes) there is just not enough pace. The issue is not her game, it is the physical basis by which it is played.

As an aside, I don't think an inside out forehand vs. a bh is worth it for her in general, when she has an excellent backhand, and no need to give up the court required to run around balls and hit inside out forehands.

Perhaps at the same time I do feel Martina has an ego similiar to yours and probably has never thought of herself having an issue with that shot while acknowledging that she isn't the best player when it comes to physical status on tour.

 

[kabuki]

Perhaps at the same time I do feel Martina has an ego similiar to yours and probably has never thought of herself having an issue with that shot while acknowledging that she isn't the best player when it comes to physical status on tour.

Ah, vintage wannabe. When the going get's tough, get personal.

Last time I checked this wasn't about my ego, but about Hingis' game. You clearly know nothing about either.

 

[OrdinaryfoolisNJ]

Touchy, touchy. Martina can hit an inside out forehand. The problem is, as with most of her forehands (and other strokes) there is just not enough pace. The issue is not her game, it is the physical basis by which it is played.

As an aside, I don't think an inside out forehand vs. a bh is worth it for her in general, when she has an excellent backhand, and no need to give up the court required to run around balls and hit inside out forehands.

I think she learned a different style of hitting. Perhaps NB could help her work on developing ways to increase her "pace." Why not hire a good coach to come on tour with her to do the same?

 

[dreamgoddess099]

i completely disagree.

martina isn't like serena at all. she plays the type of game where she needs matches to get into a groove.

she just can't show up and win, like serena can.

No no, like he said, Martina's game is just like Serena's. All Martina needs to do is play less tournaments like Serena and the wins will come rollin in.:silly:

 

[Hingie]

No no, like he said, Martina's game is just like Serena's. All Martina needs to do is play less tournaments like Serena and the wins will come rollin in.:silly:

Not what i was claiming at all.

Clearly playing a heavy schedule is not helping her as over the past year and a bit she's complained a couple of times about feeling exhausted when playing tournaments back to back.

Unfortunately not everyone has the ability to not play for months and then come back and win tournaments like the Williams sisters, particularly Serena but if she could somehow find the desire and drive to give it her all, and actually want to turn around matches, then i think she would have more success against the top players.

 

[spencercarlos]

Well this is it really.

It doesn't take much nowadays for Hingis' confidence to disappear on court once she gets hammered a few times by a hard hitting player.

That's not going to change with scheduling.

The unanswered question IMHO is whether she really believes her game is capable of battling those players and, if she doesn't, is she willing to make the necessary improvements ?

Exactly schedule is not the problem, its the game and the way she has been playing latetly. She needs to go for ASAP and realize that her waiting game will take here nowhere near a grand slam title.
And all of this does not means she has to become a power hitter from now on, but she has to add more spin to her shots, hit with more depth, create more angles, try to get spaces so she can hit aproach shots and sneak in. And so on

 

[Eric_tennis]

I think lighter schedule would do good for her in the long run. Her body is not that fresh any more like when she was teenager.
I find that she playes best when she's best even without some matches under her belt. As you may know, her best result are coming from after off season,.. from Jan to Feb. She has won so many tournaments from Aussie & Tokyo.

Maybe less schedule will force her to focus on those selected tournaments. But I think she's too kind to refuse her sponsers' request or something,.. so it wouldn't be ease. She even was at the Charlstone this week for that task.

But I think getting her confidence back is the most important for her to do. Maybe she can ask some help from an expert in that area.

Go, Martina!
:bounce:

 

[TennisGuy21]

If she was to stop playing, her ranking would PLUMMIT! No offense, Im just saying, Look at her results in the big tournies, besides the Ausie open and some Clay events (and tokyo) she doesnt have great results. I think if she wants to get herself a good seed, so that she doesnt have to play Kim in an early round ( haha cause kim owns her, even still!) she needs to play all of these little tournies to get all of the points she can. Look at her results in the slams last year- it doesnt reflect her ranking. She made it to the top 8 once, and it was her first slam back, and she had made the finals there 6 times (and won 3!). While I agree a lighter schedule is better- I dont think it would help Martina's ranking at all.