I Was Only Joking....
One of the most famous jokes in tennis is the Hingis Curse: Get chummy with Martina Hingis, ruin your career.
It is a joke, isn't it?
Joke or not, Hingis turns 23 next Tuesday, so we thought we'd take a look.
The Standard Hingis Curse is considered to be on her tennis boyfriends. And that's a pretty ugly story. First there was Julian Alonso. Anyone remember him? For a while, given his serve, he was regarded as a real prospect. Reached #53 in the world in 1998.
How far gone is Alonso? He last played an ATP qualifying match in 2001. His last ATP win came at Bucharest 2000. He was just about Hingis's age at the time -- he turned 23 in August of that year.
Victim #1.
Then there is Magnus Norman. Remember Hingis cheering him on in the 2000 Roland Garros final? Remember what he's done since? He hasn't won a title since Shanghai 2000, and has had constant surgeries, and is likely to end this year ranked below #100.
Victim #2.
Then there is Ivo Heuberger. He hardly needed Hingis to curse him, since he never went anywhere anyway. But who can say what would have happened had they not been friends?
Victim #3.
That's usually considered to be the Official Hingis Curse List, but it's worth looking at what happened to Hingis's closest female friends. Back around the beginning of 1997, she listed her closest friends on the Tour as Iva Majoli and Anke Huber.
Anyone noticed what Majoli has done in the past six years?
Victim #4.
Huber wasn't as badly jinxed; she managed to retire in the Top 20. But that was only after years of injury.
Victim #5.
Later on, Hingis informally adopted Mirjana Lucic and even helped her to win the Australian Open doubles title. Heard much from Lucic lately?
Victim #6.
Finally, Hingis came to be really close to Anna Kournikova -- despite their one big fight, Hingis was closer to Kournikova than to any other player toward the end of her time on the Tour. The fact that their pairing was a publicist's dream -- as well as the world's best doubles team -- doesn't change the fact that, after initially being rivals, they became fast friends; Kournikova is reportedly the one non-Swiss player with whom Hingis remains in regular contact.
And we all know what Kournikova is going through. Victim #7.
And, finally, there is Hingis herself, who if you examine her numbers from 1996 to 2001 projected out to be about the fifth-best player of the Open Era in singles, and in doubles projected out to be better than any player other than Martina I. But she first started getting injured (1998), and then turned into a head case (1999 and beyond).
Maybe it's just as well she isn't coming back. Can all that be coincidence?
Well, of course it's coincidence. The first law of coincidences is, "Coincidences happen." But it's still pretty amazing.
From Bob Larson´s tennisnewsletter.
One of the most famous jokes in tennis is the Hingis Curse: Get chummy with Martina Hingis, ruin your career.
It is a joke, isn't it?
Joke or not, Hingis turns 23 next Tuesday, so we thought we'd take a look.
The Standard Hingis Curse is considered to be on her tennis boyfriends. And that's a pretty ugly story. First there was Julian Alonso. Anyone remember him? For a while, given his serve, he was regarded as a real prospect. Reached #53 in the world in 1998.
How far gone is Alonso? He last played an ATP qualifying match in 2001. His last ATP win came at Bucharest 2000. He was just about Hingis's age at the time -- he turned 23 in August of that year.
Victim #1.
Then there is Magnus Norman. Remember Hingis cheering him on in the 2000 Roland Garros final? Remember what he's done since? He hasn't won a title since Shanghai 2000, and has had constant surgeries, and is likely to end this year ranked below #100.
Victim #2.
Then there is Ivo Heuberger. He hardly needed Hingis to curse him, since he never went anywhere anyway. But who can say what would have happened had they not been friends?
Victim #3.
That's usually considered to be the Official Hingis Curse List, but it's worth looking at what happened to Hingis's closest female friends. Back around the beginning of 1997, she listed her closest friends on the Tour as Iva Majoli and Anke Huber.
Anyone noticed what Majoli has done in the past six years?
Victim #4.
Huber wasn't as badly jinxed; she managed to retire in the Top 20. But that was only after years of injury.
Victim #5.
Later on, Hingis informally adopted Mirjana Lucic and even helped her to win the Australian Open doubles title. Heard much from Lucic lately?
Victim #6.
Finally, Hingis came to be really close to Anna Kournikova -- despite their one big fight, Hingis was closer to Kournikova than to any other player toward the end of her time on the Tour. The fact that their pairing was a publicist's dream -- as well as the world's best doubles team -- doesn't change the fact that, after initially being rivals, they became fast friends; Kournikova is reportedly the one non-Swiss player with whom Hingis remains in regular contact.
And we all know what Kournikova is going through. Victim #7.
And, finally, there is Hingis herself, who if you examine her numbers from 1996 to 2001 projected out to be about the fifth-best player of the Open Era in singles, and in doubles projected out to be better than any player other than Martina I. But she first started getting injured (1998), and then turned into a head case (1999 and beyond).
Maybe it's just as well she isn't coming back. Can all that be coincidence?
Well, of course it's coincidence. The first law of coincidences is, "Coincidences happen." But it's still pretty amazing.
From Bob Larson´s tennisnewsletter.
