Article pris sur le très bon site " Martina unleashed ".

First in her Class.
Written by Peter Bodo.

Travelling at the speed of the comet Hale-Bopp, the buzz about Martina Hingis sizzles across the Internet and over tennis nets, through locker rooms and country club lounges. It crackles at the headquarters of multinational corporations, and it rises from hard-slatted benches alongside public courts everywhere in the world. It reverberates in dorm across the Internet and over tennis nets, through locker rooms and country club lounges. It crackles at the headquarters of multinational corporations, and it rises from hard-slatted benches alongside public courts everywhere in the world. It reverberates in dorm rooms, school cafeterias and even in a classroom where students prepare to discuss the Ah, that very word, "star." As verbal currency, it was been drastically devalued. It has been abused and overused, become a tag attached to any celebrity by the dim, lazy or careless at the garage sale of fame. But don't ever forget what a star truly is: a remarkable expulsion of volatile gases created by the power of nuclear fusion, a power that is almost too awesome to comprehend. A fantastic explosion of hydrogen and helium, creating a brightness that the naked eye can only withstand from millions of miles away.

Our sun is a "typical" star, not too big, not to bright, a body poised halfway between the brilliant "supergiants" of the galaxy and the dense, cool neutron stars. As a player, Hingis is also halfway between a supergiant - say, a Martina Navratilova - and a dense, cool neutron star - a Chris Evert perhaps. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Even through she has won a Grand Slam title ad reached No. 1 (owing to Graf's absence), she is sbrilliant "supergiants" of the galaxy and the dense, cool neutron stars. As a p

Let's begin.

Although Hingis sometimes appears to be made from bits and pieces of former prodigies, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, just as a description of the material elements and physical events that create a star doesn't even come close to describing the experience of gazing at the sky on a clear night.

Hingis, as we all know, got her first name from Navratilova. From Evonne Goolagong, Hingis seems to have inherited both an astonishing fluidity on the court and a blithe, carefree spirit. The economy of Hingis's game harkens back to Chris Evert, as does her precocious poise. Yet Evert was shy and almost painfully self-conscious, while Hingis meets the world square on, her jaw thrust slightly forward, a smile and offhand wisecrack ever at the ready. In that, she resembles Andrea Jaeger. The explosive two-handed backhand down the line, however, is pure Tracy Austin.

------------------------------------------------------------------------ Phenom-enal Training.
Written by Andrea Leand.

Martina Hingis's New Year's resolution was to stop banging her racquet on the court. Within 10 minutes of a practise session before the Australian Open, Hingis, like most well-meaning mortals, had slipped back into her old habits. She bounced the frame thsi time after firing a forehand just wide. Hingis immediately lightened up after her mother, Melanie Molitor, joked about the shot and refocused her daughter on another one.

Practise lasted just under an hour, as it usually does with a male hitting partner, this time Mark Hlawaty, who was hired for the month of Australian events. The rising star began the session with some mini-tennis before perfecting her timing with crosscourt and down-the-line rallies. Some overheads warmed up her arm for serves.

Then, Hingis had her most fun, playing points against her 6-foot-2 sparring partner with the fluorescent Mohawk-styled hair. "She is very competative and doesn't like to miss anything," says Hlawaty.

During tournaments, Hingis hits only on nonmatch days, for no more than an hour. Then again, she rarely has days when she's not playing a match, whether singles or doubles. "Playing doubles is a lot more fun than practising," says Hingis. "I still have to think and work out there, but it is fun. It helps my net game and keeps me playing aggressively. And I also don't have to practise as much."

Every day she participates in some type of nontennis aerobic activity such as hiking, biking, horseback riding or in-line skating. She also regularly joins in ice hockey and soccer games scheduled by a tennis club in the Czech Republic, where she has been training more often. "I like to be outside, not in a gym doing exercises by myself," she says. "Even when I don't have any practice or training, I still horseback ride for fun, which helps too. My results the last six months have shown it is working."

To improve her strength, six months ago she started lifting light weights three times per week between tournaments. The very light weights and high repetitions helped strengthen her upper arms and serve.

Just ask her practise partners, who dodge her shots. "Martina loves blasting balls at me when I come up to the net," says Hlawaty. "She gets her biggest kick when she hits me with a ball."