Lighting Up 'Graveyard' With Smile
By GEORGE VECSEY

WIMBLEDON, England (New York Times)-- In drizzly southwest London, there is the meteorological phenomenon known as Martina Hingis. She lights up the sky with her talent, her smile, her present and her future.

Whoever says tennis is dead or dying or dormant should bask in the incandescence of the Hingis drop shot, the Hingis quip. Where is that Scottish sheep-cloning scientist, now that we really need him to transfer a dollop of Hingis charisma to the rest of the tour?

"Which men's match do you want to see?" somebody would ask Hingis on Tuesday.

"I could say I don't care about men's, as they don't care about women's," Hingis would respond in English, her third or fourth language, with the sauciness of Emma Thompson playing Shakespearean comedy.

On a gray and threatening morning, Hingis was scheduled to open the full calendar, a 16-year-old seeded first in the greatest tournament in the world, her competitors falling off the map.

Hingis was scheduled for the rite of passage on Court 2, otherwise known as the Graveyard, where top seeded players and defending champions have self-destructed over the decades.

Nastase, Ashe, McEnroe, Connors, Stich, Courier, Chang and Agassi have been leveled on this modest show court on the alleyway behind the Center Court. A top-ranked player can hear the roars from the big arena and know it will take an act of will to get back there.

Did Hingis possibly think of the upsets that haunt Court 2? "Not at all," she said, laughing. "I always had great matches on Court 2, either in the junior time or later, in doubles and also singles. So I like the court today."

Truth is, she likes any court. And they like her. She skipped all the preliminary grass tournaments for the greater pleasure of riding her horse in Switzerland. Her opponent Tuesday was Sabine Appelmans, the Belgian, ranked 19th in the world, with the cheekbones and makeup of a high-fashion advertisement for women's tennis.

Hingis entered from the portal behind the umpire's chair, wearing a stylish white warmup jacket with tasteful pastel piping and the name "Martina" in script on the back. Everybody knows WHICH Martina these days.

Hingis won the first five games, smiling, scowling, touching, staring, pacing, letting everybody know that Court 2 belonged to her, the way Jimmy Connors and Junior McEnroe used to do.

"Of course, she doesn't have the big serve, like most of the good guys that are playing, I mean the good grass-court players," Appelmans said later. "But she has very good hands, she's at the net, she plays an aggressive game, and she can do so much with the balls, so I think she can do as well here as in the other Grand Slams."

Appelmans said she had trouble getting her 25-year-old body going at 11 a.m., but eventually her left-handed game started to kick in. Hingis tossed her racquet when she was broken in the second set, the gesture of an 'artiste' who expects more from herself.

When churls toss their racquets, the spectators hiss or whistle or boo. When Hingis tosses her racquet, people bow and curtsey.

By now, darker clouds were scudding in from the west, but Hingis tidily ended the match with a dainty little drop shot that plopped over the net and just lay there on the green grass. Hingis inspected her handiwork and then ran to meet Appelmans at the chair.

Drops of rain were falling as the players left the court, sharing a big laugh.

"I told her, 'How many matches do you have today?' " Appelmans recalled later. "She said, 'Two,' and I said, 'Well so do I," so she joked, 'Well, I'm happy it was a quick match because I have to play two more matches.' "

From most players, this badinage after a 6-1, 6-3 drubbing would sound like insufferable youthful arrogance. In basketball, this sentiment would be taken as major disrespect. And in boxing, Mike Tyson might bite off somebody's entire head. Between Hingis and Appelmans, it was just tennis humor.

"She talks to everybody," Appelmans said later. "She's nice to everybody. Yes, I mean, of course she has a lot of confidence. She's the No. 1 player in the world. I think, without that attitude, maybe she wouldn't get so far. But she talks to everybody. It's like she's one of the players."

Martina Hingis is just one of the gang. Except that she shrugs off the demons of Court 2, and will soon be back on the Center Court, for a very long time.