Dope’s New “Racquet”

By RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR

Martina Hingis, one of tennis’ Princess Charming, is now carrying a jinxed alchemy for doping.

That she’s retired from tennis does not absolve her -- it reflects a sad story of what competitive tennis is all about today, or tomorrow.

The five-time Grand Slam champion has to blame herself for whatever happened, or did not happen. This is not what reveries are made of. Remember the time when Hingis claimed her fourth Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, and also became the youngest player ever to successfully defend a Grand Slam title? As was expected, she demolished Conchita Martinez 6-3, 6-3, in just under 90 minutes. Yes, that was a hi-ho, too -- and, yet another piece of silverware and megabucks to tuck into the satchel. But, there’s danger -- if you look at it all differently, now.

The smiley “Swiss Miss” had the world at her feet -- no more, no less. She’s, at that point in time, totally out of range of her nearest rivals; a lone ranger. And, there lurked that big danger. Being a lone ranger in any sport, more so in tennis, for a seventeen-year-old as lissome as Hingis wasn’t a bed of roses, really. Far from it -- because, the very thought of it would bring goose pimples on lesser mortals. Or, maybe, a life full of mixed portents, if not intent.

Value Outside “Volleying”

It’s fortunate that Hingis had more to her starry life than just tennis alone -- a value outside of “volleying” for success. Like horse-riding, music etc., She’s a WHO Ambassador of Health, loved unconditionally, without strings attached by her doting, but disciplined, mother. That’s another great blessing, or so one thought.

Now, Don’t Ask Jennifer Capriati

In an apparent absence of such pointers, even indicators, Capriati, if one remembers, trod a long, painful, road. She demonstrated all too cruelly the warning signs, or sins, of chasing that which you cannot achieve unless you are blessed with the safety net of acceptance and love all around. More so, from your own family members, who visualise in you a human being -- not a robot with the racquet, or a money-making machine.

You need not look far behind for a diagnosis: of how prodigies came, and went, never to return, or make a comeback bid, like Capriati. Andrea Jaeger lasted just four summers at the top before a shoulder injury put a curtain on her career at age 19. Tracy Austin, another former # 1, was on the Freudian, not to speak of the physio’s, couch at age 20, after just five successful years on the circuit. Steffi Graf was quite different, though; albeit she’s not immune to parental indulgence and pressures.

Hidden Dangers

The threat was lurking around the corner. God forbid, but such prophesies for Hingis’s sake, and the game’s ecstasy, have now come true. Yet, logic would, quite simply, warrant us to offer a cautionary warning, if not the alarm bell to her ilk, wherever they are holding their priceless racquets, or trying to grab the limelight.

To cull a paradigm from Chuck Kriese’s excellent book, "Winning Tennis:" “One of the things that troubles me most about the way tennis is taught… is the unreasonable amount of pressure placed on kids. Too many parents and coaches are searching for the next ‘child prodigy.’ Children usually learn physical skills very easily in the early stages of their lives when there’s not much pressure, but before physical growth occurs in the early teen years. We often see a burnout syndrome in tennis, and other sports. The public has been led to believe that the peak years for young players are their late teens, and even younger for girls. This is completely false.”

Adds Kriese, an experienced and successful tennis teaching pro: “Players learning the game should understand that while physical skills are learned earliest, it takes time to develop the mental and emotional skills needed. A better time-table would be the ages of 18 to 25 for women, and 20 to 30 for men, when the minds and emotions can catch up with the physical development. They’ll have to come together before a player can become successful.’’

This also relates to Jungian analogy, but with one or two exceptions -- not more. Hingis may well be the current victim, and there will be others just as well. But, one “dope volley” does not an “upset” party make. It also just doesn’t divest the fact that in its mad drive to market itself, women’s tennis is offering its aspiring young players incorrect role models. A “smart” attitude this maybe, in today’s world; but, for all the wrong reasons.

Safety Net

We only hope that Hingis now has a safety net, especially when her celebratory status from sport is over. Again for wrong reasons: not just doping, but also pressure, stress, too many dreams, or perceived failure of falling short of a “dream-life.”

Now, for the sake of argument, let’s take a look at Hingis’s basic profile.

Till the Aussie Open, which she won, for her fourth Grand Slam, Hingis had played over 75 matches with just a few defeats, and won over ten major titles, not to speak of more than $800,000 in prize-money alone. That’s fantastic portfolio for a teenage sensation, in just more than a year’s time.

Yet, in more ways than one, Hingis’ graph, at this point, was most impressive, if one takes into consideration what might have been her record had she not fallen from her horse, some months before. This was something that ensured her absence from the circuit for almost two months. Add to that a brace of rare major defeats, during the interregnum, and you have a sound case on hand -- all too human. A relief. Let’s drive home the point, in her own words: “I can go home, relax. But, everything hurts me now. The energy, and everything. You are a human being. It’s like being a car. Sometimes, there’s more gas in there.” Now, she may have to repeat the same words, and for different reasons.

Don’t blame Hingis. Blame it on the circuit -- on those who arranged Hingis’s relentless schedules. Of schedules which beat her to the bone. That’s too much strain on anyone’s body -- one which may well bring premature fade-outs. More important: the evidence, in sports, for a life beyond gloss, is quite overwhelming. And, there’s more to it than what meets the eye in this age of image building -- not innocence. Yet, you can’t cop out of the system, and say no to change. It’s a paradox; a reality.

Self-Promotion

In its orgy of self-promotion, women’s tennis today has also gone overboard: beyond the realms of decency, too. As Tony Banks, who was British Sports Minister, put it so succinctly, during Wimbledon, sometime ago: “It is appalling the way so much of women’s tennis is treated like soft porn. The media should concentrate on women’s tennis abilities rather than their underwear or figures. References to players like [Martina] Hingis and [Anna] Kournikova are as much about their looks as their tennis. This sort of reporting is sexist and insulting to women.’’

Banks’ riposte doesn’t reflect the whole picture. Just ask the sponsors who carry the magic wand of making youngsters superstars. It’s, quite simply, exploitation, all right -- the first step on the road to attracting further endorsements -- like it, or not. The players are game to the idea. So, why blame the media? The inference is simple. Beyond beauty, there’s tennis; and, beyond tennis, there’s beauty. Not a metaphor a la the “Beauty and the Beast.” This sort of explains why some protective parents have cushioned their tennis playing starlets against hungry marketing “shenanigans.”

Be that as it may, the whole exercise conjures up an image -- much of it being short-term in value and lacking in appeal. But, who cares? Yet, on the brighter side of things, what is, however, redeeming happens to be that things have not run out of hand as yet. Nevertheless, the writing on the wall is imminent: if tennis does not evaluate, and evolve, measures to counter a growing trend of bemoaning standards of dress and behaviour, or “dope,” by the young, it would be “party” detrimental to a glorious tradition of elegance, born of mature and lasting standards.

This will, eventually, lead to frustration, and culture-shock. And, you won’t get to hear Hingis saying, “I’m very happy about my whole tennis life. I had a few great years. You know, what I could have improved? Sometimes I ask myself. It’s a little scary. I did not win that one title, I cherished. So that’s kind of my goal. That’s the tournament I wanted to win the most.’’

Now, you’ve got the answer. Right? So, let tennis be itself -- a specialised niche, a primary engine of historical change. A domain where younger players are predisposed to rise, on their own terms, not on the basis of a sponsor’s logo alone -- or, maybe, a mix of both, aside from an element of distinction attached without clumsy underpinnings. Inevitably, so.

This is the best way to keeping it alive and in good health, and for more and more prodigies, with brave hearts, to arrive and adorn the game with their resplendent talents.

Hope we aren’t asking for too much, too soon!