INTERVIEW WITH PRINCESS!

By Rene Stauffer - October 2001

Martina Hingis has turned from a 14 year old teenager with braces into a woman of modern times who looks not only to but beyond tennis. She lives in an exciting and ever changing world and enjoys many privileges, but also
knows the responsibilities that come with her job and her success. Despite the many demands placed on her, she is still able to take a small amount of time out for herself.

We are sitting in Trübbach on the second storey of her basic house. We are sitting above the garage which is next to the Rebound-Ace tennis court that
she had imported from Australia. In the room is a table, a couple of cushioned chairs, some cups on the table and a stereo. Everything looks just like it had earlier, at the time when she had set out to explore and if possible conquer the tennis world. “ A lot has happened in the last three or
four years”, says Martina Hingis with a giggle. Lots of things have changed her, she too has changed herself. The young lady from Trübbach has experienced great successes and has also had to put bitter setbacks behind
her. She has matured, she has taken over the responsibility for her life and her career and she has established herself as a worldwide ambassador for her
sport.
In a relaxed atmosphere far away from tournaments, opponents and cameras she tells me about the changes in her life, her maturing into a young woman and the difficult search to find a balance between her career and private life.

POPULARITY :
“I have become a lot more careful towards the media. They have brought this on themselves. Meanwhile I trust far fewer people these days. When you say something you don’t exactly know whether it will be printed in three or four different versions or not. And if something rather extreme is put out by the
media people are very quick to judge you wrongly. Often what is put out by the media after an interview is nothing like what you meant at all. In principle I am a very open person, a person who almost too often says what
she thinks. In real life (away from tennis) I am even more open. I was young and didn’t know exactly what you should and should not say. English is in any case not my mother language and it is a lot different to German. I couldn’t know everything even if Mario (Widmer) was there. If I
said something wrong in an interview or press conference, then the media would base the subsequent article on that fact. When you are young, you
don’t know these things. No one can teach you this either, it comes from experience. What happened at the French Open 2 years ago (where she left the
court after losing the final to Steffi Graf) was a very good learning curve for me. Since then I have changed myself a lot.”

IMAGE :
“I often think that people don’t really understand how I really am in any case. I don’t always want to be open to everyone. Many people don’t deserve it. I am indeed open and warm hearted – but people have to first earn me and my trust and respect. I am able to judge people very quickly. Often I only need 2 or 3 sentences and I know what a person is generally like. Often I just don’t feel like making conversation with people. That is indeed harsh but that’s simply the way it is. When you spend so long jetting around the world and get to know so many different mentalities you become good at assessing people quickly. Mario, my mother and I talk often about these kinds of things. I have had to realise these things otherwise I certainly would not be so far along in my career and also not constantly at the top of world tennis.”

THE IDEAL DAY :
“Sport is a big part of my life. I am happy that I play tennis It is part of my daily routine, and it gives me a reason to live. So, at 8am I wake up and have breakfast. At 9:30am I am already on court warming myself up to play 2 hours of tennis. The days that I wish I didn’t have to play tennis are very few. Once a day I have to do something physical, running, inline skating –
or at least playing tennis just for fun. In the afternoon I like to hang around a bit, maybe look at some shops or go to the movies. It is not essential that I buy something. For me it is often enough just to be able to
see what is on offer and what the latest trends are in music, films and clothes. In terms of buying things I usually wait until I am in Rome or Paris. When you are there it is difficult not to buy something. When I am in
Japan I always go to Electronics stores. I bought a computer in Japan that I can also watch DVD’s on.”

ON THE ROAD :
“There are lots of places where I can imagine myself always being happy to be there. I really like Sydney and Australia all together. Every city there
in its own way is beautiful. I also really like to come back to Trübbach and Zurich. I like places where I know where I can go and what I can do. I like
places that I am familiar with and places where I can drive my car around. I really like driving cars – you would too if you already owned a Porsche! But
I find it arduous to stick to the 120km/h speed limit on the freeways. In the USA everyone drives slower and there the distances are also greater.
Driving in the USA is a lot less stressful. Here (in Switzerland) the roads are better and the distances not so great. You know in the USA that you
simply have to spend four and a half hours driving whether you drive slow or fast. I love listening to loud music in the car. Sometimes I sing along – but only if I am alone. Or if I am sure I know the chorus.”

GOING OUT :
“Earlier in my career I went out a lot more often than now, going to
musicals etc. When you lose in the 1st or 2nd round then there is always a bit of time to fill in between then and the next tournament. When you are in a tournament till Saturday or Sunday, then there is no time for such things. After tournaments I am always happy to have a bit of time for myself. Nowadays I don’t want to go out as often as I did earlier in my career. When I had to stay in Miami for three days last Spring (because of the stalker court case) I went out once again. You simply have to do something like that 2 or 3 times a year. After that I realised once again that I really don’t need to go out. You often have the feeling that you miss something, but when
you have that thing again you notice that you really didn’t miss it at all. In Florida it is nicer to be at home anyway with my pool and sauna and the
seemingly permanent beautiful weather.”

FAMILY :
“At some stage I would like to marry even though marriage in this day and age is no longer essential. Of course your wedding day is a special day but
you could wear a wedding dress on any other normal day too. I would like a partner that I am proud of. I want to be with someone that I feel totally
comfortable with. I would also like one or two children. I want this all to happen after tennis, but not too late. My mother had me when she was 23, and
I think we have therefore had a good connection with each other because she was still young. I can’t imagine how it would be if she was a generation older. If that was the case she wouldn’t be able to do so many things with me and she probably wouldn’t understand me so well. It was always very important for me to be able to talk about everything with her, about friends and whatever else.”

SUCCESS :
“I have already thought many times about what I would do if I didn’t play tennis. But I want this success and this life. I have huge amounts of ambition and will, I won’t simply give up what I have. It is the little things; respect of the people etc….. I had a masseur here and it was the first time I had ever seen him and he said to me that I had caused many changes in Swiss tennis.”

HORSES :
“I went riding once again this summer in the Czech Republic but I was always tired in the evening afterwards. I ride less and less these days because I
simply don’t have any time and other things are more important. I am glad that I am able to organise people like my friends to look after my horses
for me. Of course I would be happy to be able to have more to do with my horses but at the moment it is just not possible. Right now I have to invest
much more time into my tennis. No one is the victim here though, tennis is what I want to do and I have fun doing it.”

PUBERTY :
“I have different phases behind me, highs and lows. My lows weren’t so low however that they made me lose in the first round or something like that. For many other players this phase of their life distorts their careers somewhat. I on the other hand find myself in the semi’s or the final each week. Last year I won 9 tournaments, that is not so bad! If I happen to look at my results, sometimes I find them a bit crazy and all over the place but for me there is no looking back on the past, I look ahead and when I do that there is always more and more players to make life difficult for me.”

MOTHER :
“My relationship with her is at the moment in a time of change. After Key Biscayne I wanted to be responsible for myself for the rest of the year, I wanted a chance to stand on my own two feet….. booking my own plane tickets, reserving my own hotel rooms and things like that. Something like that is no problem at all. But it costs me time, you are always waiting on the telephone when you could be doing something more productive. I have indeed
won no tournaments (during the time she was on the road without her mother), but I didn’t sink into a low like a lot of people expected I would. In Berlin it is true that I hoped for more from myself. I had already won the first set against Amelie Mauresmo but at the end I just lost all my energy and I think it was because I had to do too many off court things for myself.”

ROLE MODEL :
“I have always been impressed with the impression that Chris Evert left behind after her tennis career was over. She was the Lady of tennis while Navratilova was the athlete. She always played with finesse and cleverness. This was compensation for not being the best athlete. And the way she presented herself on court! Without a doubt, she changed a lot in women’s tennis. Women’s tennis has really become a lot like show business.
I would like to be remembered as a player who was happy with what she was doing and how she did it. People always say to me that my game is so casual and I make playing look easy. And well yeah, sometimes I can’t even imagine myself that I play against these big strong, powerful hitting girls – and am able to win! Sometimes when I watch them play I think about how I can even keep up with them. I just do whatever it takes somehow, I have been trained that way from when I was very young and I also have to thank my speed, anticipation and precision. I am happy to be able to show the world that you can have other weapons and still be at the top of the sport.”

WHO :
“My work with WHO (World Health Organisation) goes back to the Fed Cup tie in Jakarta in 1996. My first donation to WHO was at the Arthur Ashe Kids Day
before the US Open each year. I have also traveled to Nepal and Columbia and I have very clear memories of that. What I do for WHO is perhaps just like a drop of water in the ocean, but I hope I can at least draw attention to some of the issues WHO deals with. For me that is the most important thing. I have to admit that I do feel a little bit proud of being an ambassador for
the program to eradicate Polio. That is more or less a landmark and historical program and I am a part of it. I am not exactly sure how much I invest into the program as Mario handles my money but one year it was around US$150 000 and another year US$220 000. When you put all the money together, I think it goes a way to helping the program.”

OUTLOOK :
“To play as well and dominate as much as I did in 1997 will be difficult but I think it is possible. At the moment I am very content with my life. A while ago I was indeed on some sort of ‘search’ and sometimes it was very frustrating, but when you have private relationships that you are
comfortable with then everything is a lot easier.”

MARTINA ON…..
DRINKS : “I like B52’s, that is Grand Mariner with Baileys and a liquor. When it comes to me a B52 is never around long! I like Virgin Pina Colada’s too but I don’t drink too much alcohol. Every now and again I like a sip or two to wash dinner down with but I really don’t like spirits and harder alcohol’s .”

MOVIES: “I think Matt Damon and Brad Pitt are great actors, the same goes for Jodie Foster too. ‘Good Will Hunting’ was a film that really left an impression on me and another film that I really liked was, ‘Contact’”

MUSIC: “I have a wide range of music tastes. At the moment I like soft rock but in the USA I also listen to country and rap music. Celine Dion is good for when you are stretching, relaxing or when you want to fall asleep at night. I have also been listening to Sinaed O’Conner a lot lately. Often during a tournament I will listen to the same CD. Then afterwards that CD has a lot of memories from that tournament. When I listen to that CD again I know I listened to that CD in Berlin, that CD in Rome and that CD in Australia. Sometimes I can listen to the same song ten times in a row, for example, ‘Desert Rose’ by Sting.”

FOOD: “When you are like me and find yourself always eating in restaurants, then you really look forward to eating bread and butter once more. Or perhaps Wienerli like yesterday evening. I like Japanese food and Chinese
too. I like light and simple things and things like fruit and vegetables….. and Swiss Schoggi (chocolate)! When it comes to desserts you always have to
give me seconds!

INTERNET: “If I am surfing the internet then I usually look at sport pages to find out what is new. I seldom surf to the fan pages set up about me. Last year I did a lot for my own official homepage….. chats with fans etc, but this year I have done quite a bit less. I think it is good that the press conferences from tournaments get used on a lot of these pages. I find emails very practical and convenient and it helps me to keep in close contact with the WTA for news and other things.”

(Thanks to Bec, for the article translate from german to English..)