Open Drama Could Hinge On Hingis

No matter what happens today, whether Martina Hingis gets routed by Steffi Graf or continues her magical tour of the U.S. Open, the 15-year-old from Switzerland has become a star.

The women will play their semifinals on Stadium Court. First, No. 2 seed Monica Seles faces No. 4 seed Conchita Martinez. That will be a rematch of a 1995 semifinal that Seles won, 6-2, 6-2, and if it becomes a replay of the eight previous matches between Seles and Martinez, there will be little drama. Seles has won all eight, never losing a set and never dropping more than six games.

That leaves the second semifinal, which will have 27-year-old Graf going against Hingis. Graf is the grand dame of women’s tennis, the owner of 20 Grand Slam titles, including four U.S. Open crowns. Hingis elicits comparisons to Chris Evert, Evonne Goolagong and Martina Navratilova, the former superstar she is named after. She has brought a twinkle to women’s tennis with a game that is swift, smart and elegant.

Throughout the tournament, Hingis has been disarmingly charming. Her voice shook after she upset Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Jana Novotna. But after each of those matches, she went back to the locker room, took a quick shower, then went out and played a women’s doubles match or a mixed doubles match. And in those matches, she giggled and frolicked and generally - and this is unusual these days - enjoyed herself.

Much credit for Hingis’ behavior must go to Melanie Zogg, her mother. Somehow Hingis, who was groomed to be a tennis player practically from birth, has developed a mature, well-rounded game and a mature, well-rounded personality.

Hingis never has spent all day on the court. She plays other sports in addition to tennis and saves time for riding Montana, her horse.

“I love to do many different things,” she has said. “I don’t think I have missed anything by playing tennis.”

In the last two years, she even has grown confident enough to speak English in interviews and eschew a translator.

Hingis understands what she will face Friday. In four career meetings with Graf, she owns one victory. It came last spring, in the quarterfinals of the Italian Open, where she pulled a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 upset.

“But this is much different,” she said. “It is a Grand Slam, and it is on a hard court. I don’t think it will be like in Rome.”

Meanwhile, Graf is having her attention pulled in another direction. The trial of her father, Peter, began Thursday in a German court. Peter Graf is charged with evading taxes on $28 million of Steffi’s income in the years he has served as her coach, her mentor and her financial adviser.

Thursday, he stood in court and said: “I declare that my daughter had nothing to do with the situation.”

But his daughter knows that he faces a 10-year prison sentence. And while Hingis has been filled with joy for 11 days, Graf has played her tennis with a somber sense of duty. “I am a little disappointed about the way I am playing,” she said.

And then she paid Hingis a wonderful compliment.

“She seems to believe a lot more in herself and believes she can play and win against the top players,” Graf said.

Graf didn’t say that lightly. She understood what she would face Friday.