Re: Hingis to return to tour

Sakari Lund <sakari.lund@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> On Tue, 29 Nov 2005 21:50:19 GMT, "Vari L. Cinicke"
> <cinicke@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> >wkhedr wrote:
> >
> >> Honestly I think she will crushed!!
> >>
> >> If she does not mind being ranked 50, she will do fine!
> >>
> >
> >Well, she will have to start over, won't she? Qualies and wild cards and
> >fighting it out.
> >
> >It is not as if she will have a protected rank from retirement.
>
> She will need a lot of wild cards to get in any tournaments. She would
> need wild cards for qualifying too, but I don't think she will play
> any qualifyings. They give her wild cards as much as she wants,
> although I am not sure if there is a rule about how many they can
> give? I think any match win will be tough at least in the beginning,
> and how long will she continue if she keeps losing? People talk about
> top 10, I think that is science fiction. But she has proved me wrong
> many times...

To answer a bunch of questions at once:

One, it's not Science Fiction. It's Fantasy. Science fiction
is based on *science*. (Which is why all so-called science fiction
in TV is actually fantasy. :-)

More to the point: Hingis played singles and doubles in WTT.
In doubles -- where WTT has stronger players than in singles --
she was amazing, and her results won the WTT title for her team.
They literally couldn't have done it without her (you don't have
to believe me; check the statistics). In singles, she beat most
of the weak players -- the Sequeras and Navratilovas. But she
lost (in her first match back) to Shaughnessy, and she also had
a loss this year to Stosur. In other words, she has been having
trouble with big servers. That does not sound promising. I don't
think she will be a complete failure -- but I certainly wouldn't
expect her to make it back to the Top Ten. And her stamina is
going to be an interesting question. After all, she was taking
Weingartner apart at Pattaya before she ran out of gas, and after
that, she was very feeble.

I agree with those who think she should have tried something
more serious before coming back. WTT isn't an exhibition, but
in some ways, an exhibition against a top player would be better.

I would expect success for her in doubles, assuming she plays
doubles. Especially now, with doubles moribund.

Regarding wildcards: Yes, as a Slam winner, she gets unlimited
wildcards. What's more, as a past champion, she can *demand* a
wildcard at the AO. And she comes close to meeting the requirements
for Gold Exempt Emeritus.

But tournaments have only so many wildcards, and they have to
*grant* them. Or the WTA does, and the WTA only uses its
wildcards to assure that tournaments get their required Gold
Exempts. Thus I would say a great deal depends on whether Hingis
is made a Gold Exempt. If she is, she will have no trouble getting
into tournaments. If she isn't, it gets a lot more interesting.

--
The fundamental division of powers in the Constitution of the
United States is between voters on the one hand and property
owners on the other. -- Arthur Twining Hadley, 1908
(Quoted in Alpheus Thomas Mason, _The Supreme Court_)
.