Hingis Vs. Graf Is Dream Match Time Is Right For Women’s Best To Face Off For Top Spot

A celebrity at 16, she’s attractive, athletic, wealthy, and wise enough to duck questions about whether she dates.

“If you’re traveling as much as I do, it’s hard to find somebody,” Martina Hingis says with a laugh. “You would have to go every week with someone else, that’s the problem.”

Although dating is out for Hingis, matchmaking is in. And the match that women’s tennis wants is Hingis against Steffi Graf.

The game needs it, and so do both players.

Graf, saddled with health and personal problems, could be rejuvenated by the challenge Hingis poses as the youngest No.1 player in history. Hingis, meanwhile, could validate her ranking by beating Graf, the game’s dominant player for the past decade.

Perhaps most important, the showdown could give the women’s tour a boost and dispel the gloom hanging over it. Top stars Graf, Monica Seles, Jennifer Capriati and Mary Pierce too often make headlines because of turmoil instead of triumph.

“When Steffi comes back,” Hall of Famer Billie Jean King says, “we’re going to have a great rivalry.”

Graf’s most recent tournament was in Tokyo 10 weeks ago. She was to face Hingis in the final but withdrew because of a knee injury and hasn’t played since. For their careers, Graf is 5-1 against Hingis, but hasn’t played her since November.

The injury also will keep Graf from the next big tournament, in Hamburg, Germany, at the end of this month. The next opportunity for the two to meet will be the German Open in Berlin May 12-18.

Hingis, 31-0 this year, replaced Graf at the top of the rankings March 31.

Hingis is taking a three-week break before starting the European clay season.

In Graf’s absence, Hingis has won more than $1.2 million and six tournaments this year, including the Australian Open. Sixteen has never been so sweet.

“Why should I be worried about the future?” Hingis says. “Right now, almost everything is perfect.”

Eventually, Hingis’ stiffest challenge will come from her own generation - perhaps 16-year-old Venus Williams or 15-year-old Anna Kournikova. But a showdown is compelling because of the contrasts in age, disposition and playing style.

Graf has won 21 Grand Slam titles with a forehand and serve that overpower opponents. The 115-pound Hingis makes fun of her own forehand, hits softball serves and compensates for a lack of muscle with more subtle strengths: footwork, anticipation, economy of motion and return of serve. Her finesse and savvy belie her youth.

“She has unbelievable court sense,” King says. “That’s something you really can’t teach. You’re really born with that.”

The consensus on the women’s tour is that Graf would have difficulty with Hingis.

“If Steffi is healthy and if she is going to keep on playing, then definitely it will be a great challenge for her toward the end of her career to try to overtake Martina,” Jana Novotna says.