Behind the Headlines - Catching up on tennis news

Martina Hingis

Hingis comments on other veterans – Martina Hingis is 32 years old and this week in Cincinnati, she was asked to comment on fellow veterans in the game – Kimiko Date-Krumm and the Williams sisters. On the 42 year old Japanese wonder woman, Hingis says, “It’s unbelievable at her age. I mean, yeah. I mean, I’ve been saying that over and over. Like she must really love tennis. I mean, I do too, but sometimes, at some point, you kind of slow down. But she’s like a Duracell bunny, right? She’s unbelievable. Keeps going and going and going.”

When asked if seeing Venus Williams play motivated her to come back in singles, Hingis replied, “No, not really, because, when you lose as a player like her, it’s not really encouraging because she plays well like first or second set and losing to players that she’s not used to losing. So, no, that’s not encouraging at all. Serena, yeah, it’s a different story. She’s got so much willpower, it’s amazing. I really admire how she can still get out there and motivate herself all the time over and over all these years. But they were always ?? like they had many more breaks. I mean, I had my break for three years, but, yeah, I was out there a lot younger. And I don’t have the same body as them too. So it’s a little bit different when you can hit four aces in a game. I mean, I don’t have that weapon.”

Hingis’ results in her latest comeback have been mixed. She and partner Daniela Hantuchova won a round in each of their three tournaments but lost in the second round each time. The pair will also play in New Haven next week and the US Open thereafter before re-assessing their future plans.

US Open pull-outs – The final grand slam of the year will be missing world no. 8 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Croatian Marin Cilic (allegedly under suspension for a doping offence) and Serbian Viktor Troicki (currently serving an 18 month ban for a doping offence)

Fabio pulls a Fognini – There’s never a dull moment when Fabio Fognini is around. The Italian, who went on a 13 match clay court winning streak post Wimbledon, came up with some poor sportsmanship during his loss to Radek Stepanek in the first round at Cincinnati this week. Serving to stay in the match, Fognini double faulted twice, got a point penalty for ball abuse, foot faulted on match point, then purposely foot faulted again to lose the match. It’s no surprise that he was booed off the courts by the fans.

US Open renovations – Monday finishes at the US Open were becoming somewhat of a tradition, with the tournament going into overtime for the last five years in a row. Come 2017 though that would be a things of the past. The USTA has finally bitten the bullet and come up with plans to build a roof over the Arthur Ashe Stadium by possibly 2016 or maximum 2017. There will also be a roof over a new Louis Armstrong Stadium and a new Grandstand court – all part of a $550 million dollar renovation plan.

Post Its – Six time doubles grand slam champion and Olympics mixed doubles gold medal winner Max Mirnyi gets his own stamp from the Belarus Post. Surely, there’s one coming up for Victoria Azarenka.