When you watch early Hingis it is kind of astonishing how much better her forehand was than later Hingis, although she tried hard to improve that shot, especially by hitting harder. But ironically her forehand only got shorter and more harmless with less dangerous placement. In her early days she was not overthinking it.
To be honest, every part of her game was better in her early days. I think it had less to do with overthinking and more with confidence. Because of her immense natural talent additional training wouldn't have quite the same effect as it had on some other players. Instead, confidence was the key factor, and she was known for taking tough losses rather badly. But honestly, who can blame her? The only reason she didn't win the calendar year grand slam at age 16 was a horse riding accident. At 17 she won the calendar year grand slam in doubles. Who wouldn't get a bit cocky with such stats aged 17?
I somewhat agree but her technique changed on the forehand, she added more spin but I think it made her lose even more pace and depth on her shot. She only should have worked on the serve and on the athleticism and would have been a top player also later
Hingis is one of the rare players who wasn't bothered by Arantxa's moonballs. Hingis would step right in and take the ball early, putting Arantxa on the defense every time. Hingis was also an all-court-player, so there was really no safe place for Arantxa to hit the ball where Hingis couldn't attack her. These highlights were fun to watch! :)
What have you been watching? Commentators always credited Hingis all court game! Hingis was so solid at the net and baseline which is why she was so successful at doubles! Hingis much more of an all court player than Graf!
Hingis is such and underrated player, she's up there with the best of them, shame she didn't ever win at RG, she'd lost to the best here. Congrats to Hingis for this match.
There was something about Martina that brought out an extreme version of Arantxa - she hit harder and went for more winners. I just wish Arantxa took that approach with other matches because so often over the years we'd hear "I need to be aggressive" yet we'd just see a typical ASV approach. The oddest thing about their head to head is the Amelia Island '01 victory for Arantxa - who saw that one coming?! I desperately want someone to upload that match because I've never seen it since the first time 18 years ago - one of the only Arantxa matches I didn't record onto VHS!
The 96 Wimbledon final was never close. Nor was the 95 Australian Open. The 96 French final was a bagel in the final set. It is misleading to say she lost all close finals. Only a couple of them were.
I think Arantxa was probably burnt out by that stage - she'd had a great 1994 and a 1995/6 of losing finals. Her game has gone stale and into decline and it's worth noting that she never beat Graf after 1994.
@@ralphbourgeois5875it was the 95 final that was a bagel in the final set. As memory serves, arantxa had come into the French open in 1995 recovering from an injury. She was lacking match play and fitness and it caught up with her in the end. The 1996 final had a 10-8 final set.
Martina was always a terrible matchup for Arantxa. Martina is a more gifted and even more consistent type of Arantxa. That's said, since Arantxa's peak was 92-95 and parts of 96 and 98, their meetings did not completely reflects the differences.
That Martina is soooooooooo overrated! Anna Kournikova could slay her if she was not with injuries! Anna has always been in top 5 without anabolics unlike Sharapova and Serena Williams for your information lacheyrules!!!!!!!!!!
Barbara Saldivar LoL..no..Kournikova never won a single title...Sharapova won Wimbledon before she became a drug abuser..so injuries or not Sharapova is a better player..Kournikova is hotter anyway..
It used to kill me when I saw a draw and Martina was in Arantxa's path. Arantxa just couldn't draw errors from Martina in the same way she could other players. Her consistency was met with even more consistency, court craft with better court craft, and if she tried to hit hard then she made errors herself. She relied on playing her best tennis and Martina having a slightly off day but even then it only led to slightly closer encounters than usual, rather than a victory. The only win for Arantxa after the very first really took me by surprise because by that point I'd lost confidence in her ever beating Martina!
Me neither lol. Nearly fell off my chair when I saw that result. 2001 wasn't a great year for Hingis though, and that green clay in the US isn't her best surface. Still a shocking loss.
ASV just didn't have the consistent power off the ground to beat Hingis when she was on form. You had to keep Hingis on her backfoot to beat her, and ASV just gave her too much time to control the points.
ASV had such a poor record vs Hingis. Part of the reason in my opinion was ASV was so passive on the return of serve. Hingis would admit herself that she had one of the weakest serves of the top players, especially her second serve. Watch ASV's return of serve in this match... even on the 2nd serves, she did nothing but bunt it back. Once Hingis gets on top of you in a rally, you're unlikely to get it back. ASV's lack of aggression cost her against Hingis repeatedly. The Williams sisters, Lindsay, Mary Pierce, Monica, Steffi (forehand) all pummeled Hingis serve and it's why they had more success vs Hingis than ASV.
Martina's next match after this one was a nightmare for her. I think she Will never forget it. She paid her silly arrogancy and I'm so happy for that. Arantxa won 3 times Roland Garros, Martina 0
@@DIANAROSS4EVER you can't even compare Arantxa to Martina. Arantxa would always keep herself calm in every situation in compared to Hingis, who's cockiness and stupidity cost her a lot of success.
They first played in '96 and Hingis led the head to head 2:1 by the end of the year although Arantxa won the first encounter which was on green clay. Can't recall if it was Hilton Head or Amelia Island.
