Hingis primed for battle

Hingis is quickly learning how to cope with defeat

Martina Hingis demonstrates a new-found maturity as she considers her Grand Slam drought and the loss of the world number one ranking.

It might come as something of a surprise that Martina Hingis is prepared to really dig in and fight to reclaim her title as the world's best tennis player.

Hingis' rather haughty demeanour on court and a string of embarrassing faux-pas off it have earned her the nickname "Swiss Miss" and a reputation as a spoilt brat.

Hingis, though, is made of sterner stuff and the 21-year-old has no intention of allowing her competitors an easy ride at the top.

"I think I can still survive," Hingis told Radio Five Live.

"You have to just adjust to these power players and just bring something new to it.

It's amazing to look back now at what I've accomplished

World number three Martina Hingis

"I certainly hope I will win another Grand Slam and I'm working on it daily.

"I came very close last time and I've done it in the past so there's no reason to doubt myself."

The five-times Grand Slam winner attributes at least some of her fighting qualities to her heritage.

Her Czechoslovakian grandfather was sent to the uranium mines to serve eight years of hard labour for his anti-communist views.

"They're (those genes) definitely running through my mum's body and hopefully through mine," Hingis said.

"I was always very well prepared by her to expect what's happened and that's how things came so naturally to me."

But a three-year Grand Slam drought, as well as the loss of the world number one ranking, means Hingis has had to seek pleasures from the game other than winning.

Hingis last won a Grand Slam in January 1999

"Now I look at it (tennis) from a different point of view," she said.

"I really enjoy it with a passion, it's not only a job, it's the thing you want to do, you want to be successful and you want to do well.

"But there are a lot more terrible things going on in the world, so I think if you lose a tennis game, it's not such a big deal."

Hingis would have been forgiven for ditching this measured philosophy in January, when in soaring temperatures she held four match points in the Australian Open final against Jennifer Capriati, only to lose.

"Well, you couldn't get any closer than that right?" said Hingis.

"Just being one point away - but sometimes it shows how far that can still be.

"I'm just looking forward to the events coming up - Miami, the French Open, Wimbledon - so there's more chances hopefully."

No pressure

It is a measure of Hingis' more balanced attitude that she is able to look back on the early part of her career without a hint of bitterness about the predicament she now finds herself in.

"It's amazing to look back now at what I've accomplished," she said.

"But I'm really enjoying myself at this point in my career.

"For me it's almost easier than always having the pressure of succeeding and now I think it's up to the others to prove themselves."

But despite her unfailingly positive attitude, Hingis would doubtless enjoy her tennis that much more were she still proving herself at the top of the rankings.

A win at this week's Nasdaq-100 Open in Miami, regarded as the fifth Grand Slam, where she could face the likes of Jennifer Capriati and Venus Williams, would go some way to proving that it is at least a possibility.