Hingis' Grand Slam title hopes

By Antony Hampson
Coach and Martina Hingis' former hitting partner

Monte Carlo Tennis Academy coach Antony Hampson spent two Australian Opens as Martina Hingis' hitting partner.

The three-time champion reached the final in 2000 and 2001 but lost to Jennifer Capriati both times.

Here the 26-year-old Hampson, a former Australian national junior champion, gives BBC Sport an insight into the person behind the player, and admits that, 12 months into her comeback, the Swiss Miss is still no nearer to winning a coveted Grand Slam title.

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The first day I went to hit with Martina Hingis reminded me of the day I took my driving test when I was 18.

Hingis is a five-time Grand Slam winner, claiming three titles in 1997

For the first 10 minutes I was pretty nervous - you certainly don't want to be hitting balls out of the stadium on your first day when you are supposed to be preparing her for Grand Slam matches.

It helped that Martina was a very warm person, and she made me feel very welcome.

You see her on the television, you see her smile a lot, and she looks like she's enjoying herself, but it was a relief to find that she is a genuinely nice person.

Last year I helped Justine Henin-Hardenne to prepare for a match against Hingis and they have very different pre-match methods.

Martina would hit a lot of balls, but it was mostly hand skills - hitting the ball to the corners and a lot of volleying.

Before a match she would hit for 45 minutes to an hour, whereas Justine liked to hit for less time, but with much more intensity.

Henin-Hardenne would do a lot of physical work, whereas Martina's physical state was always a question mark.

In the 2001 Australian Open final against Jennifer Capriati, it was very hot, more than 40C, and whereas Capriati was able to last the distance, Hingis couldn't.

My gut feeling was that she lacked the level of fitness and strength she really needed to compete with the Williams sisters and Capriati in long, physical matches.

She's a lovely person and great for the game, but unfortunately, the game has moved on

Now that she has come back, the physical side is even more important, and unless she pays particular attention to this area of her game I feel that another Grand Slam is beyond her.

The last time I hit with her was in 2004, when she was halfway through her retirement. We had a light-hearted hit for a couple of hours when she was here in Melbourne commentating for television.

She said it was the first time that she had hit for a couple of months, and yet her hand skills were still there. I hit some balls pretty hard at her and she could still see the balls and pick up the volleys well.

I got the feeling that she wasn't happily retired. She had stayed close to the game through commentating and writing, and I was really happy when she decided to come back because she is so good for the game.

When she came back a year ago, I was working with Justine and they were drawn to play each other in the first round in Sydney.

Hingis won the Australian title in 1997 at the age of 16

Justine asked me to go and watch Hingis practice. Other than trying to get a bit more power on her serve I could see that there was not a great deal of difference between the Hingis of four or five years ago and the Hingis of today.

During that time, the modern game had moved on a lot, and although I thought she could get back to the top 10, I had my doubts about whether she could make the top five unless she got fitter and stronger.

Twelve months on, I do not think she is any closer to actually winning another Grand Slam.

She will play Kim Clijsters in the quarter-finals and I'm afraid to say that she will probably be overpowered by Kim, as she would with the top few girls.

I hope I'm wrong because she's a lovely person and great for the game, but unfortunately, the game has moved on.

Antony Hampson is now a coach at the Monte Carlo Tennis Academy (MCTA).

The MCTA is the first touring tennis academy in the world with the mission to discover, train and manage the best juniors and develop them to become top professional players.