Why Martina is the Perfect Player          Back to the site
By Cyclops (age 15)
From Sydney
E-mail:  aleite@one.net.au
Posted on May 9, 1999.

I first saw Martina play at the 1996 Hopman Cup, and she was facing women that were 3 times as muscular as her. The way she disposed of them was fantastic. And what about that SMILE. The first time I saw it was like a wakeup call. I couldn't believe it!! I knew that this girl enjoyed playing tennis, even if she lost a point she wouldn't scream, yell at herself or hit herself, she would just smile.

Goran Ivanisevic (at 96 Hop Cup - Martina was 15) said that Martina returned his serve better than most men on the tour. That blew me away!! When Martinar eached the quarter-finals of the Aus Open that year, defeating the big serving dutch Schultz-McCarthy along the way, before losing in three sets to Coetzer, I knew I was watching a future star.

After winning the Wimbledon doubles with Helena Sukova, I knew she would also dominate the doubles tour. 1997, What can I say??? I thought I was dreaming when I saw all of her results. 1998 - Doubles was fantastic, Singles was a little bit complacent, but it seems that she has learnt from it. 1999 -regained #1 in singles again dominating the Australian Open. 

Some people say that Martina is very arrogant, but you have to realise that she has been trying very hard to tone that down. After her comments about Amelie at the Aus Open, she was critised, but Martina was under the impression that Lindsay had said the same thing, the press told her that. Later in the year, however, Amelie said that Martina apologised, and Martina was a lot more grateful after their match in Paris. So she's learning. After her match with Steffi at the 98 Philly tournament, Martina said that she now looks up to Steffi, so she is maturing a lot.

There are many more reasons why Martina is the perfect player and why she amazes me, but they are too long to type.

I hope you enjoyed my post!