"You always talking about Steffi Graf, it's not my mistake she's not here" - When Martina Hingis was incensed by media focus on German icon's absence
Martina Hingis was once incensed by the media's focus on Steffi Graf's absence during the 1997 US Open and expressed her frustration. The Swiss' comments came after she reached the final of the tournament.
In 1997, Graf had a challenging year. She lost the World No. 1 ranking to Hingis and failed to win a Major for the first time in a decade. The German also missed Wimbledon and the US Open due to undergoing reconstructive knee surgery in Vienna.
On the other hand, Hingis had a fairytale run at Flushing Meadows, winning the title after defeating Venus Williams. The No. 1 seed overcame Tami Whitlinger-Jones, Denisa Chladkova, Elena Likhovtseva, Maria Vento-Kabchi, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, and Lindsay Davenport on her way to the championship match.
Ahead of her match against Williams, Martina Hingis was asked by reporters to comment on whether she believed the tournament's outcome would have been different if Graf had been present.
In response, the Swiss criticized the media for consistently focusing on the 22-time Grand Slam champion, emphasizing that it was not her fault that her rival was absent.
"You always kind of talking about Steffi Graf," Hingis said. "It's not my mistake she's not playing here. You know, whenever she's going to come back, maybe for the Championships, she's for sure going to be always a dangerous player."
"You know her name, she's got so many Grand Slam titles. She had such a big career. Whenever she's going to come back, she's going to be a tough player to beat," she added.
The five-time Major champion continued:
"But having Williams on the other side is not, you know, the easiest thing in the world to do either. So I think you don't always have to talk about the past, but about the future, new generation like Venus Williams, Kournikova, and Lucic. Also Lindsay Davenport and Monica Seles are nothing to forget about, too."
Steffi Graf won her last Grand Slam title by defeating Martina Hingis
Steffi Graf defeated Martina Hingis in the final of the 1999 French Open to secure her last Grand Slam title and her 22nd Major overall. With the victory, she also equaled Chris Evert's record of nine final appearances in Roland Garros.
On her way to lifting the Suzanne Lenglen Cup, Graf had to overcome opponents including Magdalena Maleeva, Ines Gorrochategui, Åsa Svensson, Anna Kournikova, Lindsay Davenport, Monica Seles, before beating Hingis.
The German legend hung up her racquet the same year while still holding the World No. 3 ranking. Her last professional match was a second-round encounter at the TIG Classic in San Diego against Amy Frazier, from which she withdrew due to a hamstring injury.