Youth proves no barrier as Hingis downs Novotna

A set down, Martina Hingis had Jana Novotna exactly where she wanted her.

Hingis employed the tennis version of rope-a-dope Saturday, letting Novotna exhaust herself with charges to the net, patiently waiting for the chance to punch back untouchable shots, and becoming, at 16, the youngest player to win Wimbledon since 1887.Floating lightly on court, Hingis dismantled Novotna 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 with a poise and savvy far beyond her years. She absorbed Novotna's punishing volleys, overcame the frustrations of a flat, timid start, then showed the kind of all-court attack that an increasingly weary Novotna couldn't overcome.

"It might be that maybe I'm too young to win this title," said Hingis, who captured her first Grand Slam championship at the Australian Open in January and reached the French Open final last month. If Hingis had not fallen off a horse and torn a knee ligament a month before the French, she might be three-quarters of the way through a Grand Slam sweep.

"At the finals at the French Open, I just knew I wasn't in great shape," she said. "This time it's like I could do it."

The 28-year-old Novotna wanted to make everyone forget her history of choking: her frantic capitulation one point from a 5-1, third-set lead in the 1993 Wimbledon final against Steffi Graf; the collapse at 5-0 and match point in the third set against Chanda Rubin in the 1995 French; the loss to Graf in the '95 Wimbledon semifinals after again taking the first set.

But everyone at Centre Court on Saturday, most of all Hingis, remembered Novotna's vulnerability when she is winning big matches, and her loss had a sense of inevitability about it even when she led by a set.

Though clearly the sympathetic favorite of the fans, who vividly recalled her sobbing on the Duchess of Kent's shoulder during the trophy presentation four years ago, the only question about Novotna would be the manner in which she would lose and the excuses she would give.

"It was a pulled abdominal stomach muscle," Novotna said. "At the beginning of the match it was really good. I felt like, if I keep on serving like that, and if I have no pain, then everything should be fine.

"But, unfortunately, it didn't last. I had a little pain in the beginning of the second set, and it was getting worse and worse as the match progressed. So I knew I would have to be extremely lucky, and Martina would have to make a lot of mistakes for me to win that match."

At various times this tournament, Novotna claimed her knees hurt, she had a sore arm, her right quadriceps bothered her, and she had a pulled stomach muscle. For someone in such dire shape, she raced incredibly around the court against Hingis throughout the match.