| WIMBLEDON, England (AP) -- Martina Hingis couldn't cry on her mother's
shoulder this time.
She told her mother to stay away from Wimbledon, give her more space,
let her practice, play and grow up more on her own.
Now, after suffering the greatest upset in women's tennis history, two
weeks after her tearful exit in her mother's arms at the French Open final,
Hingis felt terribly alone as she moped away in stunned silence.
``I think I need to take some time off,'' the 18-year-old Hingis said,
her career suddenly in disarray after a 6-2, 6-0 thrashing Tuesday by 16-year-old
Australian Jelena Dokic.
No top-seeded woman had ever lost in the first round of a Grand Slam
tournament to a player ranked as low as the No. 129 Dokic, who had to win
three qualifying matches to reach the main draw of her third major.
Only two other top-seeded women in the open era -- Steffi Graf at Wimbledon
in 1994 and Virginia Ruzici at the Australian in 1979 -- lost in the first
round and neither of their opponents was ranked as low as Dokic.
Dokic turned to her father, Damir, after the match and found him ``out
of words,'' which is just the way tennis officials would like him.
Two weeks ago, he was ejected from a tuneup tournament for shouting
abuse at officials during his daughter's match. He was later arrested for
lying down in traffic and jumping on the hood of a car. Police said he
had been drinking and was arrested ``for his own safety.'' He was not charged,
and was released after three hours ``when he sobered up.''
Yet as he watched his daughter beat Hingis, the 1997 Wimbledon champ
and winner of five Grand Slam titles, Dokic was a model of decorum.
``It's still hard to believe that I've beaten Martina,'' Jelena said.
``But I have to keep my feet on the ground because anything can happen
in the next match. Just because I've beaten Martina doesn't mean I'll win
the tournament.''
That match was the biggest surprise in a day of surprises.
There was Boris Becker, raising his arms in weary triumph after four
hours, the victor in one of the great comebacks in men's tennis history.
Becker didn't just fight back from two sets down -- he'd done that nine
times before -- and three match points in the fourth set. He came back
from two years away from Grand Slam tennis, beginning perhaps his last
Wimbledon with a 5-7, 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 victory over British wild
card Miles Maclagan.
Becker's biggest worry in the match wasn't actually losing. It was the
chance that his pregnant wife, Barbara, might go into labor watching him.
``She was getting very excited toward the end of the fourth set, and
I turned to her and told her to be quiet, to calm down a little because
otherwise we have a baby on the court,'' Becker said.
Their second child is due in mid-August, Becker said, ``but another
five-setter and I don't know.''
The only surprise Andre Agassi came up with was a new clean-shaven look
as he came back two weeks after winning the French Open to beat Andrei
Pavel 6-1, 6-2, 6-3.
There was a mild surprise in seeing Jennifer Capriati continue her own
comeback by completing a 5-7, 6-3, 9-7 victory over Anke Huber in a match
that had been suspended at 5-5 in the third set the night before.
And there was a surprise in seeing Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, twice a
Wimbledon finalist, struggle so much before beating qualifier Anna-Maria
Foldenyi 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
But nothing quite dazzled the crowd like Dokic's rout of Hingis.
Dokic, 5-foot-6 and quick as a sprinter, kept Hingis deep and drove
her wide with angled, two-fisted backhands and huge forehands. Deft drop
shots made Hingis pay for staying back. During a stretch of 11 straight
games that she won, Dokic bobbed up and down at the baseline like a boxer
warming up.
Five months ago in the Australian Open, it was Hingis who did the bobbing,
beating the then-15-year-old Dokic 6-1, 6-2 in the third round. But that
was hardly representative of the kind of tennis Dokic can play.
Though unknown to casual fans, Dokic was the 1998 world junior champion.
She immigrated to Australia in 1994 from her native Serbia and turned pro
late last year. She is coached by her father and, recently, former pro
Wally Masur.
She made a big splash in early January when she beat Sanchez-Vicario,
ranked No. 4 at the time, and Sandrine Testud, No. 15, as she combined
with Mark Philippoussis to lead Australia to its first Hopman Cup title.
In Fed Cup play a few months later, she beat another tough player, No.
19 Barbara Schett.
Dokic's low ranking coming into Wimbledon didn't reflect the quality
of her game as much as the limited opportunity she had to play tournaments.
Age restrictions on the WTA Tour allow her to play only 10 tournaments
and four Grand Slam events this year.
The victory over Hingis should put Dokic in the top 50, and she seems
headed for the top 10 within the next year.
``She played a great match today,'' said Hingis, who recently invited
Dokic to practice with her in Switzerland. ``She didn't really let me get
back into it. I had a few chances, of course, but I didn't take them.''
Hingis later pulled out of the doubles competition, citing an unspecified
medical problem.
``What went wrong?'' Hingis was asked.
``I am not sure what went right, actually,'' she said.
She needs time off ``from everything,'' she said, and won't play tennis
for at least another month. Whether her mother, Melanie Molitor, is at
courtside when she returns is uncertain.
``We just decided to have a little bit of distance and work more on
our private lives,'' Hingis said.
This tournament was the first time mother and daughter have been apart
at a Grand Slam event. Asked if that made a difference, Hingis responded:
``I guess so. A pretty big one.''
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