4 Reasons to be glad Martina Hingis is back

So Chucky is back. Martina Hingis, now 32 and more than five years into her second retirement, is returning to WTA action. She restarted her top-level tennis career last night with a doubles match at the Southern California Open, partnering with Slovak Daniela Hantuchova. She and Hantuchova plan to play together at the U.S. Open, and rumors are flying that the Swiss soon will be playing singles, too, despite what she has to say on the matter.

The tennis community generally appears to view the return of the former World No. 1 as a good thing. But not everyone is jumping on Martina's bandwagon. The Tennis Space recently asked: "Should she really be welcomed back so warmly and unreservedly?"

It's a reasonable question. Hingis, after all, has never been particularly popular. And she did test positive for cocaine back in 2007. She denies ever using the drug, but she's returning to play without having to face more testing.

Still, The Spin of the Ball is hanging with the crowd on this one: we welcome her back. Here are four reasons we all should be glad Hingis is on the tour again:

4. She's fun to watch. Let's face it, women's tennis gets rather monotonous. With rare exception, it's all bashing all the time. But Hingis won't give us more of the same. Did you see her dismantle the more powerful Alisa Kleybanova in the World Team Tennis Finals last month? The younger Russian tried to muscle Hingis off the baseline, but the Swiss stood her ground, dancing out of the way of the ball and scooping shots off her toes. In one typical point, she hit a deep, looping shot to the ad corner to force Kleybanova into an uncomfortable stroke; then she hit a short, sharply angled forehand cross-court that made her opponent sprint forward and wide into the tramlines; and finally, the Swiss ended the point with a forehand slap shot down the line that Klebanova couldn't catch up to. Intelligent, pretty tennis, with nary a grunt issued or needed. She may insist she's not going to play singles on the tour, but we can still dream. A Wimbledon final next year between Hingis and Aggie Radwanska? Heaven.

3. Hingis is concentrating on doubles, and not because she doesn't think she can hang with the young 'uns on her own anymore. Hingis enjoys dubs -- and she's one of the discipline's all-time greats, winning the Grand Slam (with two partners) in 1998. Steve Tignor over at Tennis.com argued this week that "doubles is still valid as a spectator sport; it just needs to be showcased differently." Hingis, with her flair and variety and smarts, can show tournament-goers everything they're missing by ignoring the team play on the outside courts.

2. Her personal life is dramatic, ranging from a freak horse-riding accident to that positive test for blow. The latest? Her estranged husband Thibault Hutin claims she's a relentless bed-hopper. "Martina has a very personal conception of morality," he told a Swiss magazine last month. "She has always been like that. I think she has always been unfaithful to her boyfriends."

This personal stuff is all white noise to you, the tennis purist. We understand. But think about the bigger picture. Women's tennis is suffering. There are no meaningful rivalries and very little buzz these days. The WTA could use some reality-TV drama, at least until it gets its mojo back -- that is, until Sloane Stephens, Laura Robson, Eugenie Bouchard and the rest of the next generation hit the big time.

1. Everybody loves a good redemption story. The cocky, tactless Hingis often has been tough to root for. (When asked in 1999 why she stopped playing doubles with veteran Jana Novotna, she said: "She's old and slow.") But her friend Lindsay Davenport said the Swiss' two-year drug ban "definitely scarred her emotionally. That was not easy for her." And now Hingis' marriage has blown apart. So she is feeling more human, more like a normal person, than ever before. And she finally appears to want to be liked. "Thank you, tennis," she said in a moving speech at her Hall of Fame induction ceremony last month. "You gave me the world." Now maybe it will give her some love.

-- Douglas Perry

oregonlive.com

Thank you, #2 points out exactly what I have been saying the past several years now (and will continue to do so until it actually changes).

Because we're not there yet (sorry Serena but your dominance is not enough for me to truly enjoy the WTA).

In fact I'm so hoping Li Na or Azaranka win the U.S. Open this year.  Just to make it more interesting.

There's only so much ball bashing this tennis fan can handle.  Let's make women's tennis smart, and pretty again (so I can enjoy it as much as the men's).