MAZDA TENNIS CLASSIC : When the Game is Doubles, Gigi Fernandez Is Singular

This may come as a shock, but San Diego played host to two of the world’s top-ranked tennis players this week.

No, Boris Becker didn’t sneak into town for a quick fix at Sea World’s dolphin pool.

All the time tennis fans were fawning over No. 1 singles player Monica Seles, here for the Mazda Tennis Classic, Gigi Fernandez, her No. 1 counterpart in doubles, was right under your nose.

March of this year marked Fernandez’s debut at the No. 1 slot, which she lost a week later, regained briefly in April, and has now held like a vice since early June.

Fernandez, 27, and Nathalie Tauziat are the tournament’s top-seeded team. Saturday night at the La Costa Resort and Spa, they defeated Ros Fairbank-Nideffer and Lise Gregory 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, to advance to today’s final.

That doubles is such an afterthought--in three years of this tournament, an official said they’ve gotten no postmatch interview requests for a doubles player--isn’t surprising or frustrating to the Aspen-based Fernandez.

“People like celebrities in general,” she said. “Single players get all the fame and fortune and all that. But it doesn’t bother me, I’m happy where I am. I’m not out here to be famous.”

Just being able to say she’s the best is plenty satisfying.

“It’s very special to be No. 1 in the world at anything, particularly in our profession, because it’s such a difficult goal to achieve. . . . There are very few people who can say it.”

Or whose year-to-date earnings are so huge. Although she is ranked only 34th in singles--up from a year-low 84th one week in April--she’s the ninth on the prize money leaders list. Of the $261,578 she’s made this year, only $58,066 of that has come from singles.

“That much? Well, you can make good money in doubles,” she said.

Not everyone has what it takes to succeed in doubles. Fernandez said Seles, as good as she is, would make a lousy doubles player.

“It’s very different to be good at singles then it is to be good at doubles,” she said. “For example, Monica is No. 1 in singles, but she’d never be No. 1 in doubles, even if she tried, because she doesn’t have the game for it.

“The things that make me good as a tennis player show more on the doubles court. That’s why I’ve excelled more in doubles. I have fast hands. You don’t need to be quick, but you need to have fast hands.”

Players often favor one side of the court, but Fernandez is equally prepared to play either.

“My favorite side? Whatever I’m playing that week,” she said. “I can go either way. I’m more flexible than some players.

It’s expected, Fernandez said, to have chemistry with the partner with whom you play the majority of the year. What makes one succeed is the ability to make any partnership work.

“I play well with all my partners,” she said. “I make it work. That’s why I’m No. 1. I have to find a way to click with everyone I choose to play with.”

She and Jana Novotna, No. 8 in singles, clicked. That is, until Novotna pulled the plug on the partnership after their loss in the Wimbledon final.

And Fernandez still doesn’t know why.

“She just came up to me and said she didn’t want to play anymore,” said Fernandez, already a Grand Slam winner with Martina Navratilova--the 1990 U.S. Open. “It was as shocking to me as it was to the rest of the world. We make three Grand Slam finals, win one (the French Open), and are close to winning the other ones. She said it had nothing to do with the loss. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Despite her success in doubles, Fernandez insisted she doesn’t give it preferential treatment.

“Not at all,” said the Puerto Rico native, who didn’t turn pro until she was 19. “In fact, I’m just starting to play good singles this year. I had a good summer.”

She has posted victories over three top 10 players.

Not until she’s physically unable to keep up with the youngsters will Fernandez remotely consider focusing on doubles.

“Martina peaked at 28, so I keep telling myself, it’s not too late,” she said. “But when you’re 27, you’re sort of toward the end. Maybe I’m in the middle. I probably have four or five good years ahead.”