TENNIS / JERRY CROWE : Gigi Fernandez Has Pigged Out

Gigi Fernandez, in an effort to curb her spendthrift ways, took the advice of a friend several years ago and started collecting pigs.

“Not live ones,” she said, laughing. “Only fake ones.”

She has stuffed pigs and glass pigs, even a bronze pig. She has a pig doorstop, pig candleholders, pig napkin rings, pig salt and pepper shakers, a pig lotion dispenser.

Fernandez, 29, guesses that she must have at least 100 pigs.

“It started as something to control my shopping,” she said. “Instead of buying random things, I started a collection.”

Before returning last week from Europe to her home in Aspen, Colo., Fernandez added to her collection when a fan in Eastbourne, England, gave her a stuffed pig that stood about three feet tall.

“It was quite a problem bringing it back into the country, but I couldn’t leave it,” she said. “It was really cute and cuddly.”

Of more importance to Fernandez, however, was the significant addition she made to another of her collections: She and partner Natalia Zvereva won their second consecutive women’s doubles championship at Wimbledon.

That made it six Grand Slam titles in a row for Fernandez and Zvereva, who can complete a Grand Slam by winning at the U.S. Open later this summer.

In addition, Fernandez won a gold medal at the Olympics last summer with partner Mary Jo Fernandez, who is no relation.

It used to be said that the best doubles team in the world was John McEnroe and anybody else.

These days, in women’s tennis, the same is said of Fernandez, who won Grand Slam titles with Robin White (1988 U.S. Open), Martina Navratilova (1990 U.S. Open) and Jana Novotna (1991 French Open) before she and Zvereva joined forces 16 months ago.

“I’ve heard that,” Fernandez said. “I think, right now, I’m one of the two best doubles players in the world.”

What makes her so?

“There are several things,” she said. “I have some of the quickest hands in the game, and I have pretty solid volleys. I have a strong serve.

“It’s a lot of technical things, but I think more important than anything is my personality. I communicate well and I’m easy to get along with on the court and I’m very supportive of my partners.

“And I think in a doubles partnership, that’s the main thing because, at this level, everybody has the strokes. Most people can develop a good doubles game. It’s just (a matter of) being able to find somebody that you can get along with and communicate with when things aren’t going so well.”

An effervescent personality, Fernandez said that Zvereva has been her favorite partner, “by far. I’m most relaxed with her,” she said. “When I played with Martina, I was always uptight. I wasn’t relaxed on the court.

“I think a lot of it was because she was Martina. At the time I was playing with her, she was No. 1 in the world in singles. So you’re trying to do your job, but you know that if you win, it’s because you’re playing with Martina and if you lose, it’s your fault.

“It was a little intimidating. It was the first time that I’d played with a player of that stature. I played with Robin White and we won the U.S. Open, but we were both sort of equal.”

Of Novotna, Fernandez said: “She just can’t have fun. I don’t know what it is. She used to--like five or six years ago, she used to be more fun. Before she started working with Hana (Mandlikova), I think.

“That’s very important to me--to be able to have fun on the court because I play most relaxed when I’m having fun.”

Two years ago, Fernandez and Zvereva found themselves without partners when Novotna left Fernandez and Larisa Savchenko left Zvereva.

“We were both sort of left feeling like, ‘What the hell did we do to get dumped by our partners?’ ” said Fernandez, who in 1991 was a finalist with Novotna in three Grand Slam events.

Novotna and Savchenko formed a partnership right away, but Fernandez and Zvereva waited almost a year before forming an alliance.

“I think the reason we didn’t get together sooner was because we had played once or twice after we had broken up with our previous partners and it wasn’t great,” Fernandez said. “We did OK, but we didn’t do great. I think that’s because Natalia was playing the backhand and I was playing the forehand at the time.

“This time, I told her we should try it the other way around--that I should play the ad court and she should play the deuce court.”

Realigned, they clicked.

“We’re having a great time,” Fernandez said. “Natalia has a fun personality. She likes to have fun on the court, and she jokes. And she is emotional, like I am.

“I think that’s why we win so much--because we somehow find a way to have fun even when the pressure is just ridiculous or things are just not going our way.

“We have a dirty-joke book in our racket bag.”

When do they bring it out?

“When we’re really, really down,” Fernandez said. “Like we were losing in Berlin--we were down to (Elizabeth) Smylie and (Nicole) Provis, 6-1, 1-0--and we pulled it out and just started laughing. And we turned (the match) around. We ended up winning (1-6, 6-3, 6-4, en route to the tournament championship).”

Although she spends almost no time practicing doubles, Fernandez has been less successful in singles, never advancing beyond the quarterfinals in a Grand Slam tournament.

Presently ranked 33rd, she has never been higher than 17th.

Still, until recently, her doubles career has always been secondary.

“The only time that I’ve ever thought about my doubles during a singles match was when I was playing Zina (Garrison Jackson) at Wimbledon this year and I hurt my shoulder,” she said. “I hurt it in the first set and it was getting worse and worse.

“If I hadn’t won the Australian and the French (in doubles), I probably would have finished the match. But I was thinking about my doubles match (the next day), and I thought I’d better stop.

“That’s the first time in 10 years of playing (professionally) that doubles has taken a priority over singles and it’s because of the Grand Slam.”

In another concession to their pursuit of the doubles Grand Slam, Fernandez and Zvereva will meet to practice in the week before the U.S. Open starts in New York on Aug. 30.

Usually, they just show up at tournaments and play.

And win.

Tennis Notes

Jimmy Connors, who will be 41 on Sept. 2, said that he might play in the U.S. Open for the 23rd time. “New York has always inspired me,” said Connors, who will play in a 35-and-over tournament Sept. 29-Oct. 3 at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, but has played in only five tour events this year. “But do I want to look back and say it inspired me, or do I play one more time and maybe look at it from six feet under? There comes a time when you can only push yourself to a certain limit. I have hit the wall a few times the last two years and it’s not a pretty sight. I don’t know if I want to see that again.”

Already boasting the Wimbledon and top-ranked player in the world, Pete Sampras, the Volvo Tennis/Los Angeles Aug. 2-8 at the Los Angeles Tennis Center will also feature the world’s No. 1-ranked doubles team, Australians Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge, who also won at Wimbledon. . . . Wimbledon finalist Jana Novotna has withdrawn from the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles Aug. 9-15 at Manhattan Beach. Gigi Fernandez, Lindsay Davenport and Pam Shriver have been added to the field. . . . Volunteer ushers are needed for the Volvo Tennis/Los Angeles. Information: 310-824-1010.