FOR GOOD MEASURE

By JULIE CART

Aug. 6, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

It’s standard scientific method, when encountering a new phenomenon-- identify it, break it down, analyze, if possible, reproduce it.

When tennis discovered Martina Hingis, winning junior Grand Slam titles at 12, it didn’t at first distinguish her from the long line of precocious preteen prodigies that preceded her.

When she became the youngest person to win a Wimbledon title--the 1996 doubles with Helena Sukova at 15--she became a rare butterfly with tennis’ cognoscenti chasing after her with nets. Like most rare species, Hingis has eluded capture.

Now that she has won two Grand Slam singles titles as a 16-year-old, the expeditions are out in force to quantify what it is that makes Hingis the dominant player in women’s tennis today and measure her against those who came before.

In this last effort, Hingis has proved as elusive as she is on the court. She has resisted efforts to be labeled The Next . . . or In The Mold Of . . . . The sport has come to the conclusion that Hingis is one of a kind, too young to be considered an endangered species but too precious to damage with the usual comparisons.

Steffi Graf, who won the first of her 22 Grand Slam titles at 17, is usually sparse with praise of others. In the face of Hingis’ undeniable talent, even Graf is complimentary.

“I see her as the one to look out for, definitely,” Graf said. “It’s a very talented, intelligent game she’s playing out there.”

Who better to judge the Swiss teenager’s place in the hierarchy of the game’s other teenage stars than Graf, whose career has straddled adolescence to adulthood.

Hingis, who will play Anne-Gaelle Sidot of France at 7 tonight in the Acura Classic at Manhattan Beach, has proved her maturity on the court. She has a record of 54-1, has won the Australian Open and Wimbledon and her lone loss came to Iva Majoli in the final of the French Open.

Already, Hingis is being called the best teenager ever to play tennis. Comparisons to the game’s early young players are favorable to Hingis.

Helen Wills Moody, “Little Miss Poker Face,” won the first of her amazing 31 Grand Slam titles at 17. Hers was a powerful but static game, played with pace from the baseline. As Hingis threatens to do, Wills was unbeatable for a long stretch. Wills did not lose a set in singles from 1927 to 1932.

When Hingis won the Wimbledon singles title last month, she became the youngest winner since Lottie Dod at 15, in 1887. Like Hingis, the young Englishwoman excelled at other sports--she was an Olympic silver medalist in archery and played international field hockey and championship golf. Hingis enjoys in-line skating and playing basketball and soccer.

Of the modern-era players, Hingis is most often compared to Maureen Connolly. “Little Mo” won her first Grand Slam title--the U.S. championship--at 16, and, also like Hingis, was small and springy on the court. Her demeanor was always cheerful, especially when she was crushing opponents with ground strokes that seldom missed.

As Hingis aspires to do, Connolly won the Grand Slam in 1953, becoming the first woman to win the four major singles titles at Wimbledon and the Australian, French and U.S. championships.

There is also a connection in their love of horses. The only blip on Hingis’ career screen came in April, when she fell from her horse and injured her left knee, which required surgery. Connolly’s horse story had a worse ending. In 1954, she was struck by a car while riding a horse and sustained a leg injury that ended her career.

Connolly’s age record at the U.S. championships (16 years 11 months) was eclipsed by Tracy Austin, who won the U.S. Open in 1979 at 16 years 9 months. Of players in the modern era, Hingis compares favorably to Austin. Like the 5-foot Austin, Hingis is small but mighty. Austin was patient and used her mental strength as a weapon.

“She’s not 16 on the court,” Austin said. “I was 25 on the court as well. I was focused on each point. I never let you know my emotions. She lets off a little steam, then she moves on. She has the instinct for the game. She knows the right shot to make at the right time. She always knows what to do.”

Two other players in the modern era invite comparisons to Hingis, both of whom gained success as teenagers--Jennifer Capriati and Chris Evert. Hingis already has surpassed Capriati’s brief career record, and Evert said Hingis is better than she was at 16.

“I thought I’d never see anyone quite as precocious and far along as Capriati at age 13, but Hingis is one,” said Lynne Rolley, director of coaching for the U.S. Tennis Assn.

Hingis always has been mindful of Capriati’s youthful imprint and eager to distance herself from the troubled 21-year-old.

“I’m not like Jennifer,” Hingis said when she turned pro three years ago. “For one thing, I’m not an American.”

What Hingis meant was she was not likely to dabble in the kind of diversions that have sunk Capriati’s promising career.

The American Hingis does enjoy being compared to is Evert, whose style and poise the teenager openly admires. In fact, in the Women’s Tennis Assn. Tour’s Mentor Program, Hingis selected Evert to be her mentor.

“I’m her mentor, what in the world am I supposed to tell her?” Evert said. “Let’s see, I could have told her, ‘Martina, you could have won that French. Got a little sloppy there.’

“She’s wise beyond her years. She’s very instinctive about life and about tennis. It wouldn’t surprise me that at about age 23 she fell in love, got married and said goodbye to tennis.”

Like Evert, Hingis is a levelheaded teenager who shows little sign of impending rebellion. Again and again, people in tennis point to Hingis’ normality as a saving grace.

Jana Novotna told of lounging in the training room before the Wimbledon final and having a ‘pleasant conversation’ with the young woman who would, an hour or so later, defeat her.

“I think she will be very good because she’s very normal,” Novotna said. “If I compare her to other players who we saw burn out real quickly, I think she is very normal, thanks to her mother. When she is not on the court, she is acting like a normal teenage kid. On the other hand, she knows very well what she’s doing. When she’s out there, she wants to win.”

Peachy Kellmeyer is the vice president of tour operations and player relations for the WTA Tour. She’s seen them all and she’s never seen the likes of Hingis.

“I guess what impresses me most about Martina Hingis is the fact that she’s so tough mentally,” Kellmeyer said. “I don’t think in my lifetime I’ve seen a player that tough mentally.

“The kid has it all and at such a young age. I’ve never seen a player that well-rounded.”

Hingis is succeeding at a time when two of the decade’s dominant players, Graf and Monica Seles, have been on and off the tour because of injuries.

Some in tennis believe there are a few who can challenge Hingis.

What flaws were in her game, Hingis has moved to repair. Her powder-puff serve has more bite to it and deceptive movement. Her ground strokes are just as accurate but pack more power. She has weapons--Hingis’ backhand down the line is the best in women’s tennis.

But perhaps the one element that currently separates her from her peers is an unwavering confidence that has created a mystique.

“I think what is lacking at the moment is that everybody just thinks, ‘Oh, she’s playing too well, she is too confident, there’s no way I can ever beat her,’ ” Novotna said.

That self-belief is, of course, a vital component for any professional athlete. Seles says that all top players have it at a certain age, before doubt creeps in.

“[Hingis] just has a great attitude about tennis right now. It’s great to watch her,” Seles said. “She’s just playing some great tennis.”

Said Austin: “Coming up, you have no fear. You have nothing to lose. She’s handling every situation fearlessly. . . . Right now, everything is easy. That’s being 16.”

Times staff writer Randy Harvey contributed to this story.

* SHORT WORK: Anke Huber handed Anna Kournikova the worst defeat of her career, 6-0, 6-1. C7

* (Southland Edition) BEACH SCENE: Martina Hingis will play in one of today’s featured matches at Manhattan Beach

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Age won first Grand Slam title:

Billie Jean King, 21

Martina Navratilova, 21

Chris Evert, 19

Steffi Graf, 17

Monica Seles, 16

Martina Hingis, 16

Age reached No. 1 rank in world: