Tennis Has Its Own Version of the Brat Pack

Right around the time Mary Pierce was serving for the match against Martina Hingis Saturday night, a baby in the seats over her right shoulder began to cry. Then another baby high in the stands on the east side of the court joined in.

The mothers quickly muffled the cries of their infants. And in a matter of moments Pierce finished off her semifinal match against Hingis, a confluence of events that continued the unspoken theme running through women’s tennis this summer: Hush, children.

The teenage wave that took over and re-energized the sport for the past year is on pause. The brash youngsters who sounded off about each other and everyone else on their way to the top haven’t had much to say lately.

Top-ranked Hingis has not won a tournament since early May, and neither have her peers. Venus and Serena Williams haven’t taken the next step in their ascension to greatness. Anna Kournikova’s wrist injury has kept her off the tour since June (although she presumably remains available for photo shoots).

Meanwhile that wisened group of older players--known as Generation X only yesterday--quietly reclaimed its share of the game. Lindsay Davenport’s 6-3, 6-1 victory over Pierce in the final of the Toshiba Tennis Classic at La Costa Sunday was her second straight title--and yet another reminder that the 20-somethings won’t go away without a fight.

“That’s right,” the 22-year-old Davenport said triumphantly afterward. “We’re gonna hang around here and not let them get to the top yet.”

For most of the past year the teenagers squabbled over who deserved to be the next queen of tennis.

“With all the players, the young ones, each of them likes to get [the spotlight] away from the other ones,” Davenport said.

At the current rate, however, the answer might be none of the above.

Say, kids, what have you done lately?

In the French Open final, 26-year-old Arantxa Sanchez Vicario beat 24-year-old Monica Seles. The Wimbledon women’s final was downright Jurassic by today’s standards: 29-year-old Jana Novotna over 30-year-old Nathalie Tauziat.

Most of players in their 20s had the misfortune of playing their prime tennis years during the time Seles and Steffi Graf made the Grand Slam tournaments and the No. 1 ranking their exclusive domain. Seles and Graf won 21 of the 24 Grand Slam events from 1991 to 1996.

It took a knife attack on Seles by a deranged Graf fan in 1993 and a knee injury to Graf last year to knock them off their perch. Right now women’s tennis is wide open, with perhaps more depth than at any other time. People like Novotna have waited a long time for this, and they’re striking while they have their opportunity.

For the youngsters, it has been a rude awakening.

“Once you are winning easily, you think it can last forever,” Hingis said.

Hingis has that smile that always makes it seem as if she knows something the rest of us don’t. She’ll hit a ball into the net and smile. It’s as if she figures it’s OK because she will win anyway. And even if she loses, she’ll win the next time, right?

She looked a little too comfortable after blowing a one-set, three-game lead to Pierce on Saturday night. Hingis smiled and laughed throughout her post-match interview.

“It’s, like, not even to cry about,” Hingis said.

No one asked for tears, just some indication that this type of collapse is unacceptable. And we definitely want to see No. 1 players go down with more of a fight than what Hingis put up Saturday, when she admittedly gave up after letting three match points slip away in the second set.

When told of Hingis’ candid admission, Pierce sniffed: “I think that’s too bad.”

Yes, the supposed grown-up players (Pierce is 23) take some snipes too. Davenport hinted that she didn’t believe Venus Williams really was hurting when she beat her in the finals at Stanford last week, a low blow that looked even worse when Williams had to retire from her quarterfinal matchup with Pierce at La Costa because of a leg injury.

If the 20-somethings have picked up some of this smack-talking from the teenagers, the teenagers might be wise to steal a page from their elders. They have to adjust to remain competitive.

Davenport has lost weight and her increased mobility helped her climb to the No. 2 ranking in the world. She could conceivably overtake Hingis at the U.S. Open.

Pierce, whose inability to maximize her talent caused a frustrated Nick Bollettieri to quit coaching her two years ago, showed some resolve in coming back against Hingis here before an injury hampered her efforts in the final. She caught Hingis off-guard by coming to the net on several key points.

“Everybody evolves,” Pierce said.

Let’s hope that includes the teenagers. They have brought new life to their sport. And unlike their trash-talking young counterparts in the NBA, at least the Backhand Slice Girls have done something worth bragging about. Hingis already has four Grand Slam titles.

But they didn’t expect everyone else to just roll over for them, did they? And they couldn’t believe that a brief run of success would change the game’s order.

If they don’t keep pushing ahead, adding to their games. A short-attention society will lose interest and point their Web browsers elsewhere.

Three weeks until the U.S. Open. That means three weeks for the teen sensations to get it turned around, or they’ll risk looking as outdated as the Macarena.