Hobbled Novotna Mulls Future : U.S. Open: Still plagued by ankle sprain suffered at French Open, she loses to Huber and frets about her health and game.

By LISA DILLMAN

Sept. 4, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

NEW YORK —

One miserable memory of the French Open--Jana Novotna being transported off the clay court in a wheelchair--has haunted the 1998 Wimbledon champion for nearly three months.

Who would have thought a relatively routine doubles match might bring a premature end to her career?

Novotna, who suffered a severely sprained right ankle when she crashed into doubles partner Natasha Zvereva, managed to reach the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, but did not win a hard-court match leading up to the U.S. Open.

Questions about her future were raised after the eighth-seeded Novotna of the Czech Republic looked out of sorts in her third-round loss to Anke Huber of Germany. Huber had little trouble, winning, 6-3, 6-2, in 68 minutes on Friday at the U.S. Open.

“I’m still hurting, actually, and it’s quite uncomfortable,” Novotna said. “I’m actually thinking about having some more tests done, just to find out what’s really going on.

“As I said, I’m not the same player I was before the injury, and it’s difficult to get it back.”

Huber had defeated Novotna only three times in 11 previous meetings, but she has raised her level of play in the last month, beating two top-15 players, Nathalie Tauziat and Barbara Schett.

Against Huber, Novotna tried to end the points quickly.

“You know, as I said, it’s not a point here, it’s not a point there,” she said. “It’s a lack of confidence and a lack of matches that I had and a lack of movement that I’m missing in my game.”

Retirement was mentioned and Novotna didn’t flinch. But she did not want to make any rash decisions after a loss.

“I said earlier that if I feel that I can no longer compete with these players or I cannot physically be out there and stay in the top 10 and play on the level that I would like to play, then I will think about leaving,” said Novotna, who will turn 31 next month.

Novotna’s problems show that severe injuries aren’t limited to the men’s side of the draw, depleted with the loss of all four semifinalists from last year. She agreed that the schedule is too grueling, and there isn’t enough time to recover from injuries.

“Exactly,” Novotna said. “We don’t have an off-season like all the other sports have, and I think that’s a big mistake. We have players falling out of the draw with constant injuries like never before.”

And there was one more casualty later in the day. Cramps hit Jan-Michael Gambill in the fifth set of his match against Fabrice Santoro of France, and he was forced to retire at 4-4. Santoro moved on to the third round, winning, 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-7 (7-5), 4-4 (retired).

One seeded player on the men’s side exited as qualifier Fredrik Jonsson of Sweden defeated No. 16 Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 7-5. Lapentti, an Australian Open semifinalist, had been playing well of late, winning the Indianapolis tournament last month.

In addition to Novotna, one other seeded woman lost in third-round action. Mary Joe Fernandez beat No. 13 Dominique Van Roost of Belgium, 7-5, 6-0, and of course, how could a day go by without something new from Martina Hingis and the Williams family, father Richard and daughters Venus and Serena.

Hingis said the family had big mouths after Richard predicted an all-Williams final. Serena shot back that Hingis didn’t have a “formal education.” Then on Friday, there was a shared moment between Hingis and Richard . . . in the interview room in front of cameras and note pads.

So, is this women’s tennis or professional wrestling? Or boxing?

Hingis gave Richard Williams a signed T-shirt, and then declared it had all been a “misunderstanding.”

“I don’t think I’m that dumb,” she said. “I’d like to see some other people talking in three languages.”

She also chatted with Serena on Friday.

“Serena came in before I had to go on the court and we were both kind of laughing about it,” Hingis said. “She came straight at me. She was like, ‘Did you read that?’ ”

And the status of that relationship between Hingis and the Williams sisters?

“We are philanthropists and we love everyone,” Serena said.

Said Venus: “I would have to agree.”

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