NEWS
OTHER SPORTS
DIARY
PEOPLE
MATCH REPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

'Spice girls' to behave at Wimbledon

The self-proclaimed ''Spice girls'' of tennis, Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova, are expected to be on their best tennis behaviour when the Wimbledon Championships begin on Monday.

Both of the rich, glamorous and talented 18-year-olds have drawn criticism for poor sportsmanship in recent weeks - Hingis, for petulance in her French Open finals loss to Steffi Graf, and Kourniova, for a line call controversy on Thursday at a tune-up event in Britain.

World number 1 Hingis was hammered in the press after a series of outburts during her Paris defeat by Graf, an icon of the game at age 30.

At one point, Hingis crossed to her opponent's side of the net to protest a call, absolutely forbidden under the rules. She also smashed her racket, served underarm and climbed the umpire's chair in another protest which brought her flirting with a default. She drew a fine from the WTA Tour for her actions.

Afterwards, the tearful Swiss had to be coaxed back onto the court to accept the runner-up plate by her mother Melanie after reportedly clashing with a WTA official.

Mother and daughter then retreated to the Czech Republic for a week of decompression, with Hingis riding horses and pondering what went wrong with here usually impeccable behaviour.

Playing doubles this week with Kournikova at Eastbourne in the south of England, Hingis issued her apology.

''It wasn't the best behavior,'' the world No 1 admitted. ''I did things I wasn't allowed to do. But these things happen - now I just have to go on with my life.''

The former child prodigy added: ''I think I've been raised well. I probably lost a bit of control of my feelings and my temper, but it definitely won't happen again.

''The rules are made for something, and I didn't respect them. That's not right, and that's why I got what I did.''

Kournikova, now installed as 17th seed at the All England Club, after the withdrawal of No 10 American Serena Williams due to influenza, suffered through a minor incident during a quarter-final victory at Eastbourne

The blonde Russian was accused of making her own line call during a win over Nathalie Dechy of France.

Failing to reach a ball during the second-set tiebreaker, Kournikova signalled it out before the linesman could speak. Television replay showed here judgement to be correct.

Kournikova insisted she was hardly involved: ''I couldn't have signaled, I was falling,'' she said. ''I think everybody - the line judge and the umpire - saw it was clearly out. It was 20 centimetres out.''

Despite a match-long chorus of jeers from the Paris crowd, Hingis is expecting her reception at genteel Wimbledon to be nothing like the Gallic nightmare she lived through.

''I don't think it (the jeering) will happen at Wimbledon,'' she said. ''The crowd is more polite and the people here at Eastbourne seem to be ok.

''In a way Paris was a good experience. I didn't follow the rules, which I will definitely do this time. Wimbledon is different.''

She and good friend Kournikova may find their way at Wimbledon a bit easier in the doubles competition with the pull-out of the Williams sisters, Venus and the ailing Serena. Hingis and Kournikova lost the Paris final to the American sisters, 8-6 in the third set after wasting a match-point.

''Anna and Ii are close, and the relationship is building,'' Hingis said. ''She came to me in Paris when I was crying.''