THE United Nations has a lot to answer for. In its attempt to solve the problems of the world, it has succeeded only in bringing New York to a standstill. The travel traumas have had a positive effect on the players, however, as none of them seems willing to hang around for a moment longer than necessary.
Lleyton Hewitt sped into the semi-finals yesterday, taking less than two hours of fist-pumping exuberance to get past Arnaud Clement 6-2, 6-4, 6-3. Once he had beaten Andre Agassi in the second round, Clement crept anonymously through the draw.
Hicham Arazi had rolled over, quite literally, withdrawing with heat exhaustion against the Frenchman and Andre Pavel did not put up much by way of opposition. Hewitt, on the other hand, does nothing by halves and in a flurry of 18 aces, he was through to his first semi-final.
"I've been getting a little bit better every match," he said. "The last couple of rounds have been more mental than physical and I'm getting mentally tougher each time."
Given that his physical strength has never been in doubt - he is capable of running until dark if victory is in sight - the thought that his mind is catching up with his legs will strike fear into the hearts of a few.
Only Todd Martin bucked the trend, taking more than four hours to beat Carlos Moyà. Coming back from the brink as only he can, Martin fought back from two sets and a match point down to reach the quarter-final, 6-7, 6-7, 6-1, 7-6, 6-2. And then he went crazy. Roaring with delight, he ran around the court to high-five as many of the crowd as he could reach.
The home crowd were, however, disappointed to hear that Agassi would not be defending his gold medal at the Sydney Olympics. With both his mother and his sister suffering from cancer, he has withdrawn for personal reasons. "My time and attention should be with my family during this period," Agassi said.
Gustavo Kuerten also withdrew from the Brazil team for the Olympics, after a dispute over whether he would wear the team sponsors' kit, or that of his own personal sponsor.
Martina Hingis is a fast worker at the best of times, but even she was a little alarmed at the speed with which she headed for the semi-finals. Playing Monica Seles on Tuesday night, she wrapped up the first set in just 13 minutes as she won 6-0, 7-5. "I was cruising through," she said. "Everything was happening so fast that I was almost scared."
Now Hingis has Venus Williams to face, in a repeat of last year's semi-final, and Seles is fascinated to see the result. "Martina is not a power player compared to Venus and Serena," she said, "but her sense of the game and her consistency is better. The next match should be very interesting - they are probably the two best players playing."
Nathalie Tauziat, meanwhile, is looking forward to not going to Sydney. After the publication of her now famous book, The Underside of Women's Tennis, her France colleagues were less than happy. Miffed at what she had written about them, Sandrine Testud, Nathalie Dechy, Amelie Mauresmo and Julie Halard-Decugis had Tauziat dropped from the team.
Now, however, the locker-room rumour mill has geared up again and with Mauresmo still struggling with a back injury, there are serious doubts whether she will go to Australia. Tauziat is delighted - she said she wants the French federation to ask her to come in as a last-minute replacement, just so that she can say no.
Elena Dementieva, of Russia, did what her more famous compatriot, Anna Kournikova, could not, making her way to the semi-finals with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 win over Anke Huber, the No 10 seed. She is the first unseeded semi-finalist since 1997, when one Venus Williams made her mark on the circuit.
Alix Ramsay
Tennis Correspondent, in New York
The Times
