Tennis: Hannah begins a long haul

Britain's latest tennis prodigy harbours high ambitions.

THE TENNIS achievements of Steffi Graf and Hannah Collin are separated by the sort of gulf which makes the Grand Canyon look like a crack in the pavement. Ditto their earnings. But Steffi and Hannah will have one thing in common this week, a nervous excitement as they go about their job at tournaments in New York and Telford.

Against all expectation, Graf, who continued her rehabilitation by beating Martina Hingis in Pennsylvania on Friday night, has qualified for the Chase Championships at Madison Square Garden, the season-end extravaganza she has won five times and where she will be competing for the 13th time.

Collin, the Surrey 16-year-old who is Britain's brightest junior talent, has just stepped up to full-time tennis and will be looking for a solid performance, free of foreign challenge, at the National Championships.

Graf, of course, has nothing to prove in pursuit of more titles to add to the 104 she has already amassed. The latest of these came in Leipzig last week on her return from yet another operation, this time on her right wrist in September. It was the fourth time Graf has undergone surgery - to both feet, left knee and wrist. Over the years she has also broken a big toe and a thumb and soldiered on with a long-term back injury.

Graf's enduring popularity is certain to lift interest in the New York event and her participation will without doubt depress Jana Novotna, the Chase title-holder who was asked to make the draw for this year's event and managed to pull out Graf's name opposite her own. Steffi has won 27 of their 31 clashes.

Poor Novotna, seeded third, could not have drawn a deadlier floater than the 29-year-old, who will be competing in only her 13th tournament of the year. Steffi will tread a fine line between freshness and a shortage of match fitness. Most of the other women are ready for a break, but are likely to be more finely tuned than Graf as she seeks a significant chunk of the $2m prize fund, of which the winner collects $500,000.

The women's winner in Telford will be pounds 9,000 the richer, and any decent portion of the lesser payouts would be welcome to Collin. She made her Nationals debut there a year ago, aged 15, as a wild card and, having drawn the top seed, Samantha Smith, in the first round, took a 6-0 set off her before losing in three. "I had nothing to lose so I played really well and enjoyed it," she recalled.

Collin has enjoyed her tennis since, aged six, she was taken to the Thames Ditton club by her parents. "They thought I would be happy just to watch my brothers, Mark and Andrew, but I picked up a racket and wanted to join in." A year later Hannah was playing in Under-10 tournaments and by the age of 10 was winning Under 14 titles. She has been the national 14, 16 and 18 year champion and on leaving St Maurs School, Weybridge, in June, opted for tennis as her way of life and is playing a mix of junior events, Satellites and Challenger qualifications.

Her ranking, which did not even register on the computer 12 months back, is now 608 and she has a busy schedule in the New Year, with a trip to Australia, a return home to compete in three events and another long haul to the Far East.

Keith Wooldridge, the Lawn Tennis Association's manager of women's national training, explained the junior-senior mix. "If you don't give them a senior view it is such a big step when they eventually come out of the juniors, so we are doing it gradually. "We plan to get her up the rankings steadily, 500, 200, 100, small steps with a big goal as the final aim. But she has to keep proving herself. In the past we have given people too much too soon, so we are trying to make her work for everything. It is a thin line to draw. We are looking long-term. Hannah has a lovely feel for the game, a marvellous awareness and a good match temperament. She's not going to be a huge hitter, though. She's a Hingis rather than a Davenport."

Though Hannah is having what Wooldridge called "a little growth spurt" she is still only 5ft 6in. So does Hannah find her lack of stature a handicap against bigger and older opponents? "Not at all," she says. "I am used to it. They are all physically stronger than me, perhaps because I don't spend whole training sessions pumping weights. But I'm hoping I will grow a bit more. My brothers are quite tall, my parents too."

A quarter-finalist at the 1997 Junior Wimbledon, Hannah does not share the Venus Williams view that junior competition was a waste of time. "It has been really useful, mixing with the senior stars at the Grand Slams, an amazing, wonderful experience. That is all part of the learning process."

The ambitions, like the young lady, are sensible. "My aim is to make it as a player first, then try to get in to the top 50. Once in that range you then aim as high as you can. But it will be tough. I know how much work there is to do."

She has the right role models, though. "Steffi Graf is my idol, a great player with good attitude, and Martina Hingis is someone I can really relate to, someone I like watching."

At Telford this week Hannah Collin can be forgiven if her thoughts occasionally stray in the direction of Madison Square Garden. "I have dreamed about playing in a tournament like that. Being part of it one day would be wonderful."