I think Agassi has the perfect game." In 1989, Michael Chang, aged 17 years and three months, became the youngest male ever to win a Grand Slam singles title, achieving his French Open victory in astonishing fashion. On the verge of defeat in the fourth round, Chang overcame cramp and Ivan Lendl to win in five sets, unhinging the ultimate pro by serving underarm.The diminutive Chang, the runner-up at Roland Garros in 1995 and also at the Australian Open and the United States Open in 1996, was once asked how he was able to survive at the top level in a sport of giants. "I like the story of David and Goliath," he replied."Yes, I like that story, too," Hingis says, "because I am the one left in there against the big-hitters I think also that the people enjoy it. Women's tennis is so popular now because it's not always the same.
It's not like I would always beat this one, or they would beat me."For me, the greatest feeling is to be the No 1 player and to know that on a good day you can win against anybody. The great thing about tennis is that there are many more years I'm working hard to win a Grand Slam again. The battle is not over yet."HINGIS'S DEFEATS AT THE FRENCH OPEN1995 Third round: lost to Lindsay Davenport (US) 4-6 6-2 6-21996 Third round: lost to Karina Habsudova (Slovak) 4-6 7-5 6-41997 Final: lost to Iva Majoli (Croatia) 6-4 6-21998 Semi-finals: lost to Monica Seles (US) 6-3 6-21999 Final: lost to Steffi Graf (Germany) 4-6 7-5 6-32000 Semi-finals: lost to Mary Pierce (France) 6-4 5-7 6-2. "Too beautiful for our ears, and much too many notes, dear Mozart," was Emperor Joseph II's less than encouraging response to the composer's first great opera. "Too beautiful for our ears, and much too many notes, dear Mozart," was Emperor Joseph II's less than encouraging response to the composer's first great opera. It did not deter Wolfgang Amadeus from composing some of the greatest works in musical history, so perhaps he would have been sympathetic towards the determined efforts of an idealistic Australian piano-maker to revolutionise the grand piano.Whether today's musical establishment, steeped in heavy tradition, will be quite so open to the idea of such a drastic innovation as Wayne Stuart's creation is yet to be seen.Mr Stuart has devised a way of straightening the strings of the original design which had previously been angled since the days of the harpsichord more than 200 years ago.
This allows the vibrations of the piano's notes to travel up the strings uninterrupted, ensuring an amazing clarity of tone."Once you understand the principle of how the string vibrates, you can look at the technology and work out how to improve it," said the creator of the Stuart grand piano."Our aim was to maintain the string in the same plane of sound it was in when it was struck, rather than different types of vibrations, which mean the note is not so clear and does not last so long."It took six years of research to discover how this could be achieved. Others have tried experimenting to achieve the same result, but nobody has been successful until now.An extra pedal and another half an octave on the keyboard makes the piano almost 10ft long and a truly intriguing prospect for musicians, because it offers a range of sounds that have never been available before.The first of only 13 in existence has now arrived in Britain for its first European performance at the Welsh College of Music tomorrow, and will be played by the Australian pianist Piers Lane."It's a big monster of a piano but beautiful and very finely crafted," he said. "Wales has leapt in to buy one, which is a great sign about how it will be received here."Murray McLachlan, a concert pianist and head of keyboard at Chetham's School of Music near Manchester, said: "We are going into unknown territory. It's incredibly exciting."There's a wonderful resonance about it. It's very hard to make an ugly sound out of it."However, he injected a note of concern that the innovation could destroy a lot of musical individuality because each player could sound the same.It was partly because pianos of the 20th century were so dominated by brand names that Mr Stuart wanted to bring an alternative on to the market, but more simply, he wanted to see a piano that realised his dreams and aspirations."People can dismiss you as a bit of a nutter," he explained. "But you put your money where your mouth is and they look at you differently."The critics have been bamboozled.
