Hingis testifies in stalker case

By CATHERINE WILSON

Associated Press Writer

MIAMI (AP) — Martina Hingis testified Monday that she is frightened by an accused stalker who repeatedly has ignored her pleas to leave her alone.

Hingis acknowledged on cross-examination that Dubravko Rajcevic never threatened her. But the world’s top-ranked women’s player said she believes Rajcevic is crazy and irrational.

Rajcevic, 46, a Croatian-born Australian citizen, faces up to four years in jail if convicted of stalking the Swiss player and trespassing at the 2000 Ericsson Open near Miami. He told reporters before his arrest that he loves Hingis and she loves him.

When defense attorney Frank Abrams asked if Rajcevic was annoying, the 20-year-old Hingis answered: “More than that. Frightening at times.”

Interviewed after his arrest, she said she thought Rajcevic was “maybe a little crazy.” In court, she said she felt he was “more crazy, I believe now.”

Rajcevic grinned broadly through much of her testimony and spoke out several times in violation of legal rules. “It must be love,” the defendant blurted out when Hingis said he wouldn’t stop ringing the doorbell at her Zurich home.

After warnings in front of the jury, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Kevin Emas sent the jurors out and told Rajcevic that he would be ejected from the courtroom if there were any more outbursts. Rajcevic promised to remain silent but spoke up again later.

The warning generated a mistrial motion by the defense, but the judge rejected it. He also refused to acquit Rajcevic for insufficient evidence when the prosecution rested. The case was expected to go to the jury Tuesday.

Rajcevic delivered flowers to Hingis’ Zurich home and rang the bell several times at her gate for four days in a row after the 1999 French Open. He also tried to contact her at three tournaments and sent six handwritten love letters that Hingis knew of.

After the arrest, Hingis learned that Rajcevic had her address at a Tampa Bay area resort where she has a second home.

“I was nervous, but it made me feel if he gets out he would follow me,” Hingis said. “He won’t give up until he reaches his goal.” Asked later what she thought his goal was, Hingis said, “To follow me every step I do.”

She spoke to Rajcevic face to face only once in June 1999, on the advice of her manager, Mario Widmer, when Rajcevic refused to leave her gated home.

“I told him he should get out of my life,” the tennis star said. “I didn’t want to talk with him anymore. I wouldn’t want to spend any time with him. I told him he should go away and get out of my life. …

“He was looking at me, smiling at me; but he was maybe looking through me, he wouldn’t accept what I was telling him.”

When she learned he was at the Ericsson a year ago, she said, “I couldn’t believe it at first that he made that step, to follow me across the Atlantic to watch me play.”

A stalking conviction requires proof of substantial emotional distress, but Hingis acknowledged she has not sought any professional treatment for the anxiety she blames on Rajcevic. She said 2000 was her second best season, the year Rajcevic spent in jail.