Tennis Mystery: A Spellbinding Match
Posted: Friday February 26, 1999 05:39 PM
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Since hooking up with Rainer Harnecker, Patty Schnyder has dropped in the rankings. Clive Brunskill/Allsport |
 In a sport awash in attitudinal adolescents, Swiss tennis star
Patty Schnyder barely made a splash last year when she
unexpectedly won five tournaments, cracked the Top 10 and was
named the WTA Tour's most improved player. "Patty was always down
to earth," says Barbara Schett, Schnyder's doubles partner. "Just
a very normal girl." That makes a recent turn in Schnyder's
career perplexing.
In November the 20-year-old Schnyder met Rainer Harnecker, 42, a
German alternative medicine practitioner who calls himself a
"cell-reproducing scientist." Harnecker claims he can heal cancer
and AIDS patients through diet, acupuncture and herbal remedies.
Though largely unknown in tennis circles, he maintains that his
motivational and nutritional advice are in high demand among tour
players and that he turned down an offer to work with Steffi
Graf. ("I've never heard of this man," Graf says of Harnecker.)
According to the Swiss weekly Sonntagszeitung, however, he's
under investigation by police in the Bavarian town of Rosenheim
for alleged violations of Germany's alternative medical
practitioner law. Harnecker didn't return calls from SI seeking
comment.
At last month's Australian Open, Schnyder and 21-year-old Sylvia
Plischke of Austria spent every off-court hour with Harnecker,
permitting him to stay in their hotel room, where he espoused his
theories late into the night. "He can motivate and inspire," says
Plischke, who ended her relationship with Harnecker soon after
the Open, fearing that he was gaining too much influence over
her. "He does not force you to do anything, but he's good at
manipulating."
Schnyder pledged loyalty to Harnecker after her second-round
Australian Open loss to Amelie Mauresmo. Upon returning to
Switzerland, where she had been living with her parents, she
fired her coach, Eric van Harpen. She later dumped her longtime
boyfriend, Peter Tschudin, and severed ties with her family.
"A lot of players are worried that this is quite serious," says
Schett, who tried to talk to Schnyder about Harnecker but was
unsuccessful. One worried nonplayer is Hugo Stamm, a Swiss expert
on cults who is advising the Schnyder family. "This is more than
being in love," Stamm says. "Patty shows dependency [on
Harnecker] -- she has broken with everything in her life."
At last week's WTA Tour event in Hannover, Germany, defending
champ Schnyder lost her first match in straight sets to
23rd-ranked Elena Likhovtseva and dropped from eighth to 12th in
the world rankings. Van Harpen said his former pupil looked
"absent" and wore an odd smile throughout the match, "like she
had just won Wimbledon." Says Plischke, "She was not the lively
Patty any longer."
WTA officials are concerned about Schnyder but say that for now
the affair is a private matter. "If it is discovered that there
is any behavior in violation of our Coaches Code of Ethics,
appropriate action will be taken," says WTA CEO Bart McGuire.
Schnyder vows to stand by Harnecker. "I definitely have a strong
will, but we understand each other so well," she says. "I'm
convinced that Rainer is the best thing for my tennis."
Issue date: March 1, 1999
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