School begins again this week for many of our youth, which of course makes this, and not Christmas, the happiest day of the year.

	Martina Hingis relies on skill because she does not have the power game like that of the Williams sisters and Lindsay Davenport.

But it also reminds us that there are people who are more fortunate than our children and don't have to attend school. They are financially secure, they have plenty of free time to pursue their dreams, and they are, therefore, annoying as hell.

Take, for example, Martina Hingis. Man, could she use a few college classes just to fill her mind and day.

You might know that she has expressed her long-held beliefs about the Williams sisters yet again, this time to Time Magazine. Her views, of course, center around her perception that Serena and Venus use their skin color to maximum advantage, both on and off the court.

To which we can only say in response, "Shut the hell up and get to class."

We understand that Hingis as a tennis player has never been particularly challenged by the rigors of organized schooling. This is not to say she and her colleagues are ignorant in any way, or that they weren't educated. Let's just say, though, that their class sizes were awfully small.

Nor do we want to engage in a spirited argument over all the slights she perceives as a wealthy young woman of Swiss extraction in a sport that has historically welcomed African-Americans with the same vigor they do an epidemic of groin pulls.

For all we know, she might be right, although we tend to subscribe to the notion advanced by Chris Rock that "There isn't a white person in America who would want to be me ... and I'm rich."

No, let's move on to the more fundamental and beneficial notion of just having Hingis shut her face --- not because she may be speaking nonsense, but because we're not interested in listening to her bleat on about hard times in the tennis world.

People who cover women's tennis regard it as the zenith of the business because all the top players seem to hate each other, and they all bare their claws at the drop of a lens cap ... and that doesn't even include whatever absurdity Richard Williams is spouting off at any given time.

This wretched silliness is what passes for high drama in the sport by the short attention span theater crowd -- unappealing, long-distance cat-fighting, with everyone except perhaps Lindsay Davenport playing the villainess in "Legally Blonde."

Which leads us back to the first day of school. If Hingis or her contemporaries interacted with other people who carried books rather than rackets (or in the case of their agents, briefcases filled with apparel deals), they could do a better job of masking their disdain for the competition by doing what teenagers of both genders have done for centuries -- talk behind each other's backs.

That is, after all, what school is for. Socialization, in the form of "You'll never guess what she did last night," and "I'm not going out with that troglodyte," and "You know, that idiot over there got busted for having reefer in his algebra book again."

This kind of low-grade treachery teaches people how to deal with each other in the business world, with stealth hatred. The disadvantages to this kind of living are clear, but there is the one great advantage that you never have to pick up a national magazine to find out what the other cheerleaders think of Tiffany, or the other members of the Chess Club think of Elrod.

But in tennis, particularly the women's game, they air their petty atrocities right next to thoughtful pieces like "Macedonia: What The Hell?" and "Jesse Helms In Retirement: A Cuban Vacation Pictorial."

And the plain fact is, our interest in the topic extends only as far as "God, what are those underaged harpies shrieking about now?" and taking delight in their abasement.

But it's been done now, and done to the point of ultra-tedium. Martina Hingis' issues with WilliamsCo, Inc., are not only not our problem, they really shouldn't be her problem. If she wants to annoy them, she could try beating them in a match more often. And if beating them isn't enough for her, then she should beat them even more often than that. There is no better way to take away someone's advantage, after all.

And if she can do it while holding a mouthful of quick-drying cement, all the better.

We still think the school option is better, though. At least then, she, and all her little playmates, can learn the finer art of cattiness without involving us. And I think we can all agree that that's a good thing.

Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Chronicle is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.