Anne Keothavong-joueuse tennis anglaise origine Lao,a maintenant 23 ans et elle est devenue N°1 du Tennis femme en Angleterre !!
16.03.2007 - 22:28:18

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Player profile

Anne Keothavong

Date of birth: 16.9.83
Birthplace: Hackney, London
Lives in: Hackney, London
County: Middlesex
Club: Cumberland, north-west London
Coach: NA
Former coaches: Colin Beecher; Sylvain Naidoo; Peter Neathey; Alan Jones/Jo Durie/James Lenton; Tony Pickard; Rafael Font de Mora
Height: 5ft 8-and-a-half
Eye colour: Brown
Plays: Right-handed, double-handed backhand
Favourite surface: Hard
Nickname: Annie, Special K
Age turned pro: 18
Age started playing: Short tennis at 4, followed by compact tennis then full tennis at 7.
Introduction to tennis: Parents
Ambition in the game: “To crack the top 100 and onwards from there.”
Education: Kingsland Secondary School - 7 GCSEs (A*s, As and Bs)
Superstitions: “I’ll keep that to myself!”

Professional singles titles: Prerov $25,000 (Nov 06); Jersey $25,000 (Feb 06); Lagos $25,000 (Oct 05); Nottingham $10,000 (Sep 05); Bath $10,000 (Apr 05); Bolton $10,000 (Mar 05); Redding, USA, $25,000 (Mar 04); Belfort, France $25,000 (Feb 03); Sunderland $10,000 (Sep 02); London $10,000 (Aug 02); Bath $10,000 (Aug 02); Jersey $10,000 (Jan 01)

Professional doubles titles: Nottingham $10,000 with Claire Peterzan (Sep 05); Tenerife $25,000 with Amanda Janes (May 05); Sutton $25,000 with Claire Curran (Feb 07)

Personal: Has two brothers and a sister. Older brother James is a professional umpire, younger sister Lena is at university, younger brother Mark at school. All siblings play tennis. Anne’s parents (mother, Vathana, and father, Somsak) don't play despite introducing their children to the game. Grew up playing park tennis at Hackney Downs Park and Highbury Fields (“I still do but when the park keeper is there he never likes to give us courts to play on now because we're not his regulars!”). Loves kickboxing and would like to train and compete in tournaments once tennis career is over. Also enjoys Tae Kwon Do and Karate, listening to music (favourite bands are Coldplay and Snow Patrol). Says she is “obsessed with watching cooking and food programmes even though I can’t cook myself!” and that she reads too many girly books. Likes to shop but “I don’t have enough money to buy the things I want!”


Anne is the eldest daughter of parents who moved to London’s East End from Laos and is now firmly re-established as Britain’s No.1 women’s player on the WTA Tour. After suffering a career-threatening knee injury in 2004, this determined right-hander’s next aim is to become a member of the world’s top 100 for the first time.

After making her Fed Cup debut in 2001 as a 17-year-old, she has won seven of her 17 matches in the competition and in 2006 was the leading member of the British team that contested the Euro/African Group One in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. After beating Olena Antypina of the Ukraine, she lost out to Tsventana Pironkova of the host nation and Hungary’s Melina Czink. Nevertheless, Britain made it through to the play-off where she had the misfortune of facing the Slovak Republic’s top-20 player Daniela Hantuchova.

In 2006, she fell at the second round of Australian Open qualifying and first qualifying round at the French, and first round of her sixth Wimbledon this summer. Her best performance at The Championships came in 2004 when she beat world No.41 Nicole Pratt of Australia before losing to eventual champion Maria Sharapova.

Her best run of form in 2006 came in February when she won her 11th ITF Women’s Circuit title of her career in Jersey and a week later reached the final in Sunderland. Two months later she got to the semi-finals of a $25,000 tournament in Patras, Greece and in May qualified for the pre-French Open WTA Tour event in Strasbourg, but lost in the first round to Anna Smashnova of Israel. In November she claimed her second $25K title of the year in Prerov, Czech Republic.

Career Highlights
2007
Won the Sutton $25,000 doubles title with Claire Curran

2006
Won the $25,000 event in Prerov, Czech Republic
Won the $25,000 event in Jersey, Great Britain
Reached final of $25,000 event in Redding, California
Reached final of $25,000 event in Sunderland, Great Britain
Reached the semi-final of $25,000 event in Patras, Greece
Reached the semi-final of the $25,000 event in Surbiton, Great Britain
Reached the quarter-final of $25,000 event in Biberach, Germany
Reached the doubles final of the $25,000 event in Stockholm, Sweden with Surina De Beer (RSA)
Selected to play for the Great Britain Fed Cup team

2005
Won Challenger event in Lagos, Nigeria
Reached final of Futures event in Nottingham
Named in Marsh Team GB Fed Cup team
Won the final at the $10,000 event in Bolton, Great Britain
Won Bath Futures Event
Reached final in Bath Futures event

2004
Member of the Marsh GB Fed Cup team that won promotion into World Group one
Won the $25,000 tournament in Redding, California
Reached quarter-final of the $25,000 Sunderland tournament
Second round at DFS Classic, Birmingham

2003
Winner of the $25,000 tournament in Belfort, France, dropping just one set in the whole tournament
Reached last eight of the $10,000 Futures tournament at Redbridge
Reached final of the $25,000 tournament at Ostrava, Czech
Represented GB in Fed Cup Euro-African Qualifying Group one in Portugal, beating Joanna Sackowicz and Miriam Oremans but losing to Kelly Liggan and Melinda Czink (Hungary)
Reached semi-final of the Surbiton Trophy but had to pull out of her match against number one seed Joon Yeong Choo due to tendonitis in wrist
Wild card to DFS Classic, Birmingham but had to withdraw with same injury
Wild card to Hastings Direct International Champs (Eastbourne) lost in first round to Ai Sugiyama of Japan
Achieved position as No.1 British woman in June

2002
Won stage of the British Tour at Billesley
Wild card to The Championships, Wimbledon. Beaten in first round by Virgine Razzano of France
Won $10,000 tournament at the Cumberland Club in North London, beat Yvonne Doyle of Ireland in the final
Won $10,000 tournament in Bath, beating Hannah Collin in the final
Reached final of the $25,000 tournament in Glasgow, losing to Selima Sfar in a final set tie-break
Winner of the $10,000 event at Sunderland, beating Hannah Collin in the final
Represented GB in losing Maureen Connolly Trophy match against the United States at Bournemouth
Reached semi-final of the $25,000 Welsh International Open in Cardiff when she was beaten by Stephanie Cohen Aloro
Won her first National singles title, beating Julie Pullin in the final

2001
Won Girobank Tour events at Billeseley and Corby in January
Won first $10,000 Satellite in Jersey
Reached semi-finals of $25,000 at Sutton in February
Wild card for the main draw of The Championships, Wimbledon. Beaten in first round by Janet Lee
Reached semi-final of the girls singles in Junior Wimbledon
Selected for the Great Britain Fed Cup team and the Great Britain European team for the first time
Won Girobank Tour event at Sheffield in September
Reached semi-finals of $25, 000 in Cardiff and quarter-finals of $50,000 event in Southampton
Achieved highest world ranking of 265 in June 2001

2000
Winner of the LTA 18-and-under Masters at Redbridge in March
Reached the quarter-final of the Japan Open Junior Championships in April
Reached the third round of The Junior Championships, Wimbledon
Selected for the Great Britain team for the Maureen Connolly Challenge Trophy against the United States in Bermuda
Reached quarter-final of the National Championships, Telford
Reached the last eight of the Welsh International Open in Cardiff ($50,000)
Winner of the BWTA final at Queen’s, beating Annabel Blow 7-5, 7-6(5) in the final

1999
Won ITF Junior Group 2 event at Bisham Abbey
Member of 16-and-under British team that qualified for finals of European Winter Cup
Won 18-and-under National Championships
Won the Girobank Tour event in Paddington
Member of the GB team which won the Maureen Connolly Trophy for seventh year in a row
Won Vittel 16-and-under singles in BWTA Christmas competition

1998
Semi-finalist at 16-and-under National Championships

1997
Quarter-finalist of 14-and-under Teen Tennis event in Telford Represented Great Britain in Europa Cup, Italy