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May 31, 2002
No Mixed for Anna / RG02-Pictures
Like expected Anna didn't enter the Mixed Doubles competition at Roland Garros but it was quite obvious after her post-match Interview after her Wheeler-defeat - "I think I'm just going to practice until Eastbourne."! So I assume that Anna is already back in Florida and practising with Harold! Eastbourne is still 2 weeks away!

RG02-Pictures: Nicolas Meunier made absolutely brilliand pictures of Anna once again - see pictures from her exhibition match vs Bedanova as well as her first round match against Wheeler (click on English version on top of the page and then "Anna in action" in the middle)!

 

May 30, 2002
Anna knows what to do / Bohlen against Anna
 I read Anna's post-match Interview after she lost vs Wheeler yesterday and although she doesn't seem to think that THIS was a terrible game she played ("it's not like I played terrible today. It wasn't very bad at all.") she KNOWS that she has to work on nearly all parts of her game (forehand, serve!!!!, footwork,...) - "I have to work on some things that haven't been necessarily done right in the past. Just in general, have to build up my game where it can be a more dependent game, that I can depend on."! AND: Anna, I think that the "last year injury"-excuse doesn't count anymore. She will most likely not playing Birmingham in 1 and a half weeks ("I think I'm just going to practice until Eastbourne.") but so many unexpected schedule-changes this year already so I wouldn't be surprised of anything!

PS: Was it necessary to mention the PENTHOUSE-Shit??? Of course it was and I don't just want to think what Anna will be asked in Wimbledon!!!

In THIS article it is great to hear how Harold Solomon is believing in Anna's abilities and that she can be a TOP10-player again:"Now I'm telling Anna I believe she can get back to the top 10 again." I think that he was also surprised about the HUGE hype around Anna: "How much attention she receives, there's noting like it in tennis, it's like being around a rock star," - Yes, the attention she receives is absolutely awesome and I also wish it would be less. The answer to the most important question - WHEN will the improvements in training and the intended changings deliver better results and will lead to WINS again?? "We're looking toward the end of the summer."
 
Bohlen against Anna: Well, in an "Blitz"-Report (show on SAT1-television) about Anna voted for FHM's "Sexiest woman in the world 2002" german music producer Dieter Bohlen was asked what HE thinks about Anna being ranked No.1 and he was saying incredible things like "I can imagine Anna standing up in the morning naked äh wihout makeup" and to his girlfriend Estefania (she couldn't even spell "Kournikova" or simply didn't want to!!!) later "You could even put her naked on top of me" (rough translation) - well Mr Bohlen. If you don't like Anna which is obviously the case then WHY you simply shut your mouth???
PS: I DON'T LIKE YOU AS WELL!!

 

May 29, 2002
Anna LOST 4:6,3:6 :-(((((((
 Horrible but I just saw a few minutes at Eurosport (great decision to record ZDF because I thought THEY would broadcast the match live) and so I don't want to judge how good Wheeler might have been or how BAD Anna might have been! From what I have seen Anna was playing inconsistently ONCE AGAIN :-((( She must have committed too many unforced errors and well, right now I really don't have to say anything more to this latest loss - Anna's 2nd 1st Round-exit at the 2nd Grand Slam in 2002 - Anna's "record" since she lost her rhythm after Acapulco: 12 matches - 9 lost (!!!!!!!!!!!!) and only 3 matches won!!!!!! Anna also has a NEGATIVE match record (16-17) for the first time in her career in the current season!

What is left to say?? It can only get better and despite I am frustrated as a fan can be I keep on supporting her!

 

May 28, 2002 (III)
Anna vs Wheeler at 11:00 am tomorrow
The schedule for Wednesday, May 29 is out and Anna still plays on court 2 but now it has become the 1st match there. See the schedule for court 2:

Court 2 - Match play starts at 11:00 am:

Kournikova vs Wheeler
...

So NOW the only delay may be if it is ALREADY raining in the morning in Paris - otherwise Anna will be DEFINITELY playing at 11:00 am! Hopefully either ZDF or Eurosport will broadcast this match LIVE but to be honest I highly doubt this because there are many seeded players who will play at the 2 main courts at the same time. Unfortunately Anna is "just" ranked 54th at the moment - possible not "enough" to justify a live coverage! But we will see!

 

May 28, 2002 (II)
Anna vs Wheeler cancelled TODAY due to rain
 Well,NOW it is official - and frustrating for me! Anna vs Wheeler was taken out of today's schedule - today's renewed schedule! So we have to wait until tomorrow to see her - hopefully. The schedule for tomorrow will be out in a few hours but like stated in an article ALL 18 courts at Roland Garros will be used tomorrow, just because SO many matches have to be played! 22 matches are cancelled today! Sad end and it reminds me on how the things went in 2000 when Anna also had to play her first match on wednesday!

 

May 28, 2002
Anna vs Wheeler later today or tomorrow??
 Right now it is a bit confusion going on I think - WILL ANNA PLAY TODAY OR TOMORROW - in an article about the rain delay-forced rescheduling it is stated that 22 matches had to be put back to wednesday but it ISN'T said that Anna's match is also affected. What really confuses me is Eurosport: I saw on the screen that SERENA should be featured in her match after Agassi's match! But Serena's match had been cancelled today according to the above mentioned article... this definitely needs clarification!!! According to the messageboard-Threads (wtaworld.com | official site) Anna WILL play tomorrow and I also think that will happen - bad luck for me because tomorrow I have to work :-(((((

Anyway, the updated schedule for today and below for court 2:

Dechy vs Vives (already finished)
Behrend vs Kafelnikov (NOT IN FIRST TUESDAY-SCHEDULE / in 5th set at 15:30 CET)
Federer vs Arazi
Kournikova vs Wheeler

 

May 27, 2002
Anna vs Wheeler on court 2 / Anna and Harold ONLY / NO DOUBLES / Ranking News / Strasbourg02-Reports
 Anna faces Christina Wheeler on court 2 tomorrow. The 1st round match is scheduled as 3rd match there, see the schedule for Court 2 on tuesday, May 28:

Match play starts at 11:00 am (Full tuesday schedule)

Vives vs Dechy
Federer vs Arazi
Kournikova vs Wheeler

Unfortunately german television will most likely show the matches of either Lars Burgsmüller and/or Rainer Schüttler - both will play at about the same time as Anna. Hopefully Eurosport will broadcast Anna-Wheeler LIVE! I assume the match will start at about 15:00 CET!

Anna and Harold ONLY: Read this column by Charles Bricker published in today's Florida Sun-Sentinel - it says that Alla isn't on the practise courts anymore because that's part of the deal between Harold and Anna! GREAT Anna, if anyone can take your game to the next level than it's Harold Solomon.

NO DOUBLES: Anna doesn't play Doubles at Roland Garros. Full Doubles Draw! With Martina sidelined due to serious foot injury (surgery last monday) and Anna's obvious thigh injury in Rome and especially Strasbourg I think she doesn't want to risk too much and just wants to focus on Singles. For sure Harold and Anna made up their minds about playing Doubles or not!

Ranking News: Although Anna lost in the 1st round in Strasbourg last tuesday (handicaped immensely by her thigh injury) she improved her Singles Ranking by 1 position - 54th with 617 points right now. In Doubles everything remains the same - still 13th with 1595 points. In the Race to the Championships-Rankings Anna's positions (23th in Singles, 10th in Doubles) haven't changed, she only has 1 point more in Singles, 560!

Strasbourg02-Reports: Hope you guys enjoy the read from my trip to Strasbourg which I did together with Rambo2K! Unique...once again!

german Report | english Report

 

May 26, 2002
Anna at Paris: Win and to us, NEW OUTFIT / Rome-Pictures / BILD-F**k / SUN vs Anna's FHM-success / new Poll
 The 2nd Grand Slam of the year starts tomorrow. Anna faces Christina Wheeler in the first round on tuesday (more infos). Schedule for tomorrow!

Great once again: Anna made another entry in her journal at kournikova.com - Quote:"I'm here with my parents and Harold Solomon who is coaching me. Thanks so much for all your E-mail messages." Great to hear Anna and it seems that Strasbourg WITHOUT at least Alla was THE exemption. Maybe Alla and Sergei were on vacation?? Who knows! I would like to know if her right thigh still causes problems!

TODAY Anna has played a kind of exhibition match against Daja Bedanova and Anna WON this match! I don't know about the score, if they played just 1 set or the full match distance. But Anna did wear her new outfit - the color finally changed to a yellow/white-combination but the whole style of the outfit (2 parts) almost stayed the same.

Rome-Pictures: See lots of pictures by Matt McCarron from the Tennis Masters in Roma where anna reached the 3rd round a few days ago!

BILD-F**K: Very nice BILD for saying that Anna's loss at Strasbourg wasn't important: "Aber halb so schlimm - das wahre Leben der Tennis-Göttin spielt sich ohnehin fast nur noch neben dem Tennisplatz ab!" - rough translation: "Not so bad at all (her loss) - the REAL life of the tennis godess takes place already mostly off the courts!"
This is such a SHIT - hey you guys: Go to a tournament and WATCH she practising with Harold and you will see WHAT is the most important thing for Anna!

SUN vs Anna's FHM-success: Well, did you expect anything else??? Of course the SUN doesn't agree that Anna was voted the "sexiest woman in the world 2002" by the FHM magazine - this they had to write: "IDLY leafing through FHM’s 100 Sexiest Women – as you do – it seems patently clear to me that the Russian tennis ace ANNA KOURNIKOVA is not deserving of the No1 spot. Nice body – well, she is after all a tennis player – pity the face doesn’t match."

new Poll: "How far will Anna go at Roland Garros?" - Personally I doubt that her thigh injury will be healed completely until her first round match against Wheeler (it was SOO obvious in Strasbourg unfortunately) and THIS might lead to another first round-defeat which would be really deeply frustrating. We just have to wait and see!

Take a look at the old Poll:

Most of you stated that Anna should work on her game with Solomon - I am SO immensely happy that I was witness at 3 terrific trainings this week in Strasbourg from Anna AND Harold :-)))))))))))))))))))

 

May 24, 2002
Roland Garros-Draw
The Singles Main Draw is out and Anna faces young Christina Wheeler in the opening round. Who is Wheeler?? Well, she just entered the professional tour in 2000 and won 2 ITF Singles Titles so far! In the 2nd Round Anna would likely meet Iroda Tulyaganova. Both know each other very well (I saw them training together in Leipzig 2001) but this would be their first match against each other! The match will most likely be scheduled for tuesday because Anna is in the top half of the draw!
The Doubles Draw will most likely be released on Tuesday (May 28) and I really don't have a clue whether she will play Doubles or not!

In my opinion EVERYTHING depends on her health, if her thigh injury is healed or not. Honestly I doubt that this injury is completely healed but she has still a few days left to get healthy again.

 

May 22, 2002
Anna lost vs Mandula due to injuryed thigh / Rome02-Interviews / Ranking news
Anna lost vs Mandula and I saw it live at Strasbourg - she wasn't able to move normal which was obvious because of her completely taped right leg above the knee! It was obvious already in the training sessions on monday and tuesday that her right thigh strain she suffered in Rome 3rd Round match vs Ruano-Pascual isn't healed already and I ask myself WHY SHE PLAYED AT ALL!!! Okay, for sure Anna thought that she could beat Mandula although she is injured but this is just speculation. For sure Anna has had good reasons WHY she decided together with Solomon to play Strasbourg instead of taking the week off directly prior to the French Open next week. Of course Anna was frustrated after this 6:7,2:6-defeat: "I am deceived after this loss...have not played well tactically...I will work again...I hope I come by it" - these comments make me sad of course but maybe it really would have been the best if she had not played Strasbourg - going into a match (no matter against which opponent) and knowing you can hardly run a stop for example CAN'T bring anything good to the injury, right???

PS: I would have never imagined that Anna's mother would not be there but THIS was the case - only Harold Solomon was there and another older guy! This was definitely a big surprise!

Strasbourg-Pictures | Report (Excite, espn, news24 have the same ones) | Pressconference-Picture (all picture-links require official Board-membership)

Rome02-Interviews: Great Interviews especially regarding Harold Solomon (both are working out fabulous together, I SAW it) and the most wonderful and most fitting sentence of Anna at all: "What do you like most about your tennis life?" and Anna answers: "Most is because I love Tennis" - this is SO TRUE I can tell you. SEEING THIS LIVE and reading her saying this is SO breath-taking great!

1st Round vs Marrero | 2nd Round vs Osterloh

Ranking news: Anna moved up in the Singles Rankings 13 (!!) positions just because she won 2 matches in a row for the first time since Acapulco back in the end of February 2002! Right now she has 617 points! In Doubles nothing has changed once againg - still 13th with 1595 points! In the Race to the Championships-Rankings Anna moved up 2 positions in Singles - ranked 23rd with 559 points! But in Doubles she lost again 2 positions and is now ranked 10th with unchanged 1065 points. Remarkable: Anna is the only Top10-Doubles player in this Ranking who has played in just 3 Tournaments!

 

May 19, 2002
Anna vs Mandula at Strasbourg / Trip to Strasbourg / Anna No.2 in ACE / Anna No.1 again
The Singles draw is out and Anna plays Petra Mandula in the opening round of the Internationaux de Strasbourg! She will play on Tuesday! In the 2nd round Anna would meet either Lisa Raymond or relatively unknown Celine Beigbeder!

Trip to Strasbourg: This night I will meet with my good friend (who went to Warsaw with me) and we will drive to Strasbourg (not as far away as Warsaw :-)) - hopefully we will see a better match WITHOUT any injury-setbacks in Strasbourg - unfortunately I have to work on wednesday so I cannot watch more than 1 match! Of course I will tell you everything in my reports (English/german) on wednesday on how the trip has been. It MUST be awesome again because hey - ANNA LIVE, this is always something special!
 
Anna No.2 in ACE: British magazine ACE voted the "10 sexiest WTA player" and guess what - DANIELA HANTUCHOVA won and Anna is only second! Well, in MY opinion Daniela hasn't got anything of the "aura" Anna has!

Anna No.1 again: Anna seems to be No.1 of the current FHM's "100 sexiest women"-Poll - I haven't seen it yet but for me she wasn't never anything else than the No.1 (not only because of her beauty but also for her tennis abilities)! It was also a short report at RTL-punkt12 - great pictures but Anna cannot really explain WHY she was elected No.1!!! For SURE you will see more reports about Anna-No.1 today at SAT1-BLitz (19:00 CET), ZDF-Leute heute (17:50 CET), RTL-Exclusiv (18:30 CET), PRO7-Taff (17:00 CET)

 

May 17, 2002
Anna's Interview: Martina, Solomon, STRASSBOURG!?!
You MUST read Anna's post match interview after her yesterday's loss vs Ruano-Pascual HERE (big thanx to Saff76ar for translating from italian to english) - Cuts:
"I hope it's not serious" - this right thigh strain can't be REAL serious as she admits later which is great to hear!
 
Towards Martina's serious, eventually career-threatening injury:
"I don't want to comment about it...I'll keep my fingers crossed and wish her the best" - so heartwarming to see and hear what big friends they are. Right decision from Anna NOT to talk about details of Martina's injury!
 
What to do until the French Open:
"Perhaps, I'll stay here a couple of days, we'll see...I might enter another tournament before, I must speak with my coach about this" - absolutely great to hear this - Anna wants Solomon's advice, both are DEFINITELY working together. Strassbourg-chance is getting bigger and bigger.

In the kournikova.com-News they say it is already SURE that Anna will "complete her preparations" for the French Open by playing the TierIII - Tournament in Strassbourg. Oh god, if she's healthy enough and absolutely fit than of course it is the right decision! AND: I will definitely be there on monday and tuesday if Anna is there.
This would be simply awesome - seeing Anna LIVE again. Just 2 weeks after I saw her in Warsaw my second trip to another country to see Anna playing LIVE - no more words to describe how happy this would make me (if it doesn't end as horrible as Warsaw with her crying and retiring)!

 

May 16, 2002
Anna lost vs Ruano-Pascual, no Doubles / Martina to retire??? / Warsaw-Reports / Pictures-seller talks
Anna lost her 3rd Round match against Ruano-Pascual. She committed too many unforced errors but Ruano-Pascual wasn't playing worse either! To sum it up I could say "this was not Anna's day once again" which would be an appropriate expressing I guess. A positive effect is that Anna will climb up the Singles Rankings to 55 next week (would have been 47 if she'd won today) but in fact it is so frustrating: Anna is still searching for her confidence, she IS playing aggressive which is good but the hard groundstrokes are out too many times. Plus: Anna was handicapped by a right thigh strain, another frustrating injury. Isn't it justified that Anna can play some tournaments in a row without any pain in her body??? Isn't that possible anymore???

Acapulco - neck injury
Bol - unserious finger injury
Warsaw - cramps all over her body, forced her to retire
Rome - right thigh strain

Will Anna ever be durable enough?

No Doubles - Anna withdrew from Doubles due to her right thigh strain she suffered in Singles! I didn't expect anything else!

My advise for Anna: DON'T play any tournament (Madrid or Strassbourg) next week although I would be able to see you live in Strassbourg if you would decide to play there. But I DON'T want to see you losing against an obvious less talented opponent due to any kind of injury which handicapps you. Please try to recover and become FULLY healthy so that you can do well and without any pains in Paris at the French Open!

The whole INJURY-EVERYTIME-Situation makes me more and more sad and I don't want to sound TOO negativ but keep in mind HOW MUCH Anna's career was overshadowed by injuries all over the years...hopefully Anna isn't forced to consider retirement in the future because her body isn't "strong" enough to take all the pressure of professional tennis anymore...

Martina to retire???: I have read about this in the BILD and in german videotext-pages - can this be true that Martina has to retire soon due to serious injury in her arms?? She reportedly constantly feels pain and is undergoing serious tests during the next days. Oh no - I like Martina very much (not only because of her friendship with Anna) and her retirement WOULD be a big loss for me, too.

Warsaw 2002: My FULL REPORT IN GERMAN as well as the FULL ENGLISH-REPORT

SORRY but I didn't made any pictures from Warsaw but perhaps I soon will be able to connect my Camcorder with my PC via Firewire!

Picture-seller talks: Frank Ramaesiri talks at the court about what Anna likes and dislikes. Here

 

May 15, 2002
Anna vs Ruano-Pascual + Doubles / Rome-Pictures / Jelana-Doubles-story / Penthouse at court - unbelievable / Rome Police investigates against Anna?
Anna vs Ruano Pascual in the 3rd Round of the Italian Open at Rome. Center Court-schedule for Thursday, May 16:

Center Court - match play starts at 1:00 pm

S.Williams vs Chladkova
Kournikova vs Ruano-Pascual

Both have never played each other before and I assume that Anna's match will start at approx. 2:30-3:00 pm (14:30-15:00 CET)! Eurosport will most likely broadcast this match LIVE again which would be wonderful!

Anna also plays her first Doubles match with Els Callens tomorrow. Both face Fujiwara/Sugiyama on Court 6 not before 5 pm (17:00 CET)! Against this pair Anna has played never before but she has already played Doubles with Sugiyama some time ago!

Rome-Pictures: first source | sports.com first pic second pic | Zarter-Metzger-Pictures (zip) - of course you will find many of these Images at annaforever.de during the weekend as well

Jelena Doubles-story: An Octagon-representative, Ivan Brixi, reportedly called Jelena Dokic prior to Rome at 11 pm (!!!!), woke her up and he just wanted to ask if she would like to play Doubles with Anna! Jelena reportedly denied and one reason should have been that Ivan has had something to do with her in the past (representative-related). Can this story be true?

Penthouse at court - unbelievable: The story gets more and more ridiculous. Although Penthouse submitted a public apology both, Anna and the REAL naked girl, filed lawsuits against Penthouse but now THIS "nipple"-story - unbelievable (scroll down the link to find the story (I WON'T include this one in annaforever.de because it is just DEEPLY against Anna's feelings and privacy))

Rome Police investigates against Anna?: Well, THIS can just be sth out of the "just-for-fun"-gossip-section! What a laugh!

 

May 14, 2002
Anna defeats Osterloh (Lucky Loser) / Phil Kloer on Anna
What an irritation when I turned on the TV at 8:30 pm - Venus withdrew to (another) wrist injury short before the match and so it was LILIA OSTERLOH's who had to play against Anna (Lilia lost in the Qualis but was the 2nd Lucky Loser who entered the main draw)!
- Why no Walkover? - a player who gets into 2nd Round with a bye (like Venus) hasn't played yet so she can be replaced by a Lucky Loser L if a player with a bye withdraws.

The Match - in the first set it was ALL Anna (1:0,2:0,2:1-6:1) and Anna committed few unforced errors and was simply better than her opponent. But things changed a bit in the second set (0:1-Break,1:1,2:1,2:2,3:2,3:3) although Anna was able to lead 4:3 but the games were closer and Anna committed more unforced errors and her few double faults came at the wrong time. Plus Osterloh played more powerfully and hit some unreachable returns - 4:4,4:5,4:6 and the 2nd set was gone for Anna. In my opinion a "normal"-playing Anna would have been able to close down the 2nd set by keeping cool. But Anna was hectic, nervous and just hit the balls in the net because she always went for the winner! The 3rd set was closer in the beginning as the score tells - 3:0 was Anna leading but it was close and just a few points went lucky for Anna (Osterloh's unforced error etc.). But then Anna played really strong again and believed in her game - 4:0,5:0,5:1 and after nearly 1h25min Anna won the match 6:1,4:6,6:1 and was really happy afterwards. She signed some autographs and an "interesting" scene was when a woman wanted to give her some flowers - "No, I'm allergic" was Anna's answer...! Is Anna really allergic against flowers??? I think I know a lot about Anna but THIS would be new for me!

Anyway, Anna WON her 2nd match in a row (last time happened back in late February in Acapulco at the TierIII-Tournament) and she is now in the Round of 16 in the prestigious clay court tournament at Rome!

Well done, Anna! But you have to stay calmer during phases when your shots don't come and just keep the ball in the game - don't play TOO risky ALL the time!

Tomorrow Anna doesn't player Singles or Doubles

Phil Kloer on Anna: Phil Kloer of the Atlanta Journal Constitution has a commentary that says the Anna Kournikova hoax is a typical attempt to exploit celebrity and nudity-obsessed male fans! More here

 

May 14, 2002
Anna vs Venus / more Pictures etc
Anna vs Venus - the match is scheduled for 8:30 pm (20:30 CET) on Center Court - Venus clearly dominates the head-to-head 7-0:
 
20.02.02 Dubai 2nd 2:6,6:7 Hardcourt
13.02.02 Antwerp 2nd 5:7,0:6 Carpet
29.07.00 Stanford SF 4:6,5:7 Hardcourt
30.07.99 Stanford QF 1:6,3:6 Hardcourt
30.06.99 Wimbledon 4th 6:3,3:6,2:6 Grass
06.05.99 Rome 2nd 2:6,2:6 Clay
29.03.98 Key Biscayne Final 6:2,4:6,1:6 Hardcourt

Not very promising past results but Anna also had to say sth. towards her upcoming 8th match against Venus: "It will give me a good sense of where I am and what I have to work on...I did play her a couple of times already this year and we had some pretty close matches...So I do have a little idea how to play against her. And it's her first match here, so you never know".
We will see it (LIVE on Eurosport) tonight - GO ANNA!

more Pictures etc: See more first round Rome02-Pictures and here as well | Report | Report2

 

May 13, 2002
Anna beats Marrero in 2 sets - Venus-clash tomorrow / Warsaw-Pictures / Ranking News
YES Anna - 6:3,6:3 against Marta Marrero from Spain in the 1st Round of the Italian Open. Due to work I wasn't able to see the LIVE coverage on Eurosport but of course I recorded the match! It was finally a better of match of Anna obviously and this is so good to see! Finally a straight 2-set-win again! Anna's 1st match on TV since February 2nd for me and in the end it was a good and important victory - now Anna will face Venus Williams which will be a more than tough task for Anna. But there's always a chance!

Screenshots from Robin_love | Interview-Cuts

Anna recent 2002 results vs Venus:
2:6,6:7 (2nd Round, Dubai, 20.02.)
5:7,0:6 (2nd Round, Antwerp, 13.02.)

Not very promising results but at least CLAY isn't Venus' preferred surface! Another "curiosity": Anna last played in Rome in 1999...and she lost against....VENUS WILLIAMS - 2:6,2:6 in the Round of 16 on May 6, 1999! It was Anna's last match against Venus on clay!!!!

ANNA vs VENUS - tomorrow evening on Center Court at 8:30 pm! Eurosport will broadcast LIVE again :-)))))))
Anna doesn't play Doubles tomorrow!

Warsaw-Pics: See some awesome pictures taken "ya_corp0" from Warsaw last week! Here or here

Ranking News: Nothing is going on here - Anna NEEDS to start winning again so that she starts moving up again: She is still 68th in Singles (564 pts) and 13th in Doubles (1595 pts). Things are getting worse in the Race to the Championships-Rankings: Just 25th in Singles (505 pts) and 8th in Doubles (down 2 positions with 1065 pts)! Very wise decision from Anna to play Doubles this week in Rome with Els Callens

 

May 10, 2002
Anna vs Penthouse
Official steps are taken against the unbelievable story Penthouse made about pictures which show a complete other girl than Anna. Anna vs Penthouse | real topless-girl vs Penthouse

 
May 12, 2002
Anna plays Doubles in Rome, Singles tomorrow
Other than in previous weeks Anna has to play her Singles 1st Round match already tomorrow against 19-year-old Marta Marrero from Spain. Look at the Center Court-schedule for May 13:

Match play starts at 1:00 pm:

Pierce vs Mikaelian
Kournikova vs Marerro

Hopefully Anna can win this match. Info about Marrero! For all Europeans - Eurosport will be broadcasting LIVE every day from Rome (tomorrow starts coverage at 13:00 CET) so this will be finally the big chance to see Anna again on TV playing tennis since back in Tokyo on February 2 against Seles in the semifinal!

Great decision from Anna as she decided to play Doubles in Rome together wit Els Callens. Both are 3rd seeded team and received a bye in the 1st round. In the 2nd round they will meet most likely Venus and Serena Williams. Tough. Full Doubles Draw

 

May 11, 2002
bad Rome-Draw
First of all I am a little bit surprised that Anna plays Rome...after her cramps in Warsaw where I saw her live. She skipped the press conference and is obviously and understandably deeply frustrated! But Anna is in Rome and the main draw is out already - Anna faces another qualifier, like in Bol and Warsaw...! In the 2nd Round she would face Venus Williams for the 3rd time this year already!!! This isn't a good draw for sure! Hopefully Anna can at least win 1 match but the most important thing is that she stays healthy and is able to play without any cramps or other handicaps.

Personally I would be happier if Anna would face a known player in the first round instead of an unknown qualifier who already played 3 matches on that surface. But unfortunately I can't change the draw!

 

May 9, 2002
Venus pro Anna / Virus-writer does not agree with conviction
Venus Williams recently said some nice comments towards Anna after her loss in the Hamburg-final: "She's nice - I never had a problem with her. Anna's very talented". Thanx Venus and that's what I always say and what I just saw 2 days ago LIVE in Warsaw - Anna is unbelievable!
 
Virus-writer does not agree with conviction: Isn't this ridiculous?? He was just sentenced with 150 hours of community serive. Read more

 

May 8, 2002
Anna lost in 3 sets vs Kuznetsova due to injury
Anna lost in a really dramatic match vs little known Svetlana Kuznetsova 6:4,4:6,2:5 by retiring due to injury! I was there and can really tell you that she played well but Kuznetsova obviously had her best day so far. Anna made not so many unforced errors and double faults but Kuznetsova (although almost no one knew her before) played nearly without any unforced errors. Her 2nd services were great as well as her 1st serve percentage. AND: It was obvious already in the training that Anna had problems with her left calf and during the match this got worse. After winning the 1st set Anna took a medical time-out and throught the whole match she wasn't able to move without obvious pain. THIS was the key reason why she couldn't win the match. At 4:4 in the 2nd Anna was only 5 points away to win the match but then she suddenly felt huge pain in her upper body, her arms and she also CRIED which was horrible to watch...absolutely horrible. She got treatment and I really thought she would retire but Anna, the fighter, gave everything she still could and was able to advance 2-0 in the 3rd set. But then nothing went her way anymore - close line-calls given against Anna, the net was also not on Anna's side etc. - at 2:5 down Anna decided to retire...

Afterwards I also had to cry because this is SO unfair that Anna couldn't play injury-free (not the 1st time lately) and her opponent was playing incredibly well. Just because she was playing Anna and she played in front of a full stadium?!?!?

 

May 6, 2002
Anna vs Kuznetsova / WARSAW-TRIP / Subdomains opened / Ranking News / Take a look...
Anna faces Svetlana Kuznetsova (born Jun 27, 1985) in the 1st Round tomorrow at Warsaw, Poland. Her stats

WARSAW-TRIP: My apologises - I won't be able to update annaforever.de because I start my trip to Warsaw this evening - I will be back when Anna is out of the tournament which I don't hope will happen. Hopefully she wins and I see many many matches!!! Wish her all the best and so will I!
After my return I will publish a detailed report (in german the full one and a little one in English) about my feelings, experiences and everything what happened in Warsaw! I will also take pictures of course but although I will take my camcorder with me I am still not able to connect it with my PC, sorry! But you will get lots of unique pictures!

Subdomains opened: Bookmark the following URLs to come directly to the following sections of annaforever.de:

Ranking News: Anna's Ranking in Singles and Doubles didn't change compared to last week. She gained 19 points from her 2nd Round-loss at Bol but in Doubles the points remain the same. In the Race to the Championships-Rankings Anna is still 24th in Singles but she has now 504 points (+20). In Doubles Anna lost one position because Martina played in Hamburg Doubles together with Barbara Schett last week - she is now 6th with unchanged 1065 points!

Take a Look...: New month, new "Take a Look..." - Hilton Head 1999...what a wonderful march into the Final! Look

 

May 5, 2002
Warsaw-Draw - Anna seeded 3rd, 1st match Tuesday / Anna & Enrique on the boat
The Main Draw for the J&S Cup in Warsaw (Poland) is out and Anna will face a qualifier (Amanda Hopmans should be the most "dangerous" one she MIGHT face) in the 1st Round - this means that she won't play before Tuesday.

This is GREAT news for me because I will make my farest trip so far to Warsaw together with a friend. Hopefully this will become the most memorable trip so far but I am looking forward to it, of course. GO ANNA.

first Trainings-Pictures

Anna & Enrique on the boat: Well, a picture of both on a speedboat was published before but it wasn't as sharp and clear as the latest 4 ones. Now you can CLEARLY see that it is Anna and Enrique together on a speedboat.

Well, this IS Anna's privacy and she can do whatever she wants (although I don't like him) and so I decided just to post the link to the thread at the official messageboard from where you can go to see the pictures. I WON'T ever publish them in my Pictures Section because...it is Anna's privacy and when the link/thread is gone...than it's gone...HERE

 

May 4, 2002
Warsaw:Tier 4 or 3?!?!
This is a little bit special at the J&S Cup - it IS officially a Tier IV - Tournament because they bought a Tier IV from the WTA. Therefore players get Tier IV - points for the Rankings but they are offered Tier III - Prizemoney. But officially it IS a Tier IV - Tournament because it wasn't authorised by the WTA as a Tier III - Tournament.

This is not THE most important thing but it is interesting, isn't it?

The DRAW for the J&S CUp will be done tomorrow at 2 p.m.!

 

May 3, 2002
Warsaw upcoming & possible Hotel / SI-Article / SI-article / Leno & O'Brian joking / Speedboat-picture / CDM-Anna / "Being...Anna Kournikova"
Anna seems to be 2nd seede in the upcoming J&S Cup in Warsaw - Henrieta Nagyova seems to be the top seeded player. The draw there is likely to be MUCH weaker from the ranking positions of the players but we never know right now which player turns out to play great or "good" at least only by judging with a look at her current ranking. EVERY opponent right now is difficult for Anna. But she has a much better chance in Warsaw to stay LONG in the tournament - perhaps the 1st victory in Singles??? Anything is possible but incredible 91 unforced errors in 1 match???? - Anna,this is not even Top100-like, sorry but it's the truth!

Is this the hotel Anna will be in Warsaw?? Probably because it's among the tournament sponsors.

SI-Article: Sports Illustrated published an article, "Drama Queens", which deals about the actual situation that the WTA Tour is simply more "entertaining" than the ATP Tour.

Leno & O'Brian joking: Is it sth to wonder about? No, unfortunately. Jay Leno said this on May 1:"Tennis star Anna Kournikova is suing Penthouse magazine for publishing topless photos of a woman on a Miami Beach and claiming it's her. Kournikova says it is not her in the photos. Looks like she has a pretty good case. In fact, you realize she could win in court before she ever wins on a court." Conan O'Brian said this, also on May 1: "Anna Kournikova's lawyers are suing Penthouse magazine because they claim that the magazine's nude photos of Kournikova are fake. Big story. Yeah, and folks, if Kournikova wins the suit, it will be the first time she's ever won anything." Sounds very similar - they should watch each other before telling the same kind of jokes!
 
Speedboat-picture: Take a look at THIS picture and tell me if YOU really see Anna there...I DON'T see her. I recognise 2 persons, Enrique is hardly recognizable for me but ANNA?!?!?! hola.com seems to think so!

CDM-Anna: Anna was shown at yesterday's "Celebrity Death Match" on MTV. Well, I just heard that she WON agains Elizabeth Hurley but this just shows me that unfortunately Anna is "enough" celebrity already to be featured in such a "show"!

"Being...Anna Kournikova": espn.com once again publishes CR*P! You see Anna's Brain as well as a statement she definitely never gave about the actual US-Penthouse-cover...

 

May 2, 2002
Anna LOST again / Enrique denies (again)
Anna, WHAT is going on??? She lost vs Tina Pisnik 7:6,3:6,3:6!!! After taking the first set she fell behind in the 2nd and after leading in the 3rd set 3:2 she lost the following 4 games.

After she beat Vakulenko 2 days ago I really thought she would be more confident but this doesn't seem to be the case. This is SO frustrating and after THESE string of defeats during the last months I have no more explanations. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON????

Hopefully Solomon will become her new coach (read the very promising report) and SOMETHING gets better. On the one hand I highly doubt that Anna isn't focus enough but on the other hand I have absolutely NO explanations left WHY she keeps on losing. She doesn't seem to have an explanation, too. Does anybody know WHY she is playing so bad???

Enrique denies (again): In RTL-punkt12 (german TV channel) a report has been shown about Enrique's little concert in Ischgl (in the Alps). Of course he's been asked if he and Anna are a couple but he said (once again) that this is untrue.

Well, who really thinks that he is totally honest with the press??