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Iconoclast · Feb 9th, 2003, 07:49 PM

I may have been a fool, but I actually thought Anke would return to tennis, at the latest within a year from her retirement.

It doesn't look like I was right.

Maybe life outside tennis wasn't that bad after all, maybe she didn't ache to get back and compete as much as I thought she would. With a lot of digits on the bankroll, positive ones I'm sure, the constant travel and hard physical training of top tennis may not have been so alluring after all.

At least not when you have been there and done that already.

At 28, and with a couple of good jobs on her hand, as part of the Filderstadt organization and some youth work for the federation (if she still has that job?), it looks incredibly unlikely that she will give it another shot. Although, one should never say nev... nav... Navratilova.

And let's face it. She's not getting her missing Slam, and she's not getting back to the Top 10 if she tried. Tennis skill never leaves you, and she could get in excellent form if she found the motivation. But it would be her 2001 form - minus 5 percent. At most.

She could win a minor title, something like Estoril, and probably get back into the Top 30, but it's not going to be more sophisticated than that. Even if that would be quite impressive.

Princess Fiona · Feb 10th, 2003, 11:20 AM

I should have posted in this forum before...

I still miss Anke very much - she was my favourite player from 1991 to 2001 (10 years!!

). I don't know, I don't think I'll feel the same way about a tennis player again. (Am I sounding too soppy?

) A comeback? Would I want Anke to comeback? I'm pleased she is happy, and enjoying her life outside of tennis, and sometimes the comebacks go "well" and sometimes "not so well"... I wish I had seen her play live, but I'll just have to watch some tennis "live" in the future...

Anke to do a Navratilova, and win a Slam in her forties? Aaaaaah... *dreaming*

Iconoclast · Feb 10th, 2003, 11:41 AM

Franziska, it would be insanely cool to have her team up with Steffi Graf and play some doubles! Just for a season. I'm sure that would do wonders for German tennis. We just need Andre to talk Steffi into doing the mixed first.

As for a comeback at 47? I'd wish she would do it a bit earlier.

Can't even imagine how she would look at 47! She has that appearance of perpetual youth over her (a bit of a babyface).

Princess Fiona · Feb 11th, 2003, 10:34 PM

That would be amazing!! Anke and Steffi playing doubles for a year? I would KILL to see that...

Andreeeeeee!! You've gotta help us here...

Is Anke on TV much in Germany? I haven't seen her since she retired

(well, I've seen pictures of her, but not Anke on TV, with Anke voice etc etc!!). I also wonder what Anke'll look like at 47 - I think she'll age pretty well...

I wonder what I'LL look like at 47? *distressed*

Iconoclast · Feb 16th, 2003, 05:35 PM

Don't really watch a lot of German television, and whenever I do, that Günther Jauch guy, host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, always manages to sneak in. Well, him or Franz Beckenbauer, although the latter has been somewhat low profile lately. Hmm, it's probably ill-advised to use his name in a sentence where the words 'low' and 'profile' appear at the same time.

So I can't say if Anke has been touring the talkshows. I'm not even sure if the producers are interested, as she hasn't stripped nude in Playboy. That's usually how female athletes get their time in the spotlight renewed. She has worked with the major public-service broadcasters during tennis tournaments, interviewed ex-colleagues and such things.

Would be lovely to see Anke and Steffi touring together, although I'm not really sure how compatible they are as individuals. I never really sensed any "romance" between them.

Though, here's a nice gallery of the two of them in action together from a 1996 Fed Cup tie with Japan. Ah, the memories...

http://www.yegorova.com/t/96fed/3.html

pan · Feb 17th, 2003, 09:38 PM

oh, i'm sure that the tv-stations are interested to have ANKE in their talkshows. but i think ANKE isn't interested! she worked for television (ARD), as a "tennis-reporter behind the scenes", but stopped with that. "not interesting for me". there's a nice interview with her on spiegel.de (perhaps in the archive) in which she talks about her life after tennis! i love her! she's that great!

Princess Fiona · Feb 19th, 2003, 02:21 PM

Thank you for the gallery Iconoclast!! And thanks to both you and pan for the TV news... I'll have to look at spiegel.de!!

Didn't Anke look young in those pictures? How old was she in 1996? 21/22? I'm still not giving up hope of a "Navratilovaesque" comeback one day you know...