[Rollo]

Anna Kournikova obviously feels that she does not need much practice ahead of her showcase first-round clash with sixth seed Justine Henin.

Despite missing most of last year through injury, she refused the chance to play an exhibition match in Sydney on Friday night.

The Russian was due to take to the court in the doubles final but partner Martina Hingis withdrew at the last minute with heat exhaustion.



Lleyton treads carefully in the Rod Laver Arena

Organisers hoped Kournikova would instead take on Australian player Bryanne Stewart in an exhibition match to entertain the crowd, many of whom had paid up to A$27 a head for their tickets.

But Kournikova refused to play, saying that her opponent was not a good enough standard of opposition for her.

A bold statement from a player who has only won a handful of matches in the last 12 months.




The link is below:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport/hi/english/tennis/australian_open/newsid_1759000/1759842.stm

If she'd just refused that's fine, but it's statements like the one saying Bryanne wasn't good enough that have earned Anna a well deserved rep for being a B*tch at times.

 

[Mateo Mathieu]

FUCK ANNA! Leave my girl, Bryanne! She play OK not hopeless!

 

[auntie janie]

AlexSydney:

Don't be upset; it's a compliment for your Bryanne! Anna was probably afraid she'd Lose!

 

[apoet29]

AlexSydney:

Don't be upset; it's a compliment for your Bryanne! Anna was probably afraid she'd Lose!

LOL @ Janie's post!

Didn't Anna play in a double competition after Serena Williams withdrew from her semifinals match? I thought I read somewhere that Anna teamed with Lisa Raymond and Brynne Stewart teamed with Rennae Stubbs for a doubles exhibition where Lisa/Anna won 8-3. If anyone can post confirmation on this, that would be great.

As for Anna's comments, that is not the first time that she has made that comment about another player. He said the same thing to Lleyton Hewitt three years ago when he suggested that they play in the Wimbledon mixed competition. When you consider Anna's doubles record, it might be understandable why she may be picky about considering a partner. However, her singles record leaves much to be desired and she has no right to make that kind of comment about any player even a junior.

However, Janie may have a point. Anna may be trying to "save face" here. First, Anna lost last season to a junior player, Fokina, @ the Kremlin Cup and she may have wanted to avoid that happening to her again. (Before anyone starts screaming, yes, I know she was coming back from an injury, but to lose to a junior player is a bad loss regardless of injury!). Second, She also may have been considering Brynne's feelings. Junior players rarely fair well against tour veterans. A great example is Angelica Widjaja's loss to Capriati in Hong Kong. Jen demolished Angie in 44 minutes and Angie only won one game! That kind of whitewashing would be tough to bear and maybe Anna was trying to consider how Brynne would deal with a bad loss @ the hands of a tough player.

Of course, this is all conjecture. It is hard to say what Kournikova was feeling or thinking @ the time she was asked to play in that match.

 

[the cat]

More unwarranted cheap shots at Anna. This is really getting ridiculous. Why should she risk an injury on those sticky courts, only a couple of days before her clash with Henin? Did you ever think of that, Alex and Janie? Anna is unbelievably injury prone, you know!

 

[Vanity]

I don't agree with Anna's statement at all. Although I was a bit bitter after Bryanne beat Nejedly, the girl is in no way a walkover. I believe she beat Torrens Valero going into the open and she is a solid top 50 player. But, then again, she may not have said this. She may have simply refused to play and the press then made it out to be that she didn't want to play because of her opponent's ranking. I'm not going to jump to conclusions because it's hard to say what really went on. If she really did say that, then "shame on you, anna!" but if she didn't then it's just another case of the press trying to start some controversy.

 

[tenn_ace]

quote without a reference: why should we believe it?

besides, what OTHER "bad" statements did Anna make?

 

[ajayares]

Where is the quote??? So Anna was quoted on it??
She played a doubles exhibition didn't she???
Gee some people just love the chance to have a go at Anna, without knowing what happened..

Why didn't someone else play the exhibition??

What about Raymond V Stewart???

Why should Anna have to play all the time???

BTW I seriously doubt she said this about Stewart, she does not bag other players?? and don't anyone come back and say she does?? because it is pure crap...

She has made ONE mistake (when talking about other players) and that was the Lipton 98 after the final..

OH why has this appeared now (a week later) have not been able to fine anything else on Anna???

 

[tenn_ace]

well said, ajayares

 

[ys]

well, ajayares, with all our love to Anna, she did say this kind of stuff about Patty, but that was more than 5 years ago and I thought that she has matured. Hopefully it is not true..

 

[the cat]

ys, you've got it backwards. Patty has been making bad comments about Anna for years. And Anna has ignored her.

 

[Philbo]

Anna is being treated unfairly!!!

I can confirm, that on the Friday night session of Adidas International, when Marina Hingis had pulled out of the doubles final with heat exhaustion (LOL) and Serena pulled out of her match injured, that Anna and Lisa Raymond teamed up in an exhibition to beat Bryanne Stewart and Rennae Stubbs 8-3...

Anna had a great time with the crowd and was very friendly, and I cant imagine her saying that about Bryanne....

 

[ys]

The cat, you obviously just don't know why Patty was making those comments about Anna. You obviously don't know how and who started this feud.

 

[Martian Martin]

I agree with Ajayares and Cat, yet again it's an opportunity for people to have a go at Anna.

So what if she didn't play the exhibition match against Bryanne?!!. She played the doubles match, what more do you want her to do?!.

Why should Anna play a match that doesn't mean a thing right before the first Slam of the year?. I'll bet if it had been any of the other top players and they hadn't played, then nobody would have thought anything of it, but because it's Anna, there always has to be criticism.

 

[auntie janie]

Isn't everybody taking this thing just a bit too seriously? In my case, all I was doing was making a JOKE. I have no idea if the story is true or not, or what explanation there might be behind it, IF it is true.

Lighten UP, people!

 

[Lisbeth]

Anna did play a doubles exhibition

Just to set the facts straight, I was there on the Friday night and Anna played a doubles "first to 8 games" match. Anna played with Lisa Raymond and Bryanne Stewart played with Rennae Stubbs. I think Anna and Lis won 8-3 or something but Bryanne put up a good fight and if I remember correctly won two of her three service games. It wasn't great tennis to be honest but I for one appreciated them playing - otherwise we would have gone out there for nothing after Serena had to pull out early in the singles match.

 

[Rollo]

OK.OK I apologize if this is causing hard feelings.

1. I didn't know Anna HAD played a dubs exhibition, which at least throws some doubt on what was written.

2. While Anna DOES have a reputation for being "difficult"(the Patrick Rafter incident at the US Open a few years back was funny as hell), she's not in the habit of bagging other players.

Again, sorry if it's all a made up statement, which is possible.

 

[tenn_ace]

apology excepted

 

[juggler]

what patrick rafter incident is this?

if u are talking about her pushing in line for a car to her hotel then this was last years australian open. this was also absolute mindless crap started by the press in the gossip columns.

 

[Rollo]

Ah, you've got the gist of the story right, but it was the 1998 US Open where the Rafter "incident" went down-and there were enough witnesses to verify it. Maybe the gossip pages recycled the story for last year's Aussie Open...