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Kournikova: conquering or crashing?

© Michael Cecilio

She has her male fans drooling and her on-court rivals seething. Anyway you like to look at Anna Kournikova (for many there is only one way) she has got everyone's attention. Unfortunately, for her, it is not for the right reasons. Yet, it seems to me that Anna is quite happy to let her looks do the talking and let her racquet play second fiddle to the glitz and glamour of international stardom. Is it fortune or is it a curse? Depends on the way you look at Anna Kournikova really.

I speak as neither an Anna lover nor hater. And yes, I am a 19 year old male. I am, however, someone who appreciates good tennis and appreciates the personalities who are playing the game. For sure, it is what makes the Sanex WTA Tour so interesting these days. You've got the Williams sisters who are as effervescent as they are cocky. You've got Davenport who is seemingly unassuming and good-humoured. You've got Hingis who herself has a great sense of humour and a good attitude towards the game. You've got Seles as a reflective, elder stateswoman. You've got Pierce who is fairly happy-go-lucky. And you've got Kournikova who is...... well, what exactly is she? Warm? Funny? Effervescent? Charming? Nope. Well, as least not the last time I checked an Anna Kournikova interview transcript. You'd be lucky to get more than a monosyllabic response from Kournikova to a question from a press representative. Maybe Anna Kournikova is not supposed to be a personality. Maybe she is supposed to be just a mere body for physical admiration. Alas, the WTA tour have succeeded in exactly what they set out to achieve - to market their girls as glamour queens - and their marquee attraction just so happens to be the beautiful Russian Anna Kournikova.

Is it right for the WTA to market their girls as "sex kittens"? One only needs to take a look at the official WTA calendar to see what the WTA are up to. In fact, if I can properly recall, the Tour's CEO Bart Maguire admitted as much that it was important for the tour's ongoing success that their girls were marketed in such a way to maintain popularity. Certainly, the tour has experienced a growth in TV audiences and a marked increase in tournament ticket sales, but who is to say that the growth of the tour has occurred due to the glamour factor? In fact, if I was a WTA player, I would probably take offence at such a statement. The recent success of the WTA tour is largely in part due to the increase in depth in the game - gone is the era of the Steffi Graf domination where up to six or seven players are probably as likely as each other to win the major tournaments on offer. Not only is there just one rivalry to bank on in any given tournament. Now you've got Hingis versus Davenport, Hingis versus Williams, Davenport versus Williams, Williams versus Williams, and I am still yet to include Mary Pierce, Monica Seles, Amelie Mauresmo and Jennifer Capriati into the mix. Most certainly it is also the attractiveness of the contrasting personalities in the game which contribute to the success of the WTA. Every fan has a player he or she can relate to in terms of personality which draws them even closer to the sport.

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