I attended the Birmingham 2005 tournament from Monday to Sunday, and
now that I've uploaded to my website all the photos I took, it's
time to share my observations of Anna.


First round:
+ Anna Chakvetadze d. María Sánchez Lorenzo, 6-4 6-3

I am a demi-fan of Sánchez Lorenzo (my favourite Selesian player and
a very attractive lady to boot), but Anna has been a revelation for
me since I watched her match against Maria Sharapova at the French
Open on TV, and I'm now a demi-fan of Anna too.

Anna is very cute, with unique sculptured facial features, including
pretty eyes and the nicest nose I can think of. She's not a
particularly great player, although she does go for her shots, is
willing to come forward to hit overheads or drive-volleys, and is
very reliable at holding serve - except when she has to serve for
the set or the match (she needed endless deuces at 5-4 in the first
set, and was broken at 5-2 in the second).

Anna did not appear to enjoy this match very much - she looked like
she was chewing on wasps all the time; never did a smile cross her
face while she was playing and I was watching (although she did
smile once when making her way to the practice-courts). But not
smiling is just the way she is; it didn't put me off taking loads of
photos! :-)

Anna does look better on TV than in person, because of the close-
ups: on TV you get to see her eyes bulging as she runs for a
dropshot, or the cute little blows of her lips just before she
serves or receives.

PHILIP: This is a nice biro that they gave me at the Whirlpool booth.
ANDREW: Not as nice as Anna Chakvetadze though!
PHILIP: I don't think you can compare a biro with Anna Chakvetadze.
ANDREW: Well, they both bulge when you press them, don't they? And
have you ever seen a biro smile?


Second round:
+ Anna Chakvetadze d. EVGENIA LINETSKAYA [12], 4-6 6-4 6-4

I didn't get to see much of this match due to other priorities, but
a great win for Anna, and to tell you the truth - speaking as a fan
of Monica Seles and Maria Sharapova - it was good to get
Linetskaya's annoying grunt out of the tournament. I didn't get to
watch much of Linetskaya, but I certainly /heard/ plenty of her! ;-)


Third round:
+ Anna Chakvetadze d. SHINOBU ASAGOE [6], 6-4 6-4

I was only able to watch the first three games of this match before
I had to go and watch Maria Sharapova on Centre Court, but it was
certainly a commendable victory for Anna, especially after she
suffered a neck-injury in the first set so painful that she was in
tears, and had to take a medical time-out to get it massaged.


Quarter-final:
+ TATIANA GOLOVIN [5] d. Anna Chakvetadze, 6-4 7-6 (7/3)

This was an entertaining match between two very attractive players.
Tatiana played much better than her dire performance against Rika
Fujiwara in the previous round, although still well short of the
standard required for induction into my eternal fanship, or the
standard she showed at Birmingham 2004 (where she was runner-up to
Maria Sharapova in a mouthwatering final).

At Birmingham 2004, Tatiana was placing the ball much better than at
Birmingham 2005, with immaculate length, engineering the points
beautifully to create open spaces for her winners. She also had the
sexiest grunt in tennis ("uy... uy... UY!"), and those microshorts!
But these three ingredients were missing for much of Birmingham
2005, robbing her of her unique "Golovinesque" appeal.

So, while part of me was loyal to the memory of the Golovin I found
so entertaining to watch in 2004, part of me wanted Anna to win.
Anna has been a revelation to me since I first saw her play on TV at
the French Open, with her cuteness and animated beauty - I actually
found her more attractive than Tatiana in this match.

Anna went for her shots and was making all the nice noises in this
match (apart from a couple of points early in the second set when
Tati decided to grunt), but she was nervous from the start, and Tati
emerged victorious with a handful of spectacular winners on the way.


I have uploaded the many photos that I took on my digital camera at
Birmingham 2005:

Maria Sharapova (75 photos)
Daniela Hantuchová (47)
Tatiana Golovin (41)
Maria Kirilenko (41)
Anna Chakvetadze (28) <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Yuliana Fedak (16)
Marion Bartoli (14)
Ai Sugiyama (13)
Arantxa Parra Santonja (11)
Alina Jidkova (10)
Eleni Daniilidou (10)
Maria Elena Camerin (7)
Jelena Jankovic (7)
Jennifer Russell (6)
Samantha Stosur (6)
Tamarine Tanasugarn (6)
Rika Fujiwara (6)
María Sánchez Lorenzo (5)
Nicole Vaidišová (5)
Akiko Morigami (4)
Amanda Janes (4)
L'udmila Cervanová (3)
Tatiana Perebiynis (3)
Mashona Washington (3)
Alyona Bondarenko (2)
Anne Kremer (2)
Tatiana Panova (2)
Bryanne Stewart (2)
Shinobu Asagoe (1)
Evgenia Linetskaya (1)
Laura Granville (1)
Jamea Jackson (1)
Anne Keothavong (1)
Natalie Grandin (1)

All these photos can be found in the Photos section of my website
(subject to the image-host being up at the time you visit):
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/photos/

--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jeldani/