Winners of the ASAP Best Ambassadors for the Sport of Tennis were
Belgian Kim Clijsters and Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui in ITWA's annual
professional tennis awards.

http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/news/articles/2004-01-
16/200401161074305256604.htmlFederer, Henin media darlings

Friday, January 16, 2004



The International Tennis Writers Association (ITWA) Has named
Switzerland's Roger Federer and Belgian's Justine Henin-Hardenne its
2003 Players of the year.


Winners of the ASAP Best Ambassadors for the Sport of Tennis were
Belgian Kim Clijsters and Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui in ITWA's annual
professional tennis awards.


Wimbledon champion and Tennis Masters Cup winner Federer was a clear
winner over his closest challenger, the US open champion Andy
Roddick. French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero came third.


"Roger's impeccable performance at Wimbledon, his astounding title
run at the year-end Tennis Masters Cup and his overall fine play on
all surfaces gave him the edge over Roddick," said ITWA President
Richard Evans.


French and US Open champion Henin-Hardenne was an overwhelming winner
in the women's category. Justine's Belgian compatriot Clijsters and
Serena Williams tied for second place.


"While Serena Williams was nails-tough at Australian Open and
Wimbledon, Justine's remarkable triumph in Paris and her incredible
run on US hard courts pushed her over the top," said ITWA's Matthew
Cronin, the Managing Editor of Inside Tennis Magazine and owner of
tennisreporters.net.


"She showed remarkable resiliency and improvement all year long."


All winners will be presented with Montblanc pens at the Australian
Open following the recent vote of well over half of ITWA's 103
worldwide members, who represent publications and radio outlets that
reach more than 75 million people world wide.


In the 'Ambassador' category, Clijsters was a very popular choice.
She was followed by Henin-Hardenne and France's Amelie Mauresmo. Also
getting 'Ambassador' votes among the women were Martina Navratilova,
Ai Sugiyama, Lindsay Davenport, Patty Schnyder and Monica Seles.


"There isn't a nicer person in tennis or a more cooperative one,"
said

Cronin. "Kim consistently goes the extra mile to help further
popularise the sport and is a more than deserving winner of our
inaugural award."


El Aynaoui won a close contest where seven men received votes and was
trailed by American Andre Agassi and Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan.


Federer, Gustavo Kuerten, Carlos Moya and James Blake were the other
men who received votes.


The 'Ambassador' category recognizes cooperative players who spend
the most time attempting to work with the media so as to promote the
sport to the public.


"El Aynaoui is always ready to present himself as a willing
ambassador of his sport even in the most demanding circumstances,"
said Evans.

"After losing that extraordinary five hour battle with Roddick at the
Australian Open, Younes did his press conference and then answered
questions in four of the six languages he speaks fluently. Physically
and mentally he must have been exhausted but he went far above and
beyond the call of duty."


ITWA members come from five continents. Its board of directors
includes representatives from England, France, the United States,
Australia, Canada, Spain, Switzerland, Brazil and Lebanon.

Kim Clijsters
Younes El Aynaoui
Roger Federer
Justine Henin-Hardenne