December 27, 2007 (Singapore) - Junior tennis elites are in for a treat this Sunday at an exclusive tennis clinic hosted by current world number six Anna Chakvetadze.
16 trainees from the Singapore Tennis Association elite squad will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to trade volleys with the up-and-coming Russian 20-year-old, who will be in town for her highly-anticipated challenge match against Maria Sharapova on the same day.
The hour-long clinic, to be hosted on an indoor court at the Keppel Club at 9:15 a.m. on Sunday December 30, will see the youths - aged 14 to 17 - receive invaluable tips from arguably one of the most promising players on the WTA Tour.
Chakvetadze herself was a junior elite, having shot into the limelight with her first tournament win at the age of 12.
The Russian beauty has come off a fantastic year on the WTA Tour in which she climbed to a career high ranking of number five, ahead of Sharapova for most of the year before her compatriot edged ahead during the recent Sony Ericsson WTA Tour’s season-ending Championships in Madrid, Spain.
Tennis experts see her as one of the most promising players in the WTA Tour and a very serious potential Grand Slam title winner.
Gilbert Ng, General Manager of the Singapore Tennis Association, is optimistic that the clinic will have a positive impact on the budding tennis talents in Singapore.
"Singapore is very lucky to have two of the world's most outstanding tennis stars in Sharapova and Chakvetadze playing here, and our juniors are even luckier to have an opportunity to learn from a world class player such as Anna," he said.
"The value of learning from a top professional player would be invaluable and priceless - each and every one of our junior players aspires to become a world-class player, and hopefully this Sunday's clinic will give them the confidence and boost to take their game even further."
Born in Moscow, Russia, 20-year-old Chatvetadze won her first tournament at age 12 and quickly followed up with her first ITF juniors tournament in Sweden. She reached her first and only Grand Slam Juniors final in Wimbledon and beat then 2004 French Open Champion Anastasia Myskina in her very first Grand slam tournament.
2007 proved to be Chakvetadze's breakthrough season, highlighted by her very first Grand Slam semi-final at the US Open – losing to eventual winner Sharapova - and culminated in her breaking into the world's top 10 rankings for the first time.
She also made the semi-finals of the WTA 2007 Tour Championships in Madrid and the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and at Roland Garros.
The 16 Singapore Juniors are:
Dominic Boey
Darryl Boey
Vanessa Boey
Christine Fong
Clare Fong
Abdul Hakim Jamaludin
Julienne Keong
Leong Chee Jun
Carolyn Ann Lim
Laura Lizabeth Lim
Matthew Liu
Ooi Shimin
Nicholas Tan
Stefanie Tan
Felix Wee
Sylvester Wee
yea. she is (:.
but i dont think she’s attainable.
stefanie tan is hot man
since when did anna lose to sharapova in the us open? she lost to kuznetsova while sharapova lost in the 3rd round
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