Anne Keothavong

Anne Viensouk Keothavong (born 16 September 1983) is a British former tennis player. In her career, she won a total of 28 titles on the ITF Women's Circuit, and reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 48 (achieved February 2009). She also reached the semifinals of six WTA International tournaments, and the semifinals of one Premier tournament. Keothavong was British No. 1 and in 2009 became the first British player to make the WTA top 50 since 1993. In April 2001, aged 17, she became, until Katie Swan in 2016, the youngest player ever to play in the Fed Cup for the British team, and she is second (alongside Elena Baltacha) to Virginia Wade's record for most Fed Cup ties played for the Great Britain with 39.

Keothavong announced her retirement on 24 July 2013. After that, she became a member of BT Sport's tennis coverage team, alongside Martina Navratilova and fellow British ex-number one Sam Smith. In 2017, Keothavong became Fed Cup captain for Great Britain, leading the team to win all four ties played in the Europe/Africa Zone Group I. She continued as captain for the 2018 and 2019 Fed Cup, winning promotion in April 2019 to World Group II for the first time in 26 years.

Early and personal life Keothavong was born in Hackney in London, to parents who had fled from their war-torn home country of Laos in the 1970s. Her father, Somsak, encouraged her to play short tennis from an early age. Her mother's name is Vathana and she has two brothers: James, who is a tennis umpire, and Mark. She also has a sister, Lena. Keothavong attended Kingsland Secondary School in Hackney. At the age of seven, she took up tennis at Hackney Downs and Highbury Fields. Her preferred surface was hardcourt.

Keothavong married Andrew Bretherton, a corporate lawyer, on 28 February 2015. They have a son and a daughter. the future world number one, who like Keothavong, went on to reach a higher ranking in seniors than in juniors) and ten quarterfinals.

In junior doubles, she won one tournament, the 13th Salik Open, and lost in the final of two others: the LTA International Junior Tournament – Bisham Abbey and the 11th Malaysian International Junior Championships. All three of these were in 1999 and all three were partnering Elena Baltacha.

1998–2001 Keothavong played her first professional match on the ITF Women's Circuit in April 1998, at age 14, when she fell in the first round of qualifying for a $10k tournament in Birmingham. That year she played only two more matches (in the qualifying tournaments for $10k events in Hatfield, Hertfordshire and Felixstowe) and lost both of them. She finished the year without a world ranking.

During May 1999, Keothavong played in a total of five ITF tournaments with her best result being in the $10k event in Sunderland where she won three matches to qualify and then reached the second round. In the other four events, she either lost in the first round or qualifying stages. Her final ranking of the year was world No. 702. Immediately after Wimbledon she headed to Felixstowe to participate in a $25k tournament where she reached the quarterfinals. In August and September, she reached four consecutive ITF finals, winning three. She won the first in Bath beating Hannah Collin. She was victorious in London when she defeated Yvonne Doyle but lost in the third final in Glasgow to Selima Sfar. In Sunderland, her fourth consecutive final of August and September, she won by again beating Hannah Collin. She competed in three more $25k tournaments that year and reached the semifinals in two of them. Her final ranking of 2002 was 233. The eventual champion, Maria Sharapova, beat her in the second round. Keothavong played in two $50k events in the United States reaching the second round in one and the quarterfinals in the second, in Lexington, Kentucky where she had to withdraw due to sustaining serious ligament damage with the score at 5–7, 3–5. She did not play again that year and finished with a WTA ranking of No. 175.

In May, Keothavong reached the semifinals of a $25k event in Monzón where she lost to Angelique Kerber. She was then given a wildcard into the main draw of the Birmingham Classic but she lost to Laura Granville in the first round. This was followed by a wildcard into the Eastbourne qualifying tournament where Arantxa Parra Santonja defeated her in the first round. After this, another wildcard allowed Keothavong entry into the main draw of Wimbledon where she faced Mariana Díaz Oliva in the first round and lost in straight sets.

Keothavong competed on the ITF Circuit for the rest of the year (except when she reached the second round of the Tier-III event, the Bell Challenge, where she lost to Sofia Arvidsson) and won two more titles. The first was in Nottingham where she beat Karen Paterson in a three-set final, and the second was a $25k tournament in Lagos where she defeated Maša Zec Peškirič to win the title. She also reached one more $25k final this year, also in Lagos, where she lost to Petra Cetkovská in three sets. Her year-end ranking for 2005 was world No. 239. in the first round, Sunitha Rao in round two and Tzipi Obziler in the quarterfinals. She lost to Mariya Koryttseva in the semifinals. In October, she reached the quarterfinals of the $25k tournament in Rockhampton, Queensland and her year-ending singles ranking was 122. before losing her second to Monica Niculescu. February saw her join compatriots, Melanie South, Katie O'Brien and Elena Baltacha, to represent Britain in the Fed Cup. Despite Keothavong winning each of her three singles matches in the round-robin stage, Britain was forced to fight relegation from the Europe/Africa Group I by playing Portugal. They won 2–0 thanks to yet another victory in singles from Keothavong and a singles victory from O'Brien. For the remainder of February, Keothavong competed on the ITF Circuit and reached the quarterfinals of a $25k event in Stockholm and won a $25k title in Capriolo. In early April, she lost in the final of a $50k tournament; this one in Patras where Magdaléna Rybáriková defeated her in straight sets. Continuing competition on the ITF Circuit, she won a $50k tournament in Jounieh, Lebanon (despite break outs of fighting between Shia and Hezbollah militia less than ten miles away in Beirut). This tournament win propelled Keothavong into the top 100 for the first time in her career and guaranteed her a place in the main draw of Wimbledon for the first time in her career; the first time a British woman had entered Wimbledon on merit since 1999. She then fell in the first round of qualifying for the French Open, before reaching another $50k final in Surbiton.

In the run up to Wimbledon, Keothavong lost in the first round of the Birmingham Classic to Kateryna Bondarenko and in the first round of the Rosmalen Open to Sara Errani. In her first-round match in Wimbledon, she faced Vania King and lost the first set. She regrouped during a toilet break at the end of the first set and came back to win the match in three sets despite being 2–0 down in the deciding set. She then lost to the eventual champion, Venus Williams, in the second round. After Wimbledon, Keothavong made a successful start to her American hardcourt season by winning three matches to qualify for the Tier II event in Stanford. She then defeated Sania Mirza in the first round before giving Marion Bartoli a tough time in round two in a match which she eventually lost in three tight sets. In August, she entered the US Open for the first time in her career and faced Alexa Glatch in round one. She won the match and then went on to beat Francesca Schiavone in the second round in three sets. However No. 5 seed, Elena Dementieva, proved too much for Keothavong in the third round; Keothavong lost. After the US Open, Keothavong won two more ITF events: Barnstaple ($50k) and Kraków ($100k), and as a result, her year-end ranking was 61. This was only the second time in her career that she reached the semifinals of a WTA Tour event. Keothavong then competed in the Hobart International where she faced a tough draw in round one against world No. 25, Ágnes Szávay. Nevertheless, Keothavong came through without too much difficulty, beating Szávay in two sets. She lost to Virginie Razzano in the second round. Keothavong then headed to the main draw of the Australian Open for the first time in her career where she came up against Anna Chakvetadze, who was the 17th seed. She lost in a controversial match where a mistake by the umpire allowed Chakvetadze to serve first in the final set, an advantage which should have gone to Keothavong.

Keothavong was the fourth seed in her next tournament, the Cellular South Cup, and she followed up on this seeding by reaching the semifinals of a WTA event for the second time in 2009. She defeated Maria Elena Camerin, Michelle Larcher de Brito and No. 5 seed Marina Erakovic on the way to being demolished by top seed Caroline Wozniacki in the semifinals. Despite this crushing defeat, a semifinal run was enough to help Keothavong make the hop from world No. 52 to No. 48, her debut in the top 50. Keothavong then endured three consecutive first round defeats in the Indian Wells Open, the Miami Open (both Premier Mandatory tournaments) and a $100k tournament in Tourhout, Belgium, where she was forced to retire due to a viral illness.

Following this, Keothavong began her clay court season by defeating Maret Ani to reach the second round of the Grand Prix in Fes, Morocco where she was defeated by Lourdes Domínguez Lino. This was followed by another first-round defeat in a Premier event in the Italian Open, this one at the hands of Carla Suárez Navarro. In the Madrid Open, she beat Mariana Duque Mariño in round one before losing to Lucie Šafářová in the second round. In her very next tournament, she reached the fourth WTA Tour semifinal of her career and her third in 2009 in the Warsaw Open. She faced No. 7 seed, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, in round one, American veteran Jill Craybas in the second round, qualifier Raluca Olaru in the quarterfinals and was beaten by eighth seed Alona Bondarenko. Nevertheless, in reaching the semifinals she became the first British woman to reach the semifinals of a tour clay-court event since Jo Durie reached the semifinals of the 1983 French Open, 26 years before. Keothavong began her grass court season on home turf with a victory over Sofia Arvidsson in the first round of the Birmingham Classic before losing to eventual semifinalist, Sania Mirza, in round two. She was then defeated in the first round of the Eastbourne International by world No. 28, Sybille Bammer, but saw off a mugger in central London who tried to snatch her handbag before heading to Wimbledon, where she experienced a first-round loss to world No. 80, Patricia Mayr.

After this, Keothavong played the Stanford Classic in California where she lost in the opening round of the singles to Elena Dementieva. Keothavong also played in the doubles with Ayumi Morita against Julie Coin and Marie-Ève Pelletier, trailing 4–6, 5–3 when she attempted to run down a drop shot and, in trying to avoid a collision with the net post, suffered a serious knee injury, rupturing her left anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus, a similar injury to the one she suffered in 2004 in her right knee. This injury ended Keothavong's year and as a result, her year-end ranking dropped to 84. after receiving news before the match that her grandmother had died.

Less than a week after her loss in Miami, Keothavong bounced back in a $75k event in Monzón, Spain. She reached the quarterfinals after beating two Asian players, Yurika Sema in straight sets and Tamarine Tanasugarn in three after losing a tight first set. She bowed out to Maria Elena Camerin, in straight sets. Keothavong then moved on to Torhout, Belgium for a $50k event. She made it to the semifinals after taking out Shapatava, Kristina Antoniychuk and Valérie Tétreault, in straight sets. In the semifinals, she faced another Canadian, Rebecca Marino, Keothavong lost.

At Wimbledon, she was defeated in the first round by Anastasia Rodionova.

Keothavong entered the Luxembourg Open using a protected ranking and reached the semifinals after beating Virginie Razzano, Patty Schnyder and Iveta Benešová but was beaten by Roberta Vinci, preventing Keothavong from making her first WTA Tour final.

This year, Keothavong and Laura Robson, as members of Team Aegon, received the equivalent of £48k to provide them with personal coaches plus a £12k travel budget.

2011

At the beginning of the year in Australia, Keothavong reached the second round of the Auckland Open losing to Kateryna Bondarenko, and the second round of the Australian Open, where she qualified, losing to 30th seed Andrea Petkovic in three sets.

Keothavong then played several ITF Circuit events with limited success. She then entered the French Open where she lost a closely fought match in the first round to Vesna Dolonc.

She then moved onto grass in her home country and won a round at the $100k event in Nottingham, before losing to Stéphanie Dubois. At Eastbourne, Keothavong entered the qualifying round, defeating eighth seed Alizé Cornet and Sorana Cîrstea before losing in the final round to Mirjana Lučić. At Wimbledon, Keothavong defeated fellow Brit Naomi Broady in the first round before losing in the second round to No. 8 seed and eventual champion, Petra Kvitová.

Keothavong had little success during the US Open Series, but the majority of her successes for 2011 came during the European hardcourt series towards the end of the year. Keothavong qualified and reached the second round of the Ladies Linz, losing a close match to third seed Jelena Janković. Keothavong then qualified again and this time reached the semifinals of the Luxembourg Open, defeating Ana Ivanovic in straight sets along the way before losing a close match to Monica Niculescu.

Keothavong then won back-to-back ITF events. She won the $75k event in Barnstaple, defeating Marta Domachowska in the final, and she also won the doubles event with Eva Birnerová. She then won the singles title in the $50k event in Ismaning, defeating Yvonne Meusburger in the final and again winning the doubles title as well, this time with Kiki Bertens.

2012

Keothavong played her first event of the 2012 season at the Auckland Open where she was the top-seed in the qualifying tournament. She defeated Australian wildcard Emily Fanning in the first round, and followed this with a victory over Varvara Lepchenko. In the third round Keothavong lost to Jamie Hampton.

Keothavong went straight into the main draw at the Australian Open, but had to retire due to illness from her first-round match, after losing the first set to Mona Barthel.

Keothavong was selected for the British Fed Cup team to play in the Europe/Africa Group 1 match at Eilat, Israel on 1–4 February 2012. In the group stages she played singles, defeating opponents from Portugal, and Israel in the group stages but losing to the Netherlands. The team qualified for a play-off against Austria in which Keothavong beat Patricia Mayr-Achleitner and Great Britain won 2–0 to secure a place in the World Group II play-off to be held in April 2012.

Keothavong lost in straight sets to Melinda Czink in the first round of the French Open.

In Wimbledon, Keothavong lost her second-round match against Sara Errani, 1–6, 1–6.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she was knocked out in the first round by Caroline Wozniaki, and she and team-mate Elena Baltacha were also knocked out in the first round of the women's doubles.

2013 Keothavong made a disappointing start to 2013, losing in the first round qualifier in the Australian Open to Grace Min. Despite this, she was still named in the Fed Cup team alongside Laura Robson, Heather Watson and Johanna Konta to face Portugal, Hungary and Bosnia. Keothavong reached her first WTA Tour final with doubles partner Valeria Savinykh, surprisingly reaching the doubles final of the Brasil Tennis Cup. They were, however, beaten by top seeds Anabel Medina Garrigues and Yaroslava Shvedova. She played her final match of her career at the Wimbledon Championships, losing in the first round to teenager Garbiñe Muguruza, in straight sets.

On 24 July 2013, she announced her retirement from professional tour.

After retirement In December 2016, Keothavong was selected as the new captain for the Great Britain Fed Cup team, replacing Judy Murray. She was involved in controversy in 2017 when Ilie Năstase, captain of the Romania Fed Cup team, used obscene language towards her and the British team during a match. At the pre-match dinner the day before, Nastase asked for Keothavong's room number.

In October 2020, she was nominated to the board of the All England Club.

Keothavong was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to tennis.

Playing style Keothavong's greatest strength was her powerful forehand which she used to try to dominate play from the baseline and she added as much topspin as possible to increase the probability of the ball landing in court. As well as her forehand, she often had a high first-serve percentage and usually won the majority of points on her first-serve. She rarely had a match where she served no aces at all, and in her second round match at the 2008 US Open she served a total of seven aces.

WTA Tour finals Doubles: 1 (runner-up) LegendGrand Slam tournaments Premier M & Premier 5 Premier International (0–1) Finals by surface Hard (0–1) Clay (0–0) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Result Date Tournament Tier Surface Partnering OpponentsScore Loss Mar 2013 Brasil Tennis Cup International Hard Valeria Savinykh Anabel Medina Garrigues Yaroslava Shvedova 0–6, 4–6

ITF Circuit finals Singles: 30 (20–10) Legend$100,000 tournaments (1–0)$75,000 tournaments (1–0)$50,000 tournaments (5–3)$25,000 tournaments (6–6)$10,000 tournaments (7–1)Finals by surfaceHard (16–9)Clay (1–0)Grass (0–1)Carpet (3–0) OutcomeNo.DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScore Winner 1. ITF Jersey, United Kingdom Hard (i) Élodie Le Bescond 6–3, 6–2 Winner 2. ITF Bath, UK Hard Hannah Collin 6–0, 7–6(5) Winner 3. ITF London, England Hard Yvonne Doyle 6–4, 7–6(1) Runner-up 1. GB Pro-Series Glasgow, UK Hard (i) 6–7(5), 6–2, 6–7(8) Winner 4. ITF Sunderland, UK Hard (i) Hannah Collin 6–0, 6–1 Winner 5. ITF Belfort, France Hard (i) 5–7, 7–6(3), 6–4 Runner-up 2. ITF Ostrava, Czech Republic Hard (i) 4–6, 6–7(1) Winner 6. ITF Redding, United States Hard 6–3, 2–6, 7–6(3) Winner 7. ITF Bolton, England Hard (i) Veronika Chvojková 3–6, 6–1, 6–1 Winner 8. ITF Bath, UK Hard Clare Peterzan 6–1, 6–1 Runner-up 3. ITF Bath, UK Hard 4–6, 6–4, 4–6 Winner 9. ITF Nottingham, UK Hard 1–6, 7–6(4), 6–4 Runner-up 4. Lagos Open, Nigeria Hard 6–3, 3–6, 2–6 Winner 10. Lagos Open, Nigeria Hard 6–3, 7–6(7) Winner 11. ITF Jersey, UK Hard (i) 6–2, 6–1 Runner-up 5. ITF Sunderland, UK Hard (i) 6–7(6), 3–6 Runner-up 6. ITF Redding, United States Hard Diana Ospina 3–6, 6–3, 1–6 Winner 12. ITF Přerov, Czech Republic Carpet (i) 6–4, 7–5 Runner-up 7. Lexington Challenger, US Hard 6–4, 3–6, 3–6 Winner 13. Vancouver Open, Canada Hard Stéphanie Dubois 7–5, 6–1 Winner 14. ITF Capriolo, Italy Carpet (i) 6–1, 2–6, 6–3 Runner-up 8. ITF Patras, Greece Hard 3–6, 5–7 Winner 15. ITF Jounieh, Lebanon Clay 6–4, 6–1 Runner-up 9. Surbiton Trophy, UK Grass 4–6, 2–6 Winner 16. GB Pro-Series Barnstaple, UK Hard (i) 6–4, 6–2 Winner 17. Salwator Cup Kraków, Poland Hard (i) 7–6(4), 4–6, 6–3 Runner-up 10. ITF Tallinn, Estonia Hard 4–6, 1–4 ret. Winner 18. GB Pro-Series Barnstaple, UK Hard (i) 6–1, 6–3 Winner 19. Ismaning Open, Germany Carpet (i) 6–3, 1–6, 6–2 Winner 20. Open de Seine-et-Marne, France Hard (i) 7–6(3), 6–3

Doubles: 11 (8–3) Legend$100,000 tournaments (0–1)$75,000 tournaments (1–0)$50,000 tournaments (2–0)$25,000 tournaments (4–2)$10,000 tournaments (1–0)Finals by surfaceHard (6–3)Clay (1–0)Carpet (1–0) OutcomeNo.DateTournamentSurfacePartneringOpponentsScore Winner 1. ITF Tenerife, Spain Hard Amanda Janes 7–6(5), 3–6, 6–3 Winner 2. ITF Nottingham, UK Hard Clare Peterzan Lindsay Cox Rebecca Fong 6–1, 6–1 Runner-up 1. GB Pro-Series Glasgow, UK Hard (i) 3–6, 7–6(2), 2–6 Runner-up 2. ITF Stockholm, Sweden Hard (i) Surina De Beer 4–6, 4–6 Winner 3. ITF London, England Hard (i) Katarína Kachlíková 4–6, 6–4, 6–2 Winner 4. ITF Gran Canaria, Spain Clay w/o Winner 5. Open Nantes Atlantique, France Hard (i) Anna Smith 5–7, 6–1, [10–6] Winner 6. ITF Clermont-Ferrand, France Hard (i) 4–6, 6–3, [10–8] Winner 7. GB Pro-Series Barnstaple, UK Hard (i) 7–5, 6–1 Winner 8. Ismaning Open, Germany Carpet (i) 6–3, 6–3 Runner-up 3. Bahamas Open Hard Eva Birnerová 1–6, 6–3, [6–10]

Performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

Mixed doubles

Fed Cup participation Europe/Africa Group I Date Venue Surface Round Opponents Final match score Match Opponent Rubber score 24–26 April 2001 Murcia Clay RR 0–3 Singles Sofia Arvidsson 0–6, 2–6 (L) 1–2 Singles Edina Gallovits-Hall 2–6, 2–6 (L) 1–2 Singles Nadejda Ostrovskaya 4–6, 1–6 (L) 21–26 April 2003 Estoril Clay RR 2–1 Singles Kelly Liggan 0–6, 6–2, 0–6 (L) 2–1 Singles Joanna Sakowicz-Kostecka 6–3, 6–3 (W) 0–3 Singles Melinda Czink 6–7(1), 6–7(3) (L) PO(Relegation) 1–2 Singles Miriam Oremans 6–4, 6–3 (W) Europe/Africa Group II 26 April –1 May 2004 Marsa Hard RR 3–0 Singles Yomna Farid 6–0, 6–1 (W) 2–1 Singles Simona Matei 3–6, 6–3, 6–0 (W) PO(Promotion) 2–0 Singles Kelly Liggan 6–2, 3–6, 2–2 ret. (W) Europe/Africa Group I 20–23 April 2005 Antalya Clay RR 0–3 Singles Tina Pisnik 3–6, 3–6 (L) 2–1 Singles Caroline Wozniacki 6–3, 4–6, 6–2 (W) 1–2 Singles Dragana Zarić 7–5, 3–6, 0–6 (L) 18–22 April 2006 Plovdiv Clay RR 3–0 Singles Olena Antypina 6–7, 6–2, 6–0 (W) 2–1 Singles Tsvetana Pironkova 1–6, 1–6 (L) 2–1 Singles Melinda Czink 6–1, 3–6, 2–6 (L) PO(1st–4th) 1–2 Singles Daniela Hantuchová 2–6, 1–6 (L) 18–21 April 2007 Plovdiv Clay RR 3–0 Singles Tsvetana Pironkova 5–7, 6–4, 6–3 (W) 1–2 Singles Anne Kremer 3–6, 3–6 (L) PO(9th–12th) 0–3 Singles Sofia Arvidsson 3–6, 5–7 (L) 30 Jan –2 Feb 2008 Budapest Carpet (i) RR 1–2 Singles Emmanuelle Gagliardi 6–1, 6–4 (W) 1–2 Singles Gréta Arn 7–6(5), 7–5 (W) 1–2 Singles Hanne Skak Jansen 4–6, 6–4, 6–2 (W) Doubles (with Elena Baltacha) Dyrberg/Wozniacki 3–6, 2–6 (L) PO(Relegation) 2–0 Singles Ana Catarina Nogueira 6–1, 7–6(1) (W) 4–7 Feb 2009 Tallinn Carpet (i) RR 3–0 Singles Ágnes Szávay 6–3, 6–2 (W) 3–0 Singles Arantxa Rus 6–4, 6–4 (W) Doubles (with Sarah Borwell) Thijssen/Wong 6–4, 6–0 (W) 3–0 Singles Mandy Minella 6–1, 6–2 (W) PO(Promotion) 1–2 Singles Agnieszka Radwańska 6–7(2), 6–7(4) (L) Doubles (with Sarah Borwell) Jans-Ignacik/Rosolska 5–7, 3–6 (L) 4–5 Feb 2010 Lisbon Hard (i) RR 0–3 Singles Patricia Mayr-Achleitner 2–6, 2–6 (L) Doubles (with Sarah Borwell) Mayr-Achleitner/Meusburger 4–6, 4–6 (L) 2–1 Singles Ekaterina Dzehalevich 7–6(8), 6–1 (W) PO(5th–8th) 1–2 Singles Chayenne Ewijk 7–6(5), 6–3 (W) 2–4 Feb 2011 Eilat Hard RR 1–2 Singles Patty Schnyder 1–6, 2–6 (L) 2–1 Singles Caroline Wozniacki 0–6, 2–6 (L) 1–4 Feb 2012 Eilat Hard RR 3–0 Singles Maria João Koehler 6–3, 6–4 (W) 2–1 Singles Bibiane Schoofs 3–6, 7–6(3), 3–6 (L) 3–0 Singles Julia Glushko 6–2, 6–1 (W) PO(Promotional) 2–0 Singles Patricia Mayr-Achleitner 7–6(5), 6–3 (W) World Group II (Play-offs) 21–22 April 2012 Borås Hard (i) PO(Promotional) 1–4 Singles Sofia Arvidsson 1–6, 4–6 (L) Singles Johanna Larsson 6–7(6), 6–3, 4–6 (L) Europe/Africa Group I 7 Feb 2013 Eilat Hard RR 3–0 Singles Dea Herdželaš 6–4, 6–2 (W)

Head-to-head record Record against top 10 players