Maria Kirilenko - Official website

Send your wishes to Maria for the new year at maria@mkirilenko.com

The second largest-selling newspaper in Canada, the Globe & Mail, has named Maria the second best-looking player in tennis.

Rating tennis’s top looks
by Tom Tebbutt

Professional tennis players are about more than serves, backhands and forehands – there’s also their style, movement and the way they carry themselves on court, and their off-court presence and personality.

Here’s an overview of the best looks in tennis in 2008. For the purposes of this ranking, looks are viewed as an overall combination of appearance, personality and style, and fashion sense.

1. Ana Ivanovic
The Serb, 21, shot to the top of the popularity charts when she won the French Open in June. Undeniably attractive, the lean, 6-foot-1 Ivanovic has a decidedly feminine allure on court. Slightly stiff in her posture, she is a mighty striker of the ball on court and a self-effacing and ever-cheerful presence off it. Whether it was in her “cyan blue” or “neo red” adidas edge dresses, the dark-haired Ivanovic was the scene stealer among the court fashion set in 2008.

2. Maria Kirilenko
The Russian has the best-contoured physique in tennis since her compatriot, the now (sadly) celebrity-thin Anna Kournikova. Kirilenko, 20 and ranked No. 29, was chosen by designer Stella McCartney to wear her signature tennis line. One of McCartney’s creations is marketed as being designed “with just the right amount of pleating for easy movement, the Stella tennis skirt will have you covering the court in a confident, sassy style.” With her versatile, all-court game, the pert Kirilenko is just naturally like that on court – and it has little to do with the outfits she wears.

3. Venus Williams
All legs and arms, the rangy 6-foot-1 Williams has a regal air about her on court that pretty well allows her to look good in any kind of sporting attire. She has her own line, EleVen, of modestly-priced clothes and accessories that she wears for her matches. The winsome Williams, 28, may be the paradigm of the modern female athlete – sleek, sinewy and with a wondrous speed of movement that has helped her win five Wimbledon titles.

4. Maria Sharapova
At 6-foot-2, the Russian-born, American-raised Sharapova is a as striking a figure as exists on the tennis court. Her blonde hair and imperious carriage have made her a favourite on search engines around the world. Purposeful and determined as a competitor, she is not afraid to make bold fashion moves – i.e. the Swan Lake inspired dress at Wimbledon in 2007, complete with faux feathers on her back. Her earning power, circa $20 million U.S. a year, says it all about her Q-rating.

5. Jelena Jankovic
The current world No. 1 is not quite as natural a clothes horse as the aforementioned women. Her popularity is more connected to an outgoing personality that has charmed crowds all over the world. With Jankovic, 23, it’s not so much the outfits she wears as what she does when she’s wearing them – like the splits when stretches in desperation for a shot. That’s usually followed by an irresistible smile. The Serb probably possesses the tour’s most perfect mix of major-league athleticism and femininity.

January 5th, 2009
Brisbane International - Brisbane $220,000

January 12th, 2009
Medibank International - Sydney $600,000

January 19th, 2009
Australian Open - Melbourne

February 16th, 2009
Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships - Dubai $2,000,000

February 23th, 2009 (maybe)
Abierto Mexicano TELCEL presentado por HSBC - Acapulco $220,000

March 2nd, 2009 (maybe)
Monterrey Open - Monterrey $220,000

March 11th, 2009
Indian Wells - Indian Wells $4,500,000

March 25th, 2009
Sony Ericsson Open - Miami $4,500,000

Funny video from ATP and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour

 Interview with Eric Van Harpen, the coach of Maria.

Eric, you finished the first full season with Maria, what do you think of the season and of Maria?
The season was not bad, but I wasn’t happy either, because we lost too matches unnecessarily. We lost a lot of points and with only 50% of those points we would have been top 20.

Do you think that Maria improved this year?
Maria improved but her desire to improve needs to be bigger, because a coach can only help by telling her what to do, but the player is the one who finally has to decide what to do on court. A coach is responsible for the techniques. If a player has a worse forehand or backhand, serve or volley, than before, you can blame the coach. But if a player makes unforced errors and her positioning to the ball is wrong, that is her responsibility.

What do you want to work with Maria now?
What are the things that Maria must improve on in order for her to play better?
At the moment, I am working most of the time on her forehand because she takes her left hand back with her racket too long and this causes her to hit the ball too late and losing her balance. We are training the open forehand so she has more stability with the stroke and as well her one handed backhand volley. Yuri, her father, tries to improve her fitness.

Maria won three tier IV tournaments this year. What does she need in her game to go further in the biggest tournaments?
To win the big tournaments, she has to serve better and to make less unforced errors. She also needs to take risks and play the big points more aggressively. She needs to work on this especially, because getting far in these tournaments means she will have to beat minimum 2-3 top ten players.

What did you do since Maria’s last tournament?
After the tournament, I went to Bali for 12 days. It was nice and very boring because I was in the beautiful house of my friend alone with 12 people of staff and it was raining 50% of the day. Next year I will go to South Africa to play golf, beautiful courses and no jetlag.

What Maria’s schedule for the next weeks?
Well, I wanted Maria to play Auckland and Hobart (we would have been number 5 and number 3 seeded in these tournaments), but we are going to Brisbane and Sydney where we are not seeded and there is more danger of playing a seeded player in the first round. Next year, there are no byes and I hope that Maria will have a good draw. It’s important to play some matches before the Australian Open.