The following article from the Daily Telegraph website explains the recent mysteries surrounding Amanda's health, form and Wimbledon wildcard:
Congratulations to Amanda Keen. The British No 5, and daughter of the 1961 ladies singles runner-up, Christine Truman, is pregnant.
This she discovered just after applying for a wild card at Wimbledon. Despite exhortations from fellow players to "play and get the money" [a first-round loser's cheque is £10,000], she withdrew.
"It was difficult because I've been working towards Wimbledon all year," said Keen, now working for IBM monitoring other players' aces and double faults during The Championships. "At first I thought I'll be OK, I can play, but my mother said I'd find it difficult. She was right. I'm very tired and nauseous. You can never time these things!"
Thanks for finding that David, that explains Amanda's indifferent form over the past couple of months. I wish her all the best with the birth of her child.
I guess that this almost certainly means the end of Amanda's tennis career, she'll be 30 in January and she's not going to return to the tour with a young child....especially down at challenger level where you're earning peanuts and having to scrap for points in all sorts of far-off locations. It's a shame as at her best on the grass, she could trouble players in the top 30 but I guess that her game was never really versatile enough to succeed on surfaces other than grass and indoor. If she'd competed in a different era she may have gone much further in the game....serve-volley on all surfaces is a virtually extinct art on the womens side (even more than on the mens) with the rise of the power hitters over the past decade.
yeah, 2 of the top 15 retired in a matter of weeks Still, there are plenty more pushing through the rankings rapidly....Anna F is now top 400, Natasha and Anna S are not far off.
Still, there are plenty more pushing through the rankings rapidly....Anna F is now top 400, Natasha and Anna S are not far off.
