I named my dog after Andy Roddick
Related Articles
Featured
Anne Keothavong Blog: Desert times...
Blogging from the Californian desert, the 26-year-old Londoner tackles the British Tennis debate, and reveals a new found love of golf…
Latest Category Articles
You don’t get many opportunities in online tennis journalism to write headlines like that so we hope you’ll forgive us just this once. After all, it’s unlikely to happen ever again and, what’s more, it’s true.
Alize Cornet was one of the success stories of the WTA Tour in 2007, flying up the singles world rankings 134 places in 12 months to begin 2008 at No.55.
Behind the sweet smile of the 18-year-old from Nice, though, is one tough cookie. Last year she came through the qualifying at the Australian Open, Wimbledon AND the US Open and went on to reach the third round in New York. But, we’re glad to say, she’s one tough cookie with a sense of humour.
I like the British group, Muse, and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers – all the punk rock!
Towards the end of our chat, the conversation features the usual questions thrown at sports personalities… family, hobbies, pets. “It’s a Jack Russell,” she says of her pet dog back in France, before a smile appears. “I don’t know if you know the film ‘The Mask’, but it’s the dog of the Mask. It’s so funny, he runs everywhere, and his name is Andy. Because of Andy Roddick. I was a fan of Andy Roddick two, three years ago, and still now, and so I called my dog Andy!” We only wish we’d asked what her cat’s called.
About the same time she was naming dogs after American tennis players, she was also beginning to demand the attention of tennis fans back home when she won a round at the French Open aged just 15 back in 2005. Two years later she won the girls’ singles title at Roland Garros, a day she still rates as one of her best.
“I played my first Roland Garros at 15 and I won my first match in the main draw, so since then the journalists are very focused on me and they are waiting for the very best tennis from me,” she says. “I like it, I think it’s a part of the job.”
Her rise up the rankings has also attracted a string of high-profile sponsors (Lacoste, Head, Gaz de France and Team Lagardere) and Isabelle Anneet, the editor of Alize’s official website, www.alize-cornet.com, says the player’s online following is growing and growing.
“I’ve been running her website for a year now,” Isabelle told Tennishead. “Since her match against Venus Williams at Roland Garros [in 2007] and her French Open junior title I’ve noticed that more people are coming to the site every day.
“After she reached the second round at Wimbledon last year and the third round at the US Open, lots of new members arrived in the forum, which is an annex of the site.”
With a fantastic 2007 season behind her, Cornet and long-time coach Pierre Bouteyre have kept on pushing. Even before the end of February this year, the teenager had broken into the world’s top 50 for the first time in her career.
“Pierre is my first coach and he has taught me all that I know in tennis,” Alize explains. “He has been coaching me for eight years now, since I was ten years old.”
When she turns her thoughts to significant moments during 2007, she remembers winning a $50,000 ITF clay court event in Ukraine last July – her most important senior title to date. “I won Dnepropetrovsk last year which was a great experience for me. I have to go even better so I don’t stop. I try to practice hard and to be always focused on my tennis.
“[In 2008] I will try and get into the top 30. You always have goals but you don’t know if you can do it or not. I have the ranking now to get into the Tier Is, Tier IIs and the Grand Slams and in these tournaments there are a lot of points to win, so I think I can do it.
“It’s physical, it’s technical, it’s mental. For me I think it’s especially mental because I need to be more focused and even more of a fighter. That’s the most important thing.”
So which of her contemporaries does she think will be jostling her on the march up the senior rankings? “There is Tamira Paszek, Caroline Wozniacki, I know her very well, and then there is Agnieszka Radwanska, she is one year older than me,” the youngster says. “There is good competition between us. I think it’s good for me to have these girls. They are my friends, too.”
As is the case with most newcomers to the women’s tour, her family is an important fixture on the road and her mother, Patricia, travels to all her events. Even with mum on board, though, she admits there are times when she misses the south of France.
“Last year I was seven months abroad, so I was just three months at home. So I miss my father and my dog and my boyfriend and my home, and Nice because it is such a beautiful place. It’s where I was born, so it’s difficult for me. This year it will be worse because I’m 18 so I can play in all the tournaments I want and I think I will travel a little more, so you have to do this – but it’s a beautiful life.”
Speaking of family, she says she is especially grateful to her older brother, Sébastien, as he is the reason she first picked up a racket. “My brother is 13 years older than me, so I was a little girl when I came to the club with him. I saw him… and that’s why I started tennis because I have a great admiration for my brother. I wanted to do all he was doing when I was young. So it’s thanks to him! I beat him the first time at 15 I think. He was 27 or 28. So it was hard for him, to lose against his little sister! But now he is very proud of me.”
In fact, she admits her big bro’ has even had an influence on her music tastes, which for a French 18-year-old, are surprisingly alternative. “I like the British group, Muse, and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers – all the punk rock! Before my match I like to listen to it to get me focused on my tennis. That’s healthy. All the players have an iPod now!”
Web Links
Do YOU have a pet named after a tennis player?
Boris the cat, perhaps? Svetlana the snake? Roger the rabbit? If you do, we want to know!
