Tennis: Model players

Let's get this out of the way first, shall we - Anna Kournikova is not a bitch.

She just doesn't have a lot of friends. Fellow Russian Alina Jidkova, in Auckland for this week's ASB Classic, should know. "We grew up together. We had the same coach."

Having said that, they're not close. "Nobody is a good mate with her," says Jidkova. "We say hi to each other. She's different. She can be nice and she can be not nice."

Nevertheless, Kournikova's marketing strategy is a precursor to Jidkova's own website 'Tennis Angels'. On the site, Jidkova and tennis-playing friends - Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Switzerland), Henrieta Nagyova (Slovakia) and Jennifer Hopkins (US) - talk of their ambitions, beliefs and influences while frolicking in the sand.

One of Jidkova's influences is Russian philosophy. And the website's philosophy? "To promote tennis to young kids, to get them started instead of doing drugs, and maybe even older people to start playing because I think it's a great sport," Jidkova tells the Herald on Sunday.

"People always like to look at the nice pictures. It's better than looking at some sweaty, dirty tennis players after a match."

Could Dostoevsky himself have put it better? We'll never know. Back then tennis was straight-laced and demure. Now, since the modelling potential of Gabriella Sabatini and Kournikova, tennis pros are exploiting their image. "She was lucky," Jidkova says of Kournikova. "There was nobody then that looked that good."

If that sounds harsh, the smiling little Russian means it in the nicest possible way. Few female players had cottoned on to the power they possessed beyond their ground strokes before Sabatini emerged in the late '80s.

Not that Tennis Angels (see link below) has made Jidkova and co a fortune. They haven't lured a major sponsor yet, although the website is certainly unique. Example: "Henrieta was recovering from a shoulder problem. An MRI and consultation with the NBA doctor in LA said the injury would need time to heal. The little problem didn't stop Henrieta from taking some mind-boggling pictures during a photo shoot with the famous fashion talent Joe Regan. For days we had all the young guy guests from the hotel chasing her for her autograph!"

But it's not all mind-boggling pictures. Two weeks ago the angels held coaching clinics in Hawaii with at-risk children. And Jidkova, 27, says the website's photos are tame compared to what some photographers asked them to do.

Of course, their priority is tennis. Jidkova is ranked 55th in the world and in October defeated multiple grand slam winner Serena Williams. "I decided to keep fighting for every ball. I was in good shape and I was happy about everything in my life."

She admits happiness is hard to achieve on the tour, away from friends and family, and yet the cheerful Muscovite has the bounce of a new Slazenger as she roams the ASB Tennis Centre clutching a copy of Auckland Property Press. "I like houses," says Jidkova, who has just bought one in Florida.

Her only complaint to the was sitting on a bench with ants during the photo shoot. When reminded there are worse things in Florida, such as alligators, she replies: "Yes, but I don't sit on them."

In the glamour stockmarket, the tennis angels have major competition from young Russian Maria Sharapova. But Jidkova doubts her old buddy Anna K will make a comeback. "I don't think so - she's been pushed too hard when she was a girl."

And that's not part of the angel philosophy, by the way.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY