Keothavong started her 2006 season by losing in the first round of qualifying for the Brisbane International (Tier III), the final round of qualifying for the Hobart International and the second round of qualifying for the Australian Open. In the other four events, she either lost in the first round or qualifying stages. 'This case is not easy and cases of this type never are. She then returned to the ITF Circuit playing $25k tournaments and won one more title, in Perov. [52], In Wimbledon, Keothavong lost her second-round match against Sara Errani, 16, 16. Corporate lawyer Bretherton, who married Ms Keothavong in February 2015, denies two counts of rape. Bretherton told police: "It was entirely consensual. Andrew Bretherton, husband of UK tennis star Anne Keothavong has been cleared of rape at Inner London Crown Court. Lets find out! The other tournament she entered was the qualifying event for Wimbledon in which she participated courtesy of a wildcard. His wife broke down in tears in court as she described her husband as a 'fantastic person' who has 'never been remotely aggressive' when she gave character evidence on Monday. After the verdict, Judge Jane Rowley told jurors: 'The common sense view was clearly shown in this case and you came to the right verdicts.'. She added that it was beyond the fantastic fathers character, she told the court on Monday. Keothavong entered the Luxembourg Open using a protected ranking and reached the semifinals after beating Virginie Razzano, Patty Schnyder and Iveta Beneov but was beaten by Roberta Vinci, preventing Keothavong from making her first WTA Tour final. [55] Time magazine called them The Me Me Me Generation because they want it all. After Bretherton got down from the stand, and his wife took his place, she was also emotional as she told the court: The Andrew I know is a fantastic person, he is truly is a decent, decent man who makes me laugh every day, who makes me feel good about myself and a fantastic, fantastic father and great husband - he is very kind.. Anne Keothavong is a 39-year-old British Tennis Player from England, United Kingdom. Bretherton insists it was accidental. 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. Ms Keothavong described her husband as a fantastic person who she loves even more as the rape case against him continues. The whole thing is ridiculous, he would never do that [rape], he has never been remotely aggressive. 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. They had discussions, but Ms Greenfield advised her it was unlikely a civil claim would be successful because there was not enough evidence, jurors were told. 8 seed Carla Surez Navarro and Ayumi Morita before falling in a three-hour, three set battle to Elena Vesnina. She faced Janet Lee in round one and lost. 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. Andrew Bretherton, 49,pictured outside Inner London Crown Court, was accused of raping the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, at his flat in Kensington, south west London, in May 2008, Bretherton, pictured with his wife former British tennis number one Anne Keothavong, right, denied the allegation. All three of these were in 1999 and all three were partnering Elena Baltacha. Anne Keothavong was born on the 16th of September in 1983 (Millennials Generation). Keothavong qualified and reached the second round of the Ladies Linz, losing a close match to third seed Jelena Jankovi. Tennis star Anne Keothavong broke down in tears in court as she defended her husband in a rape trial. Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. Laotian-British tennis player who won 20 International Tennis Federation singles titles and 8 doubles titles before announcing her retirement from the game in July 2013. 25, gnes Szvay. Anne Keothavong also has a ruling planet of Mercury. This was followed by a wildcard into the Eastbourne qualifying tournament where Arantxa Parra Santonja defeated her in the first round. After Wimbledon, Keothavong reached two consecutive finals of $50k events in Lexington and Vancouver, facing Stphanie Dubois in the finals of both and winning once. The alleged rape victim waited for 10-and-a-half years before naming Mr Bretherton to police. Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, SE1 9GF. [2] She then came up against reigning world No. I was brought up to respect women. People born in the Year of the Pig are good-mannered. Anne Keothavong is known for being a Tennis Player. The court was also told she had at one point said she felt 'bullied' into pressing charges by police officers, and had been 'interrogated' and 'made to feel like the perpetrator' by cops. Mr Bretherton married the former British No 1 tennis star in 2015, and they have two children. 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. She was born in Hackney, London and began playing tennis at Hackney Downs and Highbury Fields at age 7. Other details Bretherton denied included the woman's claims she was relieved there was a lock on his bathroom door, claiming she feared he would try and murder her. When Mr Bretherton returned to the bed, he began to take her trousers down. Keothavong came up against world No. Jurors took less than an hour to unanimously acquit Andrew Bretherton, 49, of two counts of rape alleged to have taken place more than 14 years ago in May 2008. Bretherton, 49, denies two counts of raping the woman in May 2008. Play it now! (W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (WL) winloss record. Both described the hellish weeks surrounding the trial that involved Ms Keothavong speaking to their children's school out of fear for their safety. However, the Oxford-educated corporate lawyer, who is a semi-professional tennis player himself, was found not guilty after inconsistencies in his alleged victims evidence were pointed out during the two-week trial at Inner London Crown Court. She beat Eva Martincov in round one of qualifying before losing to Yuka Yoshida. Anne's birth flower is Aster/Myosotis and birthstone is Sapphire. The most compatible signs with Virgo are generally considered to be Taurus, Cancer, Scorpio, and Capricorn. 1 and in 2009 became the first British player to make the WTA top 50 since 1993. [59], Keothavong was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to tennis. She competed in three more $25k tournaments that year and reached the semifinals in two of them. At Eastbourne, Keothavong entered the qualifying round, defeating eighth seed Aliz Cornet and Sorana Crstea before losing in the final round to Mirjana Lui. In 2015, Bretherton tied the knot with Anne Keothavong, who was previously Britain's number one tennis player. 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. [12][13] Her preferred surface was hardcourt. Andrew Bretherton, who qualified at the leading City law firm Slaughter and May, and married Anne Keothavong in 2015, denies the offence, allegedly committed in May 2008. 1. Keothavong then competed in two Premier tournaments, the Indian Wells Open and Miami Open. The woman, who cannot be named, told how she feared corporate lawyer Andrew Bretherton would 'suffocate' her in the bedroom of his 'small flat in a grand building' after he pushed her face into the pillow with his 'semi-professional tennis arm'. She won the $75k event in Barnstaple, defeating Marta Domachowska in the finaland she also won the doubles event with Eva Birnerov. During cross-examination, his lawyer Sarah Forshaw KC told jurors that there were too many inconsistencies in the alleged victim's account for them to be sure that she was telling the truth. 'She has grown to convince herself of her own truth and her own interpretation of what actually happened which is far less sensational, far less dramatic and thoroughly embarrassing.'. She did not play again that year and finished with a ranking of world No. Please, A woman claims she was raped in 2008 by Andrew Bretherton, a corporate lawyer. Keothavong reached her first WTA final with doubles partner Valeria Savinykh, surprisingly reaching the doubles final of the Brasil Tennis Cup. She then fell in three sets to Sofia Arvidsson in the semifinals, after battling back from a set down lost she lost the decider. . She has not been previously engaged. [28] She then lost to the eventual champion, Venus Williams, in the second round. 28, Sybille Bammer, but saw off a mugger in central London who tried to snatch her handbag[45] before heading to Wimbledon, where she experienced a first-round loss to world No. UPDATE: Mr Bretherton was acquitted of all charges by the jury in December 2022, Britains former number one tennis star Anne Keothavong. 8 seed and eventual champion, Petra Kvitov. [4], Anne Keothavong was born in Hackney in London, to parents who had fled from their wartorn home country of Laos in the 1970s. Ms Forshaw KC said 'common sense' should make jurors question why she did not immediately report it to police. [15], 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 August and September, she reached four consecutive ITF finals, winning three. She denied this and said she had already spent three years researching how she could take the case forward. They are known as confident, entitled, and depressed. 'Is it or may it be because she is anxious to secure a criminal conviction before pursuing a civil claim for damages, or can you be sure that this is simply a case of her finally being emboldened to come forward? 48, her debut in the top 50. Ms Keothavong, 39, said she thought it was a "sick joke" when Andrew Bretherton, 49, was accused of rape because it was so beyond the "fantastic father's" character, a court heard on Monday. She obviously made an impression with me.". [44] She was then defeated in the first round of the Eastbourne International by world No. [18] After Wimbledon, 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[19] with the score at 57, 35. In February, she returned to Britain and reached the final of the ITF tournament in Jersey where she beat Ana Vrlji to win the title. According to Chinese Zodiac, Anne was born in the Year of the Pig. This was followed by another first-round defeat in a Premier event in the Italian Open, this one at the hands of Carla Surez Navarro. 'Her repeated refusal to give the police access to various material such as her therapist's records might be because she had something to hide as has been suggested to you by the defence or might be nothing more than a legitimate desire to protect her privacy and prevent strangers from looking through irrelevant personal material. , updated It was on November 29 of this year (2016), another revelation happened to Anne as she was confirmed to be the new . She decided to make a break for it, unlocked the bathroom door, grabbed her jacket from the side of the bed, picked up her bag and ran for the door. 10.5M views. The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claimed that he pinned her face down on the bed so she could not breathe before forcing himself on her without her consent. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. You held your head high and answered all the questions. 10:49 EDT 06 Mar 2023. Mr ONeill said: She couldnt phone for help as her phone was where she had left it by the front door. 1, Dinara Safina, in the first round of the French Open and endured the dreaded "double bagel" when she was defeated, 06, 06. An American woman has told how she was left bleeding after she was brutally raped by the husband of a former British number one tennis star. He married retired Wimbledon favourite Keothavong, 39, in 2015. She finished the year with a singles ranking of world No. She next competed in the main draw of Wimbledon where in the first round, she lost to Virginie Razzano. Family: She married Andrew Bretherton in February 2015. [32] After the US Open, Keothavong won two more ITF events: Barnstaple ($50k) and Krakw ($100k) and as a result, her year-end ranking was world No. In the group stages she played singles, defeating opponents from Portugal,[49] and Israel in the group stages but losing to the Netherlands. Neither of them wished to make any comment on the verdict. When is Anne Keothavongs birthday? Keothavong then moved on to Torhout, Belgium for a $50k event. Vathana is her mother's name, and she has two brothers, James, a tennis umpire, and Mark. She also claims Oxford-educated Bretherton pinned her face down on his bed with such force she feared she would suffocate. [16] Immediately after Wimbledon she headed to Felixstowe to participate in a $25k tournament where she reached the quarterfinals. She also reached two semifinals (Glasgow and Opole) and a quarterfinal in Jersey. 168.[15]. Forum Staff View All RIPwtaworld Super Moderator. She headed to the main draw of the Eastbourne International, a Tier-II event, and faced No. Bookmark this page and come back for updates. She made it to the semifinals after taking out Shapatava, Kristina Antoniychuk and Valrie Ttreault, in straight sets. The woman told police he had played Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N Roses before attacking her. Andrew Bretherton found not guilty after inconsistencies in his alleged victims evidence were pointed out during the two-week trial. Discover Anne Keothavong's Biography, Age, Height, Physical. [60], Keothavong's greatest strength is her powerful forehand which she uses to try to dominate play from the baseline and she adds as much topspin as possible to increase the probability of the ball landing in court. Andrew Bretherton is a human rights advocate, ME advocate and unionist. After that, she . Recent photographs of the flat showed there is currently no lock on the bathroom door, the jury was told. In singles, she won one title at the LTA Junior International Tournament Bisham Abbey where she beat compatriot Elena Baltacha in the final. 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 20 down in the deciding set. Keothavong then headed to the Australian Open in order to attempt to qualify and she again lost in the first round to Sandra Klsel. She also has a sister, Lena. Tennis player Anne Keothavong broke down in tears in court describing her husband as a 'fantastic person' who she 'loves even more', as a rape case against him continues. Fact Check: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Keothavong's 2008 campaign began when Keothavong failed to qualify for the Tier-II tournament, the Sydney International. Anne was awarded an MBE last year. [43] 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. [61] As well as her forehand, she can rely on her first-serve to get her some easy points as she often has a high first-serve percentage and usually wins the majority of points on her first-serve. During her American hardcourt season, she reached the quarterfinals of a $50k tournament in Lexington where she fell to Camille Pin of France. The November 2017 piece on the Deadline Hollywood showbiz site said 300,000 could be paid out to a woman who had sued Weinstein. They were the kids of the 1990s who were born roughly between 1980 and 2000. At that point, in her words, something switched in him and he forcibly pushed her face down into the pillow, holding her head down with his hand. Bretherton denied the alleged victims story, including that he got out a silver boom-box and began playing the rock song Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N Roses. At the Cellular South Cup in Memphis, Keothavong reached the semifinals, on her return to the main tour. [57] At the pre-match dinner the day before, Nastase asked for Keothavong's room number. Wimbledon Champions Dinner - Red Carpet Arrivals. Do not sell or share my personal information. Lawyers for Mr Bretherton also claimed she had given conflicting accounts about the alleged rape and tried to prevent some of the evidence from being disclosed. The alleged victim has claimed they went on four dates but Bretherton only recalls two, one to a steak restaurant and then the second to Devonshire Arms near High Street Kensington a few minutes from his flat - the night of the alleged rapes. wtatourfan Super Moderator. The former British number one was in tears as she defended her husband. Earlier in the trial, jurors were told the alleged victim became interested in taking the case further after reading about a civil suit Harvey Weinstein was facing in Britain, a claim she denied. The first generation to reach adulthood in the new millennium, Millennials are the young technology gurus who thrive on new innovations, startups, and working out of coffee shops. During the Eighties, Berlin Wall crumbled, new computer technologies emerged and blockbuster movies and MTV reshaped pop culture. . She was involved in controversy in 2017 when Ilie Nstase, captain of the Romania Fed Cup team, used obscene language towards her and the British team during a match. The woman visited a specialist rape centre in central London five days later and was examined by a doctor, the court heard. The season began well for Keothavong as she started off by qualifying for the Tier-V Hobart International, beating Kaia Kanepi along the way. 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. 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. After six months out of action due to her knee injury, Keothavong returned to competitive action in February 2010 at the Fed Cup. The court also heard the alleged victim brought the claim in 2018 after reading about Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein 10 years after her alleged ordeal. The court was told that he met the complainant in the summer of 2007, and then again at a drinks party the following year, the Daily Mail reported. Boreas Super Moderator. An American woman who says she was raped by the husband of former British tennis number one Anne Keothavong was accused of 'making a mountain out of a molehill', a court heard today.The alleged victim claims that corporate lawyer Andrew Bretherton pinned her face down on his bed and suffocated her until she feared she