Anna Kournikova a saber fencer?

[pancavalier41]

I don't know if this has been mentioned on the fencing forum, but I came across this article from Russia about Anna Kournikova (the very hot former tennis pro). The link for the article is below. For those who do not read or understand Russian, basically Anna has taken up saber because it is a very complex weapon. She also mentions that fencing is a very sexual sport.

We all know she wasn't that good of a tennis player, but looked good doing it. I'm sure she'll add a little more sex appeal to fencing. I'd like to see Serge do a full fencing spread with Anna....just a thought.


Here is the link to the article. It is in Russian.
ÐÒÐ-Ñïîðò.ru

[fencerbill]

I don't know if this has been mentioned on the fencing forum, but I came across this article from Russia about Anna Kournikova (the very hot former tennis pro). The link for the article is below. For those who do not read or understand Russian, basically Anna has taken up saber because it is a very complex weapon. She also mentions that fencing is a very sexual sport.

We all know she wasn't that good of a tennis player, but looked good doing it. I'm sure she'll add a little more sex appeal to fencing. I'd like to see Serge do a full fencing spread with Anna....just a thought.


Here is the link to the article. It is in Russian.
ÐÒÐ-Ñïîðò.ru

The adverse comparison of fencing versus tennis is that fencing covers up more. The advantage is that women get to choose which chest protector to wear.

[swordsen]

People keep saying AK wasn't that good a tennis player. She was in the top 15 for quite awhile. She may not have won many the Grand Slam events (in singles at least) but she was certinly a good player.

[nyacfencing]

We all know she wasn't that good of a tennis player, but looked good doing it. I'm sure she'll add a little more sex appeal to fencing. I'd like to see Serge do a full fencing spread with Anna....just a thought.

Hmmm... well let's see:

At 14 years old, already the Junior European Champion, she became the youngest person to ever to win the Fed Cup. She then turned professional.

At 15, she made it to the fourth round of the US Open before losing to world #1 Steffi Graf. That year she also represented Russia in the Olympics.

At 16, she reached the semi-final at Wimbledon, losing to that year's winner Hingis.

She reached at least the fourth round at each of the other grand slam events, including a semi final at the Australian open.

She was ranked #8 in the world at one point for singles (she generally was ranked between 10th and 15th), and was #1 in the world in doubles, having won 13 doubles titles including two grand slams.

Now, can you possibly imagine being ranked 8th in the world... and making the final 4 at world championships... and then years later hearing somebody say that you weren't really that good?

Sorry... but I hate it when people say Anna wasn't a good player (especially when they mention her looks). Her being good looking has nothing to do with how good a tennis player she was (I am resisting any examples involving David Beckham even though they are appropriate). She could have left tennis years before she did, but stayed out there and kept making it into top events. Good for her!

[piste off]

I'd like to see Serge do a full fencing spread with Anna....

Ah, do you mean in the fleche?

Rick

[pancavalier41]

She was a good tennis player, but was always criticized for never winning anything big internationally. It takes a lot of talent to be ranked internationally in any sport, and she is a great athlete. But I think, as compared to her tennis career, she was more of a show as a sex icon than anything else.

I had the good fortune of actually seeing her in person at Somerset Mall in Troy, Michigan when she was dating Sergei Fedorov, and she was (and still is) smoking hot...imho.

[whtouche]

Agreed with NYAC. It's not that AK was a bad tennis player. The common knock on her, rather, is that she never won any singles titles. She was consistently near the top, she just never took home the gold/cup/plaque/trophy.

[dsapery]

We all know she wasn't that good of a tennis player, but looked good doing it.

I have to disagree here (as have many others). Anna was a very good player... do you think that you'd even get a game off her?

The main criticism was that she never won a tournament in singles as a professional. But on the other hand, she won 16 doubles titles, including two Grand Slams.

As an aside... in poker, being dealt Ace-King is commonly known as an Anna Kournikova. "It looks pretty but never wins."

[Inquartata]

I have to disagree here (as have many others). Anna was a very good player... do you think that you'd even get a game off her?

Heh. It's like saying that Peter Westbrook wasn't a very good fencer.

[dsapery]

Heh. It's like saying that Peter Westbrook wasn't a very good fencer.

Big difference between Anna Kournikova and Peter Westbrook... Peter actually won championships... he has more gold medals than I can count.

And as good as he was as a fencer, he's even better as a coach! I doubt that we'll ever see Anna Kournikova in that role.

[epeelion]

Westbrook is a genius financially and organizationally, but his fencers are all coached by Yuri Gelman and Kornel Udvarhelyi (and a variety of foil coaches). Aladar Kogler (my coach) before those two were around. I've also seen Westbrook strip coach epee, and he really doesn't know much (he was doing for the cameras at the last NAC, as they were following Dwight Smith around). So coaching-wsie, it's the rest of the fencer's club, mostly, not Westbrook.

Though for sure his contributions to fencing have been absolutely invaluable, and he was an amazing fencer.

[Captain Hook]

I think I heard about this before

heyhey if the sport is pants use eye candy to get people interested

Sabre a complex weapon... the blade work sure isn't

or maybe she's been instructed to say that because the eastern block can't match the Europeans with the other 2

[KD5MDK]

Ah Kolobkov, how French he is...

[bigdawg2121]

You know Hookypoo, at least when people post about how bad Anna was we can assume they just don't actually know tennis...

Also Mr. Lion I'd hazard to guess that you might do well to rethink some of your evaluations of Peter as a coach. Especially as a strip coach he tends to come very highly recommended. Seems like the post of thing where one may want to do some research rather than assume things have always been the way they are currently.

[Inquartata]

Big difference between Anna Kournikova and Peter Westbrook... Peter actually won championships... he has more gold medals than I can count.

Right, perhaps I should have specified "because he never won an Olympic gold medal", or something. Sorry.

Sabre a complex weapon... the blade work sure isn't

Oh?

Let's see: it's got every possible thing you can do with a foil ( because sabres do have points, you know ), PLUS cutting. Plus vastly more attack vectors and defensive options, because the sabre target is so much greater than that of foil, leaving it much more difficult to protect.

Yeah. So simplistic.

I will never understand the people who claim that foil is "the most complex" weapon...

[eac]

It appears to me, as a foilist, that the preponderance of target in sabre means that defense with the blade is much more difficult than in foil, particularly since the new timings in foil have mostly taken away the back as a target. Which means that in sabre, often both defense and offense involve less of a struggle for an open line and more of a struggle for the right distance and time. Hence possibly simpler bladework, and possibly more complicated and tighter distance and timing.
Which is consistent with various perceptions of sabre, e.g. the non-existence of a third counter-riposte in sabre, where such things are not so impossible in foil.

[Inquartata]

the non-existence of a third counter-riposte in sabre, where such things are not so impossible in foil.

Perhaps at the top levels...but I often go several parry-ripostes, at least with with certain fencers. Maybe a function of having learned back in ye olde days of nonelectrified sabre, but still, if the play still works...?

Possibly these days the distance game has just been found to be more efficient. Don't know why it hasn't made inroads into foil. Even in point weapons, the best parry is not to be where the opponent's blade ends up.

Your line of reasoning is interesting, though. I shall think on't...

[Zilverzmurfen]

Big difference between Anna Kournikova and Peter Westbrook...

Another big difference is that -- unlike Anna Kournikova -- Peter Westbrook really isn't very well known outside the US.

[eac]

Perhaps at the top levels...but I often go several parry-ripostes, at least with with certain fencers. Maybe a function of having learned back in ye olde days of nonelectrified sabre, but still, if the play still works...?

I was thinking about the Div I level and above. I would suspect that if sabreurs there and higher don't even think about third counter-ripostes, they probably have limited use.

Possibly these days the distance game has just been found to be more efficient. Don't know why it hasn't made inroads into foil. Even in point weapons, the best parry is not to be where the opponent's blade ends up.

I think the distance game *is* more efficient in sabre, probably for the previously mentioned reasons. However, it's not nearly as often the more efficient game in foil, since defending with the blade is easier in foil.

Your line of reasoning is interesting, though. I shall think on't...

Hark! Porcine objects sailing past my bedroom glass! Inq has praised a counter-argument as interesting!

[veeco]

I was thinking about the Div I level and above. I would suspect that if sabreurs there and higher don't even think about third counter-ripostes, they probably have limited use.

You seriously think that "third counter-riposte" is as far as it go in terms of blade work complexity?

Watch DivI level fencing and above. In all weapons, the bladework "appears" to be simple. You don't see third counter ripostes at all. What makes bladework complex is the same in all weapons: it's the use of your fingers, the simple but tight disengage, exactly at the right moment, when the pressure on the blade is just right. In epee, it can be a well executed ceding riposte, or a very nice and smooth bind.

Not any of that swashbuckling crap you mention...