JAPANESE SPORTING LEGEND GAINS ASB CLASSIC WILDCARD
A Japanese sporting legend with a high class tennis pedigree is set to join the 2009 ASB Classic featuring the Kia Motors Singles and Doubles after being granted a main draw wildcard.
Kimiko Date Krumm was ranked as high as No4 in the world before she retired. She has now re-launched her professional tennis career and so far staged a remarkable comeback in 2008 to go from no ranking to her current place at 189 after just 12 tournaments.
The 38-year-old will be making her first appearance in New Zealand as a professional player and it will also be her first tournament outside of Japan for 12 years.
During the 1990’s Date Krumm was a force to be reckoned with on the WTA Tour having 18 wins over top 10 players.
She came out of retirement in May 2008 after her husband, German motor racing driver Michael Krumm suggested she play again.
Date Krumm quickly made an impact by reaching the final of the US$50,000 event in Gifu, Japan as a qualifier. There was then wins at the US$10,000 ITF event and at two US$25,000 tournaments as well.
During the year there were a couple of victories over top-100 players including a win over 46th ranked Casey Dellacqua of Australia.
For Date Krumm the ASB Classic is the start of a year which will feature WTA events and Grand Slams. She is keen to qualify at the Australian Open and to make an impact in Auckland.
“I have once played in a tournament in New Zealand when I was in high school, but this is actually the first time to play in a WTA Tour tournament in New Zealand so I am very excited to have this great opportunity to play in ASB Classic. It also has been 12 years since I last went on a WTA Tour, so I am grateful to have this chance to start my season in New Zealand, and I will do my best as I can,” says Date.
It’s been 12 years since I last played in a Grand Slam, the last time I played in a qualifying draw was in 1989.
I believe this time will be much much tougher, but I will try my best to adapt to the heat and its toughness by adjusting myself to the weather and the competitive environment through playing in ASB Classic Auckland. I do understand that this challenge will not be an easy one, but I hope to truly enjoy myself in this challenging and tough world of tennis and am excited to see how far I could go,” says Date Krumm.
ASB Classic Tournament Director Brenda Perry believes Date Krumm will be an asset to the tournament and that her presence in Auckland will create quite a stir in Japan and around the world.
“Kimiko was a star in women’s tennis in the 90’s and has a ‘rock star’ like status in Japan. Her achievements in 2008 are against the odds and are very inspirational. There are not too many players who could do what she has done this year, but Kimiko has been top 10 and has that special ‘x-factor’,” says Perry.
Date led her nation in the tennis world winning seven singles titles before she retired at 26 at the end of 1996.
No other player from Japan or all of Asia has achieved what Date Krumm has managed in her career so far. In addition to her seven titles she had a win over the then No1 Steffi Graf and spent 153 weeks in the top-10 rankings. She reached the semifinals at three of the four Grand Slams (Australian Open 1994, Roland Garros 1995 and Wimbledon 1996) and was a quarterfinalist at the US Open 93-94 and Wimbledon in 1995.
During her break away from tennis she married German race car driver Krumm who has finished as high as third at the 24-hour race at Le Mans (2002) and competes in Japan.
“My husband was always talking about motor sports and kept telling me I could try playing tennis again. I played some exhibition matches against Graf and Martina Navratilova last year and it made me want to play even more. So I started practicing seriously again and I decided to return to professional tennis,” she says.
Date Krumm started playing tennis at age six and although actually being left-handed she was encouraged to play right-handed to follow Japanese custom.
An arrival time for Date Krumm and other players will be confirmed closer to the tournament start.
The ASB Classic will also feature on-court coaching for the first time as part of an initiative on Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.
The tournament will once again feature audio and video podcasting as well as live scoring.
The ASB Classic featuring the Kia Motors Singles and Doubles will be played at the ASB Tennis Centre January 5-10, with qualifying January 3-4.
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