Two superstars of world sport are about to hit New Zealand. ANDREW LAXON offers a beginner's guide to Anna Kournikova and Tiger Woods.
New Zealand men are about to show their keenest interest in women's sport since Mandy Smith starred for the national hockey team.
It all starts next weekend when the pin-up girl of world tennis, Anna Kournikova, arrives in Auckland to play at Stanley St.
A week later, Tiger Woods, the world's best golfer, comes to play in the New Zealand Open.
The Herald has compiled this everything-you-need-to-know bluffer's guide to two of the biggest celebrities in world sport.
When do they play here?
Kournikova competes in the ASB Bank Classic, which runs from next Monday, December 31, to January 5.
She does a promotional photo shoot with fellow adidas superstar Jonah Lomu on Saturday, but the big days for tennis fans are the following Tuesday and Wednesday - New Year's Day and January 2.
Tickets sold out for both days once Kournikova was confirmed.
Woods plays the Open at Paraparaumu Beach, north of Wellington, the following week.
He plays the pro-am event on Wednesday - the last place in Tiger's foursome was going for $US200,000 ($480,000) last month - then tees off in the tournament proper on Thursday morning.
What is the best chance of seeing them?
ASB Bank Classic tournament director Richard Palmer says 80 to 90 per cent of tickets for the remaining days of the women's tennis have been sold.
"To be selling to this extent is totally unheard of and you've got to put it down to the Kournikova factor."
Prices for remaining tickets range from $20 to $48.
There are still plenty of tickets for each day of the golf. Organisers were hoping for crowds of 20,000 a day but sales are understood to be tracking at half that level.
The official reason is September 11, which kneecapped corporate spending worldwide.
And the unofficial reason?
The tournament has probably been hurt by bad publicity over its high ticket prices.
New Zealand pros Michael Campbell and Greg Turner criticised the prices but have since made up with the organisers and will play as distant second and third-favourites behind Woods.
Or it could just be the prices themselves - from $105 on Thursday to $170 on the final day on Sunday, and $450 for a season ticket to the whole tournament.
That compares with $50 a season ticket for this year's Open.
To be fair on the organisers, Tiger Woods does not come cheap. His appearance fee is understood to be about $US2 million.
What about TV coverage?
TV One is covering both events live. Several websites will have regularly updated coverage, including the Herald (
and
).
Serious fans should stock up the fridge for Friday, January 11, which features day two of the golf, the closing stages of the men's tennis (which includes reigning Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic) and the first one-dayer between New Zealand and Australia.
Isn't Kournikova just a blonde bimbo who can't really play?
This is a little unfair. Kournikova was ranked eighth in the world last February and has beaten nearly every top player, including Lindsay Davenport and Jennifer Capriati (world No 1 and 2 respectively).
But even her biggest admirers admit the 20-year-old has failed to realise her early potential since she became the youngest player to compete and win in the Federation Cup - the women's equivalent of the Davis Cup - at age 14.
She has never won a WTA tournament, despite reaching three finals and 16 semifinals, including Wimbledon.
Her world ranking has slumped to 74 this year after a foot injury that sidelined her for months and an inauspicious return - she was knocked out in the first round of five tournaments in a row.
Kournikova's chronic double-faulting under pressure appears to be back (she served 25 in one game in October) and it looks like she desperately needs the Auckland tournament to get her game back in shape for the Australian Open a week later.
So why is she such a star?
As Kournikova herself has explained: "I'm beautiful, famous and gorgeous."
She has featured on covers and in revealing photo spreads in countless magazines, People magazine named her one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world, and she has shot her own calendar for next year in Acapulco.
She is rumoured to be seeking a part as a Bond girl in the next James Bond film, has been named most popular athlete on the internet (admittedly by web portal Lycos, which is one of her sponsors) and has even had a computer virus named after her.
And local advertising for the ASB Classic, with lines like "Make a date", has concentrated shamelessly on promoting Kournikova as a sex symbol.
That sex-kitten status - and her willingness to play up to it - has irritated fellow women pros for years.
Pam Shriver tartly observed at Wimbledon in 1997 that Anna was in danger of wearing out the mirrors in the locker room.
Are there other players worth watching?
For the tennis, yes. Kournikova is only the 16th-ranked player in the women's tournament.
Former world No 2 and 1994 Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez is the other big draw and the line-up is headed by Angeles Montolio of Spain (world ranking 23) and Slovakian Henrieta Nagyova (25).
The men's tournament includes the moody Ivanisevic, former world No 1 Marat Safin (also having a bad year) and crowd favourite Michael Chang.
Ironically, Kournikova's appearance may have prevented New Zealand tennis fans from seeing Venus Williams, officially ranked No 3 but generally regarded as the best player in the world.
By the time organisers heard Williams was interested in coming to Auckland, they were already committed to Kournikova and could not afford appearance fees for both.
Isn't Tiger Woods also out of form?
Only in the sense that this year he has been playing more like a human being and less like a golfing god.
Woods won the Masters, which made him the first player to hold all four majors simultaneously, but then failed to hold on to the other three majors: the British Open, US Open and the US PGA.
He had only one top-10 finish in his final nine official tournaments of the year and showed even he could crack under pressure when tied for the lead on the last hole in the Dubai Desert Classic in March.
Weekend golfers gasped and then rejoiced to see Woods drive into the trees, put his third shot into the lake, make a double-bogey and lose to Thomas Bjorn.
But he is still without doubt the best player in the world, leading the rankings for a record 124 consecutive weeks.
Woods indicated a return to top form last week by shooting an eight-under par 64, including five birdies in a row, to make up a four-shot deficit and win his own tournament, the Williams World Challenge.
Is Woods the best golfer ever?
Last year many critics were seriously debating whether he should be considered the greatest sportsman of all time, alongside Muhammad Ali, Pele and Michael Jordan.
It was a year when Woods not only blitzed the competition by winning nine tournaments, including three majors in a row, but seemed at times to have conquered the sport itself.
Fellow pros still speak in awe of his performance at the US Open at Pebble Beach, California. A ferocious wind left many top players scoring in the 80s but Woods made par undaunted.
His 15-shot victory was a record.
Those who know him say his greatness lies in his relentless search for perfection.
Time magazine recounted last year how after winning the 1997 Masters, Woods decided his swing was faulty. He rebuilt it - throwing his whole game out for months - but came back stronger than ever.
How did we get him here?
His friendship with his New Zealand caddy Steve Williams. A group of local businessmen worked through Williams and pulled off a remarkable coup.
Can he be beaten in the NZ Open?
It looks unlikely - no other top players in the world is coming.
But Campbell and fellow New Zealander David Smail almost toppled the world's best, including Woods and then No 2 David Duval, at the World Cup last month.
Woods is paying just $1.70 to win at the TAB, with Campbell and Turner second and third-favourites at $10 and $20 respectively.
The TAB is making a game of it by offering a "taming Tiger" deal to anyone backing one of the other 143 competitors. If the player does not win but beats Woods, the punter gets his or her money back.
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