Glam slam for Harkleroad 12 Jan, 2004
Almost angelic-like in appearance, American teenager Ashley Harkleroad is more then just the next Anna Kournikova.
When I was told that I would spend last week at the ASB Classic, my first thought was "Excellent, a chance to see the 18-year-old up-and-coming glamour queen of world tennis in the flesh."
After all, she was the main attraction to most blokes attending the women's tennis.
Her image as the "Britney Spears of Tennis" certainly caught the interest of most of the guys in the nzoom.com office.
Nick-named Pebbles after the cartoon character off The Flintstones because she grew up in Flintstone, Georgia, Harkleroad, quickly became the crowd favourite at the ASB Classic.
Having now spent the last week at the ASB Bank Tennis Centre, I can assure you there is a hell of a lot more to Ashley Harkleroad than what meets the eye.
She dazzled more than just one nzoom.com reporter in her journey through to the final of the Classic.
Of course she was everything that I expected in the looks department but the surprising thing was that Harkleroad is not your normal 18-year-old.
You would think that a girl in her position, travelling the world playing pro-tennis and looking more like a pop queen than a sports star, would be quite precious.
But not this girl.
In no way was she precious, instead, she was a pleasure to interview and to watch play.
At the post-match press conferences she spoke intelligently.
She was confident yet modest at the same time.
Prior to the final she was asked by a journalist if it was important to get the moneky off her back in winning a WTA tour event.
In reply, Harkleroad stated that she didn't believe that she had one on her back and that she just loved playing tennis.
She was confident enough to challenge the journalist but in a modest way.
There was never a moment where she answered arrogantly.
If she played poorly she said so.
Similarly, when she did play well she made mention of it.
Her bubbly personality rubbed off onto the reporters, who all seemed to enjoy themselves when talking to her.
Above all else, Harkleroad's tennis was of the highest quality.
She seems destined for a career inside the top 10 of woman's tennis, quite possibly she may achieve that feat this year such was the quality of her performance here in Auckland.
She fought back brilliantly when she looked down and out in a number of her matches to reach the final.
It was a pity that she could not be at her best in the final but she certainly impressed everyone that saw her play any of her previous matches.
The whole package appears to be there with Harkleroad - strong serve, fast round the court, solid at the net, mentally tough and the off-court game which is of top-shelf quality.
Auckland has been lucky to host her here over the last two years and, as her world ranking climbs, there are certain fears that she may not return in 2005.
But as she left the final press conference on Saturday following her final defeat, she told a group of the reporters that she will almost definitely be back and said "See ya next year," to us.
We can't wait, Ashley, we can't wait.
* To comment on this piece send emails to dale.budge@tvnz.co.nz