TennisReporters.net 2005 Awards Readers'
Poll
Ivanovic, Safin named sexiest players,
Federer, Clijsters top players by TR.net readers' poll
Other winners: Nadal, Vaidisova, Pierce,
Agassi, Berdych
By Matthew Cronin, TennisReporters.net
Serbia's Ana Ivanovic and Russia's Marat Safin were
named the Sexiest Players of 2005 in TennisReporters.net
inaugural readers poll. Roger Federer and Kim Clijsters won top player
honors by wide margins.
Complete results are listed below.
"I'm very honored that fans voted for me for this award,"
said Ivanovic, the 18-year-old who finished 2005 ranked a career-high
No. 16. "Although very flattering, I know that all these awards
are ultimately based upon my tennis results and therefore I am very
pleased to be receiving them. My fans mean a lot to me and I appreciate
all of their support."
Ivanovic finished second in Newcomer of the Year Award, edged by Czech
teen sensation Nicole Vaidisova, who won three titles in 2005.
The brunette beat out Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams for the Sexiest
Female Player Award, garnering 34.7 percent of the vote. Russia's Maria
Kirilenko, India's Sania Mirza and Italy's Flavia Pennetta were also
nominated.
Safin, the defending Australian Open champion, edged Spain's Rafael
Nadal by less than one percent in the Sexiest Male vote, but Nadal did
win the Most Improved Player Award over America's Robby Ginepri.
Andy Roddick, James Blake, top-ranked Federer and Carlos Moya were the
other Sexiest Male nominees.
Wimbledon and US Open champ Federer of Switzerland and US Open titlist
Kim Clijsters of Belgium were overwhelming fan choices as Players of
the Year, while US Open finalist Andre Agassi and US and Roland Garros
and US Open finalist Mary Pierce of France were the choices for Veterans
of the Year. Pierce pulled in a whopping 95.5 percent of the vote.
Pierce – who finished the year ranked No. 5 – was also the
choice for Most Improved Female Player.
Czech teen Tomas Berdych edged Scotland's Andy Murray and Frances Gael
Monfils for the Male Newcomer Award. The three players were separated by less than nine percent of the vote.
The men's Match of the Year went to Safin's classic five-set upset of
Federer in the Australian Open semifinals, while fans tabbed Venus Williams'
incredible comeback over Lindsay Davenport in the Wimbledon final as
the Women's Match of the Year.
During 2005, the award-winning TennisReporters.net
was ranked second among tennis news sites in the United States.
2005 TennisReporters.net
Readers' Poll Awards
(MC) Selected by Matthew Cronin, (RC)
Selected by Ron Cioffi
|
Roger Federer 61.6% (MC, RC)
Rafael Nadal 31.8%
Ivan Ljubicic 4.8%
Andy Roddick 1.8%
Tomas Berdych
38.1%
Andy Murray 32.7% (RC)
Gael Monfils 29.2% (MC)
Rafael Nadal 29.5% (MC, RC)
Robby Ginepri 19.7%
Nikolay Davydenko 8.3%
Richard Gasquet 4.5%
Andre Agassi 59.9% (MC)
Ivan Ljubicic 38.5% (RC)
Dominick Hrbaty 1.6%
Safin v. Federer, Australian Open 49.3% (RC)
Agassi v. Blake, US Open 26.8%
(MC)
Nadal v. Coria, Italian Open 23.9%
Marat Safin 27.7%
Rafael Nadal 27.4%
Andy Roddick 15.6%
James Blake 14.4%
Roger Federer 9.5%
Carlos Moya 5.4%
|
Kim Clijsters
74.2% (MC, RC)
Venus Williams 15.2%
Lindsay Davenport 8.3%
Justine Henin-Hardenne 2.3%
| Newcomer of the
Year/women |
Nicole
Vaidisova 47.7% (RC)
Ana Ivanovic 41.6% (MC)
Anna-Lena Groenefeld 10.7%
| Most Improved Player/women |
Mary
Pierce 55.5% (RC)
Dinara Safina 23.3% (MC)
Jelena Jankovic 11.9%
Francesca Schiavone 9.3%
| Veteran of the Year/women |
Mary
Pierce 95.5% (MC, RC)
Elena Likhovsteva 2.6%
Nathalie Dechy 1.9%
Venus
v. Davenport, Wimbledon 80% (MC, RC)
Serena v. Sharapova, Aussie Open 15.4%
Henin-Hardenne v. Kuznetsova, RG 8.6%
Ana Ivanovic 34.7%
Maria Sharapova 20.4%
Serena Williams 19.2%
Maria Kirilenko 11.2%
Sania Mirza 8.7%
Flavia Pennetta 5.8%
|
