Latest Newspaper Articles Amanda's Latest Column SA Sunday Times 10/11 We've forgotten that girls need their role models too Boston Globe 8/13 Beware of an ambush by 'The Little Assassin' Bergen Record 7/20 Coetzer struggling in effort to rebound Business Day 5/12 Coetzer gets strong NSC backing Melbourne Age 1/16 Tiny Coetzer Stands Her Ground No Joking Around For These Two Corel WTA Tour players Amanda Coetzer (RSA) and Sonya Jeyeseelan (CAN) took time out from their schedules to participate in an on-court battle of the sexes. The two women took on local comedians Marc Messier and Claude Meunier in a tie-break winner take all game. As per usual the comedians had the fans chuckling, cut in the end Jeyaseelan and Coetzer prevailed 7-2 in the tie-break. Courtesy of WTA Notes & Netcords 8/18/98 World Cup Fever hits Wimbledon World Cup fever hit Wimbledon -- and Tim Henman was not amused. As the hotly favored Henman labored to defeat Czech outsider Jiri Novak in a five-set marathon on Monday evening, kick-off time in France loomed ever nearer for the England-Romania soccer match. "Come on -- we want to watch the football," shouted fans with divided loyalties. Britain's tennis pin-up said: "At times I agreed with them but it is not the sort of thing you want to be hearing and it doesn't help." South African Amanda Coetzer also had to put up with the indignity of facing a rival attraction when she played her first-round match at Wimbledon. Autograph hunters were more interested in the appearance of South African cricketer Jonty Rhodes who had won himself an extra day off by demolishing the England cricket team. Tennis fans largely ignored Coetzer's first set. They were too busy crowding round Rhodes and asking him to pose for photographs. Courtesy of Reuters 6/22/98 Painting a Picture To declare the games officially open, the tournament held a press conference and cocktail hour last Sunday to unveil a collection of paintings, done by a local art company, of every player in the draw. Top seed Amanda Coetzer (RSA) and European favourite Sabine Appelmans (BEL) were on hand to add their signatures to the artwork, increasing the value in the hopes that the paintings will receive high bids at a charity held on Thursday night. Once the auction was completed, a national childrens charity was to be chosen to receive the funds. Local commentator, Marcella Mesker, a former player on the Tour, interviewed the players and took questions from the crowd. Courtesy of WTA Notes & Netcords 6/22/98 Tennis NoteBook... You have to feel sorry for Amanda Coetzer, who seems to be dealt a tough break in every Grand Slam draw. After years of not being seeded and seemingly facing Steffi Graf in the first round of every major tournament, Coetzer is among the seeded players and should enjoy some easier first-round matches. So who does she face in the first round at the French? None other than 18th-ranked Patty Schnyder, one of the most improved players on tour and one of the most successful this season. As fate would have it, Schnyder prevailed... Courtesy of Fox Sports 5/30/98 An Interview with Ubi Soft... Amanda has agreed to participate in a tennis computer game being developed for N64. (article here) Q: What developer is working on the N64 tennis game? A Smart Dog a developer in the U.K. Q: Will it feature any official licenses and star real players? A: The pro-player roster includes: Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden), Michael Chang (USA), Amanda Coetzer (South Africa), Richard Krajicek (Holland), Gustavo Kuerten (Brazil), Conchita Martinez (Spain), Jana Novotna (Czech Republic) and Mark Philippoussis (Australia). Q: What are some of its key features? A: All Star Tennis '99 is a tennis simulation with arcade features. It has a sophisticated engine based on real-life physics which recreates all the shots, ball moves and sensations a player experiences on the courts. Every detail has been carefully recorded with extended motion capture. There are 12 characters (8 licensed and 4 extras) and 8 realistic, innovative original courts. Q: What day is the game planned for release? A: Q4-1998. Courtesy of Next Generation Online 5/27/98 Kid's Day in Strasbourg... Over 3,000 local children came out to the Centre Sportif de Hautepierre to enjoy a day of tennis. Twenty kids were chosen to compete in a tennis competition on Centre Court featuring top seed Amanda Coetzer and second seed, Irina Spirlea. The children exchanged ground strokes with the pros in a team format. Three lucky children hit against the pros individually while the crowd chanted the number of shots struck. At one stage, Coetzer was quoted as saying; "This girl is never going to miss..." Several shots later, Coetzer hit the ball into the net, much to the delight of the crowd. Courtesy of WTA Match Notes 5/21/98 Diamond ACES Program Serves Up Over 6000 Hours... In addition to providing the world with exciting tennis, the COREL WTA TOUR, through its players and tournaments, have been able to reach out to assist non-profit and charitable organizations around the world through its Diamond ACES program. The program will reach a milestone this month by passing the 6,000 hour mark. The Diamond ACES program, named in honor of the late Jerry Diamond, former WTA Executive Director, is now in its third season. Its goal is to cultivate and enhance player/fan interaction and promote women's tennis through off-court activities. Players have now donated time in areas as diverse as hospital, school and nursing home visits; the taping of public service announcements; autograph sessions; sponsor activities; clinics; auctions and many more off-court activities. Players are active in their own communities, as well. American Chanda Rubin was selected as one of the "Most Caring Athletes for 1997" by USA Weekend magazine for her outstanding work with local charitable organizations. The Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, are very active both in the Los Angeles area and in their current home in West Palm Beach, Florida with various endeavors, including the California Tennis Association for Underprivileged Youth. Amanda Coetzer - a licensed professional bartender - donates tips from serving at Tour stops to "Learn Tennis, Love Tennis," an organization in her native South Africa that brings tennis to underprivileged youth, while Iva Majoli of Croatia, "adopted" a war orphan over a year ago and helps the little girl receive medical attention. Additionally, Martina Hingis took a special trip to visit with children in Nepal and see how her dollars (she donated over $80,000 in 1997 to the World Health Organization) were helping with inoculations to children in that country. These are only a sampling of some of the charitable causes that players have donated their time and efforts. Courtesy of WTA Notes and Netcords 5/18/98 Coetzer named Chase Champion of the Month for April... South African Amanda Coetzer has been selected as the Chase Player of the Month for April, the Tour announced today. The award is selected by a panel of international tennis journalists and the monthly winner has $1,000 donated to her favorite charity by Tour Corporate Partner The Chase Manhattan Bank. Each Chase Player of the Month also receives a specially designed Waterford Crystal trophy. The 26-year-old Coetzer, who currently resides in Hilton Head, South Carolina, USA, claimed the first Tier I singles title of her career by winning the Family Circle Cup in, oddly enough, Hilton Head, South Carolina. Following up her impressive performance in Hilton Head, the next week Coetzer advanced to the semifinals of the $450,000 Bausch & Lomb Championships on Amelia Island, Florida, USA. Coetzer compiled an impressive 8-1 singles record last month and is currently at a career-high ranking of No. 4 on the COREL WTA Tour. For her efforts, Chase will donate $1,000 to "Learn Tennis, Love Tenns," a charity she started to benfit kids living in townships in South Africa, in Amanda's name. Other nominees for April were Amelia Island singles champion Mary Pierce (FRA) and Virgina Ruano Pascual (ESP), who won her first COREL WTA TOUR event in Budapest, Hungary. Courtesy of WTA Match Notes 5/4/98 The Player That Zigs... Cadillac, the official car of The Bausch & Lomb Championships, hosted a luncheon for over 100 Cadillac executives and their guests. They were officially welcomed to the tournament by No. 2 seed, Amanda Coetzer, who attended the luncheon and answered questions from the crowd. Everyone then hit the streets where they were able to test drive the new Catera, the Caddy that Zigs. Amanda took a spin around the Amelia Island Plantation, and rumour has it, she has a lead foot. Courtesy of WTA Match Notes 4/9/98 Players Make a Titanic Oscar Pick An poll of Tour players at The Lipton Championships shows that Titanic should take Best Picture at tonight's Academy Awards. James Cameron's epic was selected by 70% of the players, including teenagers Mirjana Lucic and Martina Hingis. L.A. Confidental took a distant second, but was the film of choice for Lindsay Davenport, Amanda Coetzer, Steffi Graf and Iva Majoli. Courtesy of WTA Match Notes 3/23/98 Amanda Coetzer to act as Patron of Junior Tour World No 5 Amanda Coetzer has taken a step to assist tennis development in South Africa. Coetzer will act as patron of the Junior Nike Tour for under-12 and under-14 players. Three of the 10 tournaments in this competition have already been played, with two more coming in April. The Tour gives youngsters the chance to represent this country at the international junior masters in Europe at the end of the year. Courtesy of Independent Online 3/7/98 Players Miss Out on Two Million Jackpot Amanda Coetzer, Anke Huber, Iva Majoli and Irina Spirlea bid for a two million yen ($16,000) jackpot when they took part in the Tokyo Broadcasting System show "Muscle Ranking" on Monday February 2. The show, one of the most popular in Tokyo, sets challenges for major sporting celebrities, which in the past have included Michael Jordan, Michael Johnson and Stefan Edberg. Nine boards were set in a service box on a tennis court, with each player having to hit all nine boards with an allotted 12 balls. Sadly no player managed to scoop the top prize, though Huber came close with seven direct hits on her second attempt. Courtesy of WTA Match Notes 2/3/98 Quotes from The Hopman Cup In an feature on ABC Television Sport, the players were asked several more unusual questions. Here are Amanda's answers... Worst Habit: "Worst habit... (laughing) Nothing that I would like to divulge publicly, no." Worst Roomate: "(Laughing) Well, I hate to say this... I have roomed with many, many people; some other players, especially when I was younger, but, um... I hope my dad will forgive me for this, but we're on the topic of... I think my dad is one of the toughest ones. And my sister will agree, he snores quite a bit so..." Middle Name: "Jaculi"