She finished the year with a singles ranking of world No. ONeill told Inner London crown court: She was very happy in his company that evening, and viewed him as. Bretherton, who qualified at elite law firm Slaughter and May, met the woman . Anne Viensouk Keothavong is a retired Laotian-British tennis player. 48 (achieved 23 February 2009). [27] She then fell in the first round of qualifying for the French Open before reaching another $50k final (in Surbiton). During cross-examination, his lawyer Sarah Forshaw KC told jurors that there were too many inconsistencies in the alleged victim's account for them to be sure that she was telling the truth. In February, she reached the quarterfinals of ITF events in Sunderland ($25k) and Saint Paul ($50k), beaten by Lisa Stanciute and Jill Craybas, respectively. 5 seed, Elena Dementieva, proved too much for Keothavong in the third round; Keothavong lost. She bowed out to Maria Elena Camerin, in straight sets. Jurors took less than an hour to unanimously acquit Andrew Bretherton, 49, of two counts of rape alleged to have taken place more than 14 years ago in May 2008. The first was in Nottingham, a $10k event, where she beat Karen Paterson in a three-set final and the second was a $25k tournament in Lagos where she defeated Maa Zec Pekiri to win the title. [52], In Wimbledon, Keothavong lost her second-round match against Sara Errani, 16, 16. Corporate lawyer Andrew Bretherton told a jury: "I was brought up to respect women" after he was accused of attacking the alleged victim on a date. The issues are classic ones for a jury as they are one person's word against another with no supporting witnesses to support the account. Keothavong, 39, said that Andrew . [16] Immediately after Wimbledon she headed to Felixstowe to participate in a $25k tournament where she reached the quarterfinals. The alleged victim claims company lawyer Andrew Bretherton pinned her face down on his bed and smothered her until she feared she would die during a horrific sexual assault after a date in May 2008. At the beginning of the year in Australia, Keothavong reached the second round of the Auckland Open losing to Kateryna Bondarenko, and the second round of the Australian Open, where she qualified, losing to 30th seed Andrea Petkovic in three sets. She reached the quarterfinals after beating two Asian players, Yurika Sema in straight sets and Tamarine Tanasugarn in three after losing a tight first set. The whole thing is ridiculous, he would never do that [rape], he has never been remotely aggressive. The husband of Britain's former tennis number one Anne Keothavong yesterday denied raping a woman saying: "It was 100 percent consensual.". Keothavong then moved on to Torhout, Belgium for a $50k event. She improved her ranking to world No. She announced her retirement on 24 July 2013. @5KBW. By Join Community Grow Your Business. 5KBW (@5KBW) / Twitter Ms Keothavong described her husband as a fantastic person who she loves even more as the rape case against him continues. She defeated Angelique Kerber in an ITF event in Prerov, Czech Republic in November 2006. Nevertheless, Keothavong came through without too much difficulty, beating Szvay in two sets. This meant that although they lost ties against Serbia and Montenegro and Slovenia, they avoided a place in the relegation play-offs for another year. [35] Keothavong was the fourth seed in her next tournament, the Cellular South Cup, and she followed up on this seeding by reaching the semifinals of a WTA event for the second time in 2009. After that, she . Tennis star in tears in court as husband cleared of raping woman in 80, Patricia Mayr. At Wimbledon, she was defeated in the first round by Anastasia Rodionova. An ex-girlfriend, who Bretherton was with for two-and-a-half to three years from 1998 told the court she never expected her former partner to be facing such allegations calling him the perfect man to bring to her parents.. Former British tennis star Anne Keothavong sobbed in court yesterday as she called the rape allegations against her husband a "sick joke". The woman told police she thought she would die during the alleged attack. After the verdict, Judge Jane Rowley told jurors: 'The common sense view was clearly shown in this case and you came to the right verdicts.'. Keothavong recovered well from her injury and returned to action ahead of schedule in March at the $10k tournament in Sunderland where she suffered a three-set first-round defeat by Verdiana Verardi. She is the only prominent tennis player in history with a Laotian heritage. She ended the season with her world ranking at No. In the other four events, she either lost in the first round or qualifying stages. Anne Keothavong (Tennis Player) was born on the 16th of September, 1983. The former British number one was in tears as she defended her husband. Kim flaunts her taut tummy as she arrives in New York for the big fashion event - with her daughter in tow, It's Kim City! A wildcard granted Keothavong entry to the main draw of Wimbledon for the fourth consecutive year where she won her first-round match, beating Nicole Pratt, the world No. In April 2001, aged 17, she became, until Katie Swan in 2016, the youngest player ever to play in the Fed Cup for the British team, and she is second (alongside Elena Baltacha) to Virginia Wade's record for most Fed Cup ties played for the Great Britain with 39. Anne Viensouk Keothavong MBE (born 16 September 1983) is a British former tennis player. 'This case is not easy and cases of this type never are. . They reached the quarterfinals together. But Bretherton told police he could only remember two - a meal at a steak restaurant and a drink at a pub called the Devonshire Arms near his home in Kensington, west London. 10.5M views. That year she played only two more matches (in the qualifying tournaments for $10k events in Hatfield, Hertfordshire and Felixstowe) and lost both of them. She also reached one more $25k final this year, also in Lagos, where she lost to Petra Cetkovsk in three sets. She also claims Oxford-educated Bretherton pinned her face down on his bed with such force she feared she would suffocate. Forum Staff View All RIPwtaworld Super Moderator. Anne Keothavong's husband is cleared of rape after the tennis star During her American hardcourt season, she reached the quarterfinals of a $50k tournament in Lexington where she fell to Camille Pin of France. She also reached two semifinals (Glasgow and Opole) and a quarterfinal in Jersey. He told jurors: 'Quite why she waited as long as she did until she made a formal complaint to the police is something to which you will wish to give careful consideration. Jurors took less than an hour to unanimously acquit Andrew Bretherton, 49, of two counts of rape alleged to have taken place over 14 years ago in May 2008. . Rape accused Andrew Bretherton denies attacking alleged victim in May She added that it was beyond the fantastic fathers character, she told the court on Monday. As of 2023, Anne Keothavong is possibly single. In March, she reached the quarterfinals of Redding, California ($25k) and in April she headed to Portugal to represent Great Britain in the Fed Cup. Other details Bretherton denied included the woman's claims she was relieved there was a lock on his bathroom door, claiming she feared he would try and murder her. 13:02 EDT 06 Dec 2022 Is Anne Keothavong married or single, and who is she dating now? Who are the richest people on earth right now? Anne was awarded an MBE last year. The solicitor husband of ex-British tennis star Anne Keothavong had [46], After this, Keothavong played the Stanford Classic in California where she lost in the opening round of the singles to Elena Dementieva. Anne had at least 1 relationship in the past. However, the Oxford-educated corporate lawyer, who is a semi-professional tennis player himself, was found not guilty after inconsistencies in his alleged victims evidence were pointed out during the two-week trial at Inner London Crown Court. En route, she defeated Mirjana Lui, No. She was born in Hackney, London and began playing tennis at Hackney Downs and Highbury Fields at age 7. She faced Patricia Mayr of Austria in her first match back and was beaten in straight sets. A corporate lawyer married to Britains former number one tennis star Anne Keothavongwent on trial today accused of rape. Anne Keothavong has not been previously engaged. They were, however, beaten by top seeds Anabel Medina Garrigues and Yaroslava Shvedova. She then won the singles title in the $50k event in Ismaning, defeating Yvonne Meusburger in the final and again winning the doubles title as well, this time with Kiki Bertens. According to our records, she has no children. 5 seed Marina Erakovic on the way to being demolished by top seed Caroline Wozniacki in the semifinals. In August, Keothavong lost in the first round of qualifying for the US Open and followed this up with three consecutive first-round losses in WTA events. 8 seed, Magdalena Maleeva, and was again beaten in three sets. Anne Keothavong breaks down in tears during husband's rape trial - MSN The other tournament she entered was the qualifying event for Wimbledon in which she participated courtesy of a wildcard. The alleged victim claims company lawyer Andrew Bretherton pinned her face down on his bed and smothered her until she feared she would die during a horrific sexual assault after a date in May 2008. We are currently in process of looking up more information on the previous dates and hookups. Andrew Bretherton, 49, who is married to the tennis star, told jurors he had never owned a silver boombox and dismissed much of the alleged victim's testimony as untrue. Andrew Bretherton found not guilty after inconsistencies in his alleged victims evidence were pointed out during the two-week trial. In the third round Keothavong lost to Jamie Hampton. Anne had at least 1 relationship in the past. The court was also told she initially refused to give police access to certain material such as her therapist's records.