Anne Keothavong is a former professional tennis player and Olympian who was five times British number one. In 2009, she became the first Briton in 16 years to break into the Women’s Tennis Association’s top 50.
Anne started playing tennis at the age of 7 at Hackney Downs and Highbury Fields. Five years later, she played her first match on the International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) Junior Circuit.
Anne played her first professional match at age 14, steadily climbing the rankings before entering her first Grand Slam at Wimbledon in 2001. Over her 15-year career, she won 20 ITF singles titles and eight doubles titles, competing in all four Grand Slams and reaching the third round of the US Open in 2009.
In 2001, Anne became the youngest player to represent Great Britain in the Fed Cup, playing 39 times in total, the joint second highest number of appearances behind Virginia Wade. She also represented Great Britain in both singles and doubles at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
After retiring from competitive play, Anne transitioned to broadcasting, working as a tennis commentator and analyst for BT Sport, BBC, ITV, Amazon Prime Video Sports, and Fox Sports Asia. Since 2017, she has captained Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup team, formerly the Fed Cup team, leading them to promotion to World Group II for the first time in 26 years.
Anne was appointed MBE in 2021 for services to tennis.
Anne was born in Hackney to parents who had fled from war-torn Laos in the 1970s. She lives with her husband and their two children.