From The Sydney Morning Herald: Rising star ready for spotlight
SHE is the new glamour player, the woman every photographer has his lens focused on and, dare we say it, about to mix it with the "it" girl, Maria Sharapova, not just in the leggy, long blonde stakes, but on the court.
Nicole Vaidisova is just 16 and the youngest female player at the Sydney International tournament, but she rocketed from No.84 to No.15 in the world last year - the latest off the Nick Bollettieri Academy production line.
Still, Vaidisova's rapid promotion on and off the court - she is already a feature personality in a global sports shoe's international ad campaign - has even surpassed those who have gone before her.
Yesterday, Vaidisova progressed through to the semi-finals when Daniela Hantuchova retired sick with a gastro-intestinal illness when Vaidisova was leading 6-3, 3-1 and her semi-final appearance today on centre court will project her firmly into the spotlight for the Australian tennis fan.
But Vaidisova - who was introduced to tennis by her mother when she was six, trained at the Bollettieri academy in Florida and is now coached by her stepfather, Alex Kodat - said firmly she wanted her tennis to be her main attraction, not her looks.
At 183 centimetres, the tanned Czech, sporting bright blue shorts and a sponsor's T-shirt dotted with sparkles - a reflection of her sunny personality - was possibly conscious of the lingering hangover of tennis pin-up Anna Kournikova when she told a handful of journalists: "I definitely want people to think I am a tennis player and in the first place known as a tennis player.
"I love doing the photo shoots and the endorsements, it is definitely fun, but tennis will always be my number one priority and I want to be remembered as that."
She said she was getting used to being compared to world No.4 Sharapova - a fellow Bollettieri graduate - but stressed she was a different person.
"If we sat next to each other you would see we are two totally different people," Vaidisova noted. "I don't follow her career off court. She is a great player and she does [things her] own way. I want to do it my own way."
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