US OPEN NOTEBOOK
ANNA Kournikova is such a dud when it comes to doing color commentary for the USA Network that the cable giant’s producers are taking desperate measures to hide her from the press.
Yesterday, a Post reporter watched as Kournikova – in a red miniskirt, red bra and tank top – tried to do a commentary on what goes on in the players’ lounge. She continually had to be prompted by behind-the-camera flunkies as to what to say.
As she attempted to interview the concierges on how they help the players, producer Stuart Miller told her to ask, “Name some players you’ve worked with,” to which Anna nervously parroted, “Name some players you’ve worked with.”
As the amusing charade continued, producer Kenneth Wolfe noticed the Post reporter watching and quickly had a word with executive producer Gordon Beck.
Beck stormed up, got in the reporter’s face and fumed: “You have to leave – NOW!”
Beck was told that The Post was credentialed to be in the lounge, just like USA.
Just to make sure our assessment of Anna wasn’t off, we spoke with one employee who had watched her throughout the day.
“They had to keep telling her what to say,” the worker confirmed. She didn’t seem to know what she was doing.”
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As a concierge at the American Express tent, Anna Maxim wears many hats, but until yesterday she didn’t think seamstress was one of them.
“There’s a Romanian athlete – Victor Hanescu – who came in and he was nice, but didn’t speak much English,” she told The Post.
“I speak Romanian so we were talking and he told he how he had to find a seamstress to knit Earthlink and Geico logo patches onto his five shirts.”
Time was tight, so Maxim sat down with a needle and thread and got the job done.