Anna Kournikova
Anna Kournikova started out with great aspirations of being a top tennis player, and while she didn’t quite make it to that goal before having to retire at the young age of twenty-two because of chronic lower back pain, she has gone on to inspire many young people by playing in charity events and filming health and fitness segments aimed at teenagers. This is all despite the fact that for most of her short career she was known more for her looks than her tennis talents of great footwork, fast serve clocked at 111.2 mph, and aggressive play at the baseline.
Kournikova was born in Moscow, Russia on June 7, 1981, and at just five years old began learning tennis from her father who was a professional wrestler and tennis coach. Her parents sold one of their household televisions in order to buy their daughter her first racquet. She took to it right away, and after spending her childhood practicing daily, she began entering junior tennis tournaments and signed a management deal at just nine years of age. In 1995 when Kournikova was fourteen, she was the Junior European Champion and the ITF Junior World Champion for the under eighteen category.
Getting her start at the age of fourteen in professional tennis with the Fed Cup for Russia, Kournikova became the youngest ever to win. A year later, she entered the U.S. Open, but couldn’t progress past Steffi Graf, who was the top ranked player at the time. That same year, Kournikova was also a part of the Russian delegation to the 1996 Olympic Games being held in Atlanta, Georgia. She reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon just a year later, but lost to Martina Hingis who went on to become the champion.
Kournikova finally made it into the top twenty rankings of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) in 1998, finally beating Martina Hingis and Steffi Graf, as well as Lindsay Davenport. The following year she teamed up with Hingis and began competing in doubles events. With the attention they both got for their looks, they began to refer to themselves as The Spice Girls of Tennis. Both in 1999 and 2002, the two won Grand Slam doubles titles at the Australian Open. Kounikova actually had more success in doubles than she ever had singly in tennis, to the point of even being named #1 in doubles by the WTA. At one time her singles ranking was #8, but for the most part her ranking stayed consistent between #10 and #15.
It was Kournikova’s back injuries that stalled her stellar tennis career, both as a single and doubles partner. She once stated in Elle magazine that if she could ever get her body back to being 100%, she would like to resume her professional tennis career. While she still plays occasionally in exhibition for charity causes, the last time Kournikova played on a WTA tour was in 2003. She has played in exhibition events organized by Elton John, Billie Jean King, Serena Williams, and Andy Roddick, among others. Kournikova has also filmed segments aimed at middle school and high school students for Channel One with the purpose of teaching them better health and fitness, as well as writing a fitness column for Elle magazine. In 2000 she had a bit part as a motel manager in the movie Me, Myself & Irene with Jim Carrey and Renée Zellweger.
Much has been made of Kournikova’s great looks, from her body all the way to her trademark long blonde hair. She was voted Sexiest Woman in the World by FHM magazine, as one of People magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People. The tennis star was also named among Maxim’s Hot 100. There have been many rumors surrounding Kournikova’s private life, away from the courts and away from the flashing bulbs of cameras. Having dated both Pavel Bure and Sergei Fedorov, Fedorov has told some sources that he and Kournikova were secretly married. Anna neither confirms nor denies this rumor. After appearing in Enrique Iglesias’s music video for “Escape,” Kournikova was also linked to the singer romantically, and rumors exist that she has also married him secretly. Yet again, she refuses to confirm or deny this.
YUDDY
