Anna Kournikova
Biography
Sergei
and Alla Kournikova knew that their lives would change when they
brought daughter Anna into the world on June 7, 1981. They just
didn't know the entire tennis world would soon be turned upside
down as well.
Both
Sergei, a natural athlete who wrestled professionally and coached
tennis part-time, and Alla encouraged their daughter to take part
in physical activity at an early age. When she turned five, Anna
received a Christmas gift that would change her life.
"I
found my first racquets under the Christmas tree," Anna says,
"but I found out later that my parents sold one of their TVs
to get me those racquets."
From
that moment, Anna has rarely put down her racquet. She started hitting
at Moscow's Soklniki Park and soon was a member of the prestigious
Spartak Tennis Club, coached by the husband of Russian pro Olga
Morozova.
At eight,
Anna began appearing in junior clinics and quickly caught the eye
of local tennis scouts. Still, she says, her childhood was "regular,
average" as she spent a lot of time shopping, going to amusement
parks and spending time with friends.
When
the ATP Tour established a major tournament in Moscow in 1990, Anna
would have the opportunity to show off her skills for the international
tennis community. The nine-year-old prodigy competed in the juniors
and soon signed a management deal. Within two years, Anna was headed
to Bradenton, Fla., where she would train at coach Nick Bolletierri's
famed tennis academy.
Bolletieri
instantly recognized her potential.
"Anna
is a shotmaker," he said. "She has the ability to create
situations on the court that very few people can create. And at
the net she's brilliant. She hits volleys from all angles. The only
person I could compare her to is John McEnroe."
Anna
Kournikova was on the professional track, and everyone knew it.
At 14, she become the youngest player ever to win a Fed Cup match
and captured the European Championships and Italian Open juniors.
At the close of 1995, she was ranked No. 1 and crowned as ITF Junior
World Champion. She was ready to hit the professional circuit.
Shortly
after turning 15, Anna burst onto the pro scene after much media
fanfare by reaching the fourth round in her first Grand Slam tournament,
the '96 U.S. Open, and the semifinals of her debut at Wimbledon
in '97.
In the
subsequent years, she has maintained a consistent presence in the
top ten singles rankings and captured a Grand Slam doubles title
with Martina Hingis at the '99 Australian Open. Most recently, she
tore through the competition en route to a semifinal appearance
at the 2001 Australian Open in Melbourne.
The 23-year-old
Russian has beaten virtually every top player in the women's field
and is the only player in the past 15 years to have defeated four
consecutive top ten players in a single tournament, which she did
on her way to the '98 final in Key Biscayne, Fla.
Perhaps
the most heavily sponsored and marketed female athlete in sport
today, Anna also ranks as one of the biggest draws on the entire
tennis tour, commanding Standing-Room-Only crowds for her Grand
Slam appearances and often selling out exhibitions from Mahwah,
N.J. to Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The game's
most respected veterans seem to agree that Anna is destined for
superstardom.
"She's
a gorgeous young woman who's very fit and works hard at her profession
and is in the top ten in the world," says 18-time-Grand-Slam
winner Chris Evert. "I think she's good for tennis."
Tennis
legend Billie Jean King echoes those sentiments.
"Anna
is the real thing," says King. "She's great off the ground
and quick. Most of all, she loves the limelight and loves the show
courts. She's having a good time out here and is poised for the
big time."
Anna Kournikova Filmography
Me, Myself & Irene
(2000) .... Motel Manager |
