Anna Kournikova
Encyclopedia
Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova is a Russian
retired professional tennis player. Her beauty and celebrity status made her one of the best known tennis stars worldwide, despite the fact that she never won a WTA singles title. At the peak of her fame, fans looking for images of Kournikova made her name one of the most common search strings on Google
.
Although reaching No. 8 in the world in 2000, she never won a WTA Title in singles. Kournikova's forte has been doubles, where she has at times been the World No. 1 player. With Martina Hingis
as her partner, she won Grand Slam titles
in Australia
in 1999
and 2002
. Based on their looks, Hingis and Kournikova referred to themselves as the "Spice Girls
of Tennis". Kournikova's professional tennis career has been curtailed for the past several years, and possibly ended, by serious back and spinal problems. She resides in Miami Beach
, Florida
, and plays in occasional exhibitions and in doubles for the St. Louis Aces
of World Team Tennis
. She was a new trainer for season 12 of the television show The Biggest Loser
, replacing Jillian Michaels
, but will not return for season 13.
champion, had earned a Ph.D. and was a professor at the University of Physical Culture and Sport in Moscow. As of 2001, he was still a part-time martial arts instructor there. Her mother Alla, who was 18 when Kournikova was born, had been a 400-meter runner.
Sergei Kournikov has said, "We were young and we liked the clean, physical life, so Anna was in a good environment for sport from the beginning." The family name is spelled in Russian without an "o", so a direct transliteration would be "Kurnikov", and it is sometimes written that way. But it is pronounced "Kournikov", so the family chose that as their English spelling. More information about Russian family names can be found here.
Kournikova received her first tennis
racquet
as a New Year
gift in 1986 at age 5. Describing her early regimen, she said, "I played two times a week from age six. It was a children's program. And it was just for fun; my parents didn't know I was going to play professionally, they just wanted me to do something because I had lots of energy. It was only when I started playing well at seven that I went to a professional academy. I would go to school, and then my parents would take me to the club, and I'd spend the rest of the day there just having fun with the kids." In 1986, Kournikova became a member of the Spartak Tennis Club
, coached by Larissa Preobrazhenskaya. In 1989, at the age of eight, Kournikova began appearing in junior tournaments, and by the following year, was attracting attention from tennis scouts across the world. Kournikova signed a management deal at age ten and went to Bradenton
, Florida
, to train at Nick Bollettieri
's celebrated tennis academy
.
Junior tournament. She became the youngest player to win the 18-and-under division of the Junior Orange Bowl
tennis tournament. By the end of the year, Kournikova was crowned the ITF
Junior World Champion U-18
and Junior European Champion U-18.
In 1994, Kournikova received a wild card into ITF
tournament in Moscow qualifications, but lost to third seeded Sabine Appelmans
. She debuted in professional tennis at 14 in the Fed Cup
for Russia
, the youngest player ever to participate and win. In 1995, she turned pro, and won two ITF
titles, in Midland, Michigan
and Rockford, Illinois
. The same year Kournikova reached her first WTA Tour doubles final at the Kremlin Cup
. Partnering with 1995 Wimbledon
girls' champion in both singles and doubles Aleksandra Olsza
, they lost to Meredith McGrath
and Larisa Neiland
.
At 15, she made her grand slam
debut, when she reached the fourth round of the 1996 US Open, only to be stopped by then-top ranked player Steffi Graf
, the eventual champion. After this tournament, Kournikova's ranking jumped from No. 144 to debut in the Top 100 at No. 69. Kournikova was a member of the Russian delegation to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia
. In 1996, she was named WTA Newcomer of the Year
, and she was ranked No. 57 in the end of the season.
Kournikova entered the 1997 Australian Open
as World No. 67, where she lost in the first round to World No. 12 Amanda Coetzer
. At the Italian Open
, Kournikova lost to Amanda Coetzer in the second round. However, she reached the semifinals in the doubles partnering with Elena Likhovtseva
, before losing to the sixth seeds Mary Joe Fernández
and Patricia Tarabini
.
At the 1997 French Open
, Kournikova made it to the third round before losing to World No. 1 Martina Hingis
. She also reached the third round in doubles with Likhovtseva. At the 1997 Wimbledon Championships
, Kournikova became only the second woman in the open era to reach the semifinals in her Wimbledon
debut, the first being Chris Evert
in 1972
. There she lost to eventual champion Martina Hingis.
At the 1997 US Open, she lost in the second round to the eleventh seed Irina Spîrlea
. Partnering with Likhovtseva, she reached the third round of the women's doubles event. Kournikova played her last WTA Tour event of 1997 at Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
in Filderstadt
, losing to Amanda Coetzer in the second round of singles, and in the first round of doubles to Lindsay Davenport
and Jana Novotná partnering with Likhovtseva. She broke into the top 50 on 19 May, and was ranked No. 32 in singles and No. 41 in doubles at the end of the season.
top 20 rankings for the first time, when she was ranked No. 16. At the 1998 Australian Open
, Kournikova lost in the third round to World No. 1 player Martina Hingis. She also partnered with Larisa Neiland in women's doubles, and they lost to eventual champions Hingis and Mirjana Lučić
in the second round. Although she lost in the second round of the Paris Open to Anke Huber in singles, Kournikova reached her second doubles WTA Tour final, partnering with Larisa Neiland. They lost to Sabine Appelmans
and Miriam Oremans
. Kournikova and Neiland reached their second consecutive final at the Linz Open
, losing to Alexandra Fusai and Nathalie Tauziat. At the Miami Open, Kournikova reached her first WTA Tour singles final, before losing to Venus Williams
in the final.
Kournikova then reached two consecutive quarterfinals, at Amelia Island
and the Italian Open, losing respectively to Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis. At the German Open, she reached the semifinals in both singles and doubles, partnering with Larisa Neiland. At the 1998 French Open
Kournikova had her best result at this tournament, making it to the fourth round before losing to Jana Novotná. She also reached her first Grand Slam doubles semifinals, losing with Neiland to Lindsay Davenport and Natasha Zvereva. During her quarterfinals match at the grass-court Eastbourne Open versus Steffi Graf
, Kournikova injured her thumb, which would eventually force her to withdraw from the 1998 Wimbledon Championships
. However, she won that match, but then withdraw from her semifinals match against Arantxa Sánchez Vicario. Kournikova returned for the Du Maurier Open and made it to the third round, before losing to Conchita Martínez. At the 1998 US Open Kournikova reached the fourth round before losing to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario. Her strong year qualified her for the year-end 1998 WTA Tour Championships
, but she lost to Monica Seles in the first round. However, with Seles, she won her first WTA doubles title, in Tokyo, beating Mary Joe Fernández and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the final. At the end of the season, she was ranked No. 10 in doubles.
At the start of the 1999 season, Kournikova advanced to the fourth round in singles before losing to Mary Pierce
. However, Kournikova won her first doubles Grand Slam title, partnering Martina Hingis
. The two defeated Lindsay Davenport
and Natasha Zvereva
in the final. At the Tier I Family Circle Cup
, Kournikova reached her second WTA Tour final, but lost to Martina Hingis. She then defeated Jennifer Capriati
, Lindsay Davenport and Patty Schnyder
on her route to the Bausch & Lomb Championships
semifinals, losing to Ruxandra Dragomir
. At The French Open, Kournikova reached the fourth round before losing to eventual champion Steffi Graf. Once the grass-court season commenced in England, Kournikova lost to Nathalie Tauziat
in the semifinals in Eastbourne. At Wimbledon, Kournikova lost to Venus Williams
in the fourth round. She also reached the final in mixed doubles, partnering with Jonas Björkman
, but they lost to Leander Paes
and Lisa Raymond
. Kournikova again qualified for year-end WTA Tour Championships, but lost to Mary Pierce in the first round, and ended the season as World No. 12.
While Kournikova had a successful singles season, she was even more successful in doubles. After their victory at the Australian Open, she and Martina Hingis won tournaments in Indian Wells, Rome, Eastbourne and the WTA Tour Championshiops, and reached the final of The French Open where they lost to Serena
and Venus Williams. Partnering with Elena Likhovtseva, Kournikova also reached the final in Stanford. On 22 November 1999 she reached the World No. 1 ranking in doubles, and ended the season at this ranking. Anna Kournikova and Martina Hingis were presented with the WTA Award for Doubles Team of the Year
.
Kournikova opened her 2000 season
winning the Gold Coast Open doubles tournament partnering with Julie Halard. She then reached the singles semifinals at the Medibank International Sydney, losing to Lindsay Davenport. At the 2000 Australian Open
, she reached the fourth round in singles and the semifinals in doubles. That season, Kournikova reached eight semifinals (Sydney, Scottsdale
, Stanford, San Diego, Luxembourg
, Leipzig
and 2000 WTA Tour Championships
), seven quarterfinals (Gold Coast, Tokyo, Amelia Island, Hamburg, Eastbourne, Zürich and Philadelphia) and one final. On 20 November 2000 she broke into top 10 for the first time, reaching No. 8. She was also ranked #4 in doubles at the end of the season. Kournikova was once again, more successful in doubles. She reached the final of the 2000 US Open in mixed doubles, partnering with Max Mirnyi
, but they lost to Jared Palmer
and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario. She also won six doubles titles — Gold Coast (with Julie Halard), Hamburg (with Natasha Zvereva), Filderstadt, Zürich, Philadelphia and the 2000 WTA Tour Championships (with Martina Hingis).
and Wimbledon
. She underwent surgery in April. She reached her second career grand slam
quarterfinals, at the Australian Open
. Kournikova then withdrew from several events due to continuing problems with her left foot and did not return until Leipzig
. With Barbara Schett
, she won the doubles title in Sydney. She then lost in the finals in Tokyo, partnering with Iroda Tulyaganova
, and at San Diego, partnering with Martina Hingis
. Hingis and Kournikova also won the Kremlin Cup
. At the end of the 2001 season, she was ranked #74 in singles and #26 in doubles.
Kournikova was quite successful in 2002. She reached the semifinals of Auckland
, Tokyo, Acapulco
and San Diego, and the finals of China Open
, losing to Anna Smashnova
. This was Kournikova's last singles finals. With Martina Hingis
, Anna Kournikova lost in the finals of Sydney, but they won their second grand slam
title together, the Australian Open
in women's doubles. They also lost in the quarterfinals of the US Open. With Chanda Rubin
, Anna Kournikova played the semifinals of Wimbledon
, but they lost to Serena
and Venus Williams
. Partnering Janet Lee
, she won the Shanghai
title. At the end of 2002 season, she was ranked #35 in singles and #11 in doubles.
In 2003, Anna Kournikova collected her first grand slam
match victory in two years at the Australian Open
. She defeated Henrieta Nagyová
in the 1st round, and then lost to Justine Henin-Hardenne
in the 2nd round. She withdrew from Tokyo due to a sprained back suffered at the Australian Open and did not return to Tour until Miami. Kournikova retired in the 1st round of the Family Circle Cup
in Charleston, South Carolina, due to a left adductor strain. She reached the semifinals at the ITF
tournament in Sea Island
, before withdrawing from a match versus Maria Sharapova
due to the adductor injury. She lost in the 1st round of the ITF tournament in Charlottesville. She did not compete for the rest of the season due to a continuing back injury At the end of the 2003 season and her professional career, she was ranked #305 in singles and #176 in doubles.
Kournikova's two Grand Slam doubles titles came in 1999 and 2002, both at the Australian Open
in the Women's Doubles event with partner Martina Hingis
. Kournikova proved a successful doubles player on the professional circuit, winning 16 tournament doubles titles, including two Australian Opens and being a finalist in mixed doubles at the US Open and at Wimbledon, and reaching the No.1 ranking in doubles in the Women's Tennis Association
tour rankings. Her pro career doubles record was 200–71. However, her singles career plateaued after 1999. For the most part, she managed to retain her ranking between 10 and 15 (her career high singles ranking was No.8), but her expected finals breakthrough failed to occur; she only reached four finals out of 130 singles tournaments, never in a Grand Slam event, and never won one.
Her singles record is 209–129. Her final playing years were marred by a string of injuries, especially back injuries, which caused her ranking to erode gradually. As a personality Kournikova was among the most common search strings for both articles and images in her prime.
and by fellow tennis players Serena Williams
and Andy Roddick
. In January 2005, she played in a doubles charity event for the Indian Ocean tsunami with John McEnroe
, Andy Roddick
, and Chris Evert
. In November 2005, she teamed up with Martina Hingis
, playing against Lisa Raymond
and Samantha Stosur
in the WTT finals for charity. Kournikova is also a member of the St. Louis Aces in the World Team Tennis
(WTT), playing doubles only.
In September 2008, Kournikova showed up for the 2008 Nautica Malibu Triathlon held at Zuma Beach
in Malibu, California. The Race raised funds for children's Hospital Los Angeles. She won that race for women's K-Swiss
team. On 27 September 2008, Kournikova played exhibition mixed doubles matches in Charlotte, North Carolina
, partnering with Tim Wilkison
and Karel Nováček
. Kournikova and Wilkison defeated Jimmy Arias
and Chanda Rubin
, and then Kournikova and Novacek defeated Rubin and Wilkison.
On October 12, 2008, Anna Kournikova played one exhibition match for the annual charity event, hosted by Billie Jean King
and Elton John
, and raised more than $400,000 for the Elton John AIDS
Foundation and Atlanta AIDS Partnership Fund. She played doubles with Andy Roddick
(they were coached by Elton John) versus Martina Navratilova and Jesse Levine
(coached by Billie Jean King); Kournikova and Roddick won.
Kournikova competed alongside John McEnroe
, Tracy Austin
and Jim Courier
at the "Legendary Night", which was held on May 2, 2009, at the Turning Stone Event Center, Verona, New York. The exhibition included a mixed doubles match of McEnroe and Austin against Courier and Kournikova.
In 2008, she was named a spokesperson for K-Swiss
. In 2005, Kournikova stated that if she were 100% fit, she would like to come back and compete again.
In June 2010, Kournikova reunited with her doubles partner Martina Hingis
to participate in competitive tennis for the first time in seven years in the Invitational Ladies Doubles event at Wimbledon. On 29 June 2010 they defeated the British pair Samantha Smith
and Anne Hobbs
.
Kournikova plays right-handed with a two-handed backhand
. She is a great player at the net. She can hit forceful groundstrokes and also drop shot
s.
Her playing style fits the profile for a doubles player, and is complemented by her height. She has been compared to such doubles specialists as Pam Shriver
and Peter Fleming
.
, an NHL
ice hockey
player. The two met in 1999 when Kournikova was still linked to Bure's former Russian teammate Sergei Fedorov
. Bure and Kournikova were reported to have been engaged in 2000 after a reporter took a photo of them together in a Florida
restaurant where Bure supposedly asked Kournikova to marry him. As the story made headlines in Russia, where they were both heavily followed in the media as celebrities, Bure and Kournikova both denied any engagement. Kournikova, 10 years younger than Bure, was 18 years old at the time. The following year, Kournikova and Fedorov were married in Moscow. They were soon divorced, however. Fedorov claimed he and tennis star Anna Kournikova were married in 2001, but later divorced in 2003. Kournikova's representatives deny any marriage to Fedorov; however, Sergei's agent Pat Brisson claims that although he does not know when they got married, he knew "he was married".
Kournikova started dating pop star
Enrique Iglesias
in late 2001 (she appeared in his video, "Escape"), and rumors that the couple had secretly married circulated in 2003 and again in 2005. Kournikova herself has consistently refused to directly confirm or deny the status of her personal relationships. But in May 2007, Enrique Iglesias
was (mistakenly, as he would clarify later) quoted in the New York Sun
that he had no intention of marrying Kournikova and settling down because they had split up. The singer would later deny these rumors of "divorce" or simply separation. In June 2008, Iglesias told the Daily Star that he had married Kournikova the previous year and that they are currently separated. In an interview with Graham Norton
in 2010, Kournikova confirmed that she and Iglesias have been together for over eight years but have no plans to marry in the near future. Kournikova and Iglesias have been a long term relationship for 10 years now.
Kournikova has a younger brother, Allan. He became an American citizen in late 2009.
Kournikova resides in Miami Beach, Florida
. She put her seven-bedroom, waterfront property in Bayshore
on the market in May 2011.
Most of Kournikova's fame has come from the publicity surrounding her looks and her personal life. During Kournikova's debut at the 1996 US Open at the age of 15, the world noticed her beauty, and soon pictures of her appeared in numerous magazines worldwide.
In 2000, Kournikova became the new face for Berlei
's shock absorber sports bras, and appeared in the "only the ball should bounce" billboard campaign. Photographs of her scantily-clad form have appeared in various men's magazines, including one in the much-publicized 2004 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue
, where she posed in bikinis and swimsuits, and in other men's publications such as FHM
and Maxim
. Kournikova was named one of People
's 50 Most Beautiful People in 1998 and was voted "hottest female athlete" on ESPN.com
. In 2002 she also placed first in FHM
's 100 Sexiest Women in the World in US and UK editions. By contrast, ESPN
—citing the degree of hype as compared to actual accomplishments as a singles player—ranked Kournikova 18th in its "25 Biggest Sports Flops of the Past 25 Years". Kournikova was also ranked #1 in the ESPN Classic series "Who's number 1?" when the series featured sport's most overrated athletes.
She continued to be the most searched athlete on the Internet through 2008 even though she had retired from the professional tennis circuit years earlier. After slipping from first to sixth among athletes in 2009, she moved back up to third place among athletes in terms of search popularity in 2010.
In October 2010, Kournikova headed to NBC's The Biggest Loser
where she led the contestants in a tennis-workout challenge. In May 2011, it was announced that Kournikova would join The Biggest Loser
as a regular celebrity trainer in season 12. She will not be returning for season 13.
In November 2010, she became an American citizen.
made with skim milk is known as an Anna Kournikova. In the lingo of the poker variation Texas Hold 'em
, the hole cards Ace
–King
(unsuited) are sometimes referred to as an "Anna Kournikova", a term introduced by the poker commentator Vince van Patton during a WPT tournament because it "looks great but never wins". A computer virus named the Anna Kournikova
virus arose on February 12, 2001.
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
retired professional tennis player. Her beauty and celebrity status made her one of the best known tennis stars worldwide, despite the fact that she never won a WTA singles title. At the peak of her fame, fans looking for images of Kournikova made her name one of the most common search strings on Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
.
Although reaching No. 8 in the world in 2000, she never won a WTA Title in singles. Kournikova's forte has been doubles, where she has at times been the World No. 1 player. With Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...
as her partner, she won Grand Slam titles
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
in Australia
Australian Open
The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court...
in 1999
1999 Australian Open
The 1999 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Melbourne Park in Melbourne in Victoria in Australia. It was the 87th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 18 through 31 January 1999. This was the first Grand Slam of the calendar year.In the singles...
and 2002
2002 Australian Open
List of the 2002 Australian Open champions:-Men's Singles: Thomas Johansson def. Marat Safin, 3–6, 6–4, 6–4, 7–6...
. Based on their looks, Hingis and Kournikova referred to themselves as the "Spice Girls
Spice Girls
The Spice Girls were a British pop girl group formed in 1994. The group consisted of Victoria Beckham , Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell. They were signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single, "Wannabe" in 1996, which hit number-one in more than 30...
of Tennis". Kournikova's professional tennis career has been curtailed for the past several years, and possibly ended, by serious back and spinal problems. She resides in Miami Beach
Miami Beach, Florida
Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter which separates the Beach from Miami city proper...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, and plays in occasional exhibitions and in doubles for the St. Louis Aces
St. Louis Aces
The St. Louis Aces are a professional tennis team in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. They entered the World TeamTennis League in 1994, and won their only WTT Championship title two years later. The Aces play their home matches at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center in Forest Park...
of World Team Tennis
World Team Tennis
World TeamTennis is a coed professional tennis league played with a unique team format in the United States. Each match consists of five sets. Each set features a different configuration . Coaches, before the match, decide the order in which the sets will be played...
. She was a new trainer for season 12 of the television show The Biggest Loser
The Biggest Loser
The Biggest Loser is an American reality game show that debuted on NBC October 19, 2004. The show features obese people competing to win a cash prize by losing the highest percentage of weight relative to their initial weight....
, replacing Jillian Michaels
Jillian Michaels (personal trainer)
Jillian Michaels is a celebrity personal trainer, reality show personality, direct-response television pitchwoman, and entrepreneur from Los Angeles, California...
, but will not return for season 13.
Early life
Anna Kournikova was born in Moscow, Soviet Union, on June 7, 1981. Her father, Sergei Kournikov, was 19 at the time. Sergei, a former Greco-Roman wrestlingGreco-Roman wrestling
Greco-Roman wrestling is a style of wrestling that is practised worldwide. It was contested at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and has been included in every edition of the summer Olympics held since 1908. Two wrestlers are scored for their performance in three two-minute periods, which can...
champion, had earned a Ph.D. and was a professor at the University of Physical Culture and Sport in Moscow. As of 2001, he was still a part-time martial arts instructor there. Her mother Alla, who was 18 when Kournikova was born, had been a 400-meter runner.
Sergei Kournikov has said, "We were young and we liked the clean, physical life, so Anna was in a good environment for sport from the beginning." The family name is spelled in Russian without an "o", so a direct transliteration would be "Kurnikov", and it is sometimes written that way. But it is pronounced "Kournikov", so the family chose that as their English spelling. More information about Russian family names can be found here.
Kournikova received her first tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
racquet
Racquet
A racquet or racket is a sports implement consisting of a handled frame with an open hoop across which a network of cord is stretched tightly. It is used for striking a ball in such games as squash, tennis, racquetball, and badminton...
as a New Year
New Year
The New Year is the day that marks the time of the beginning of a new calendar year, and is the day on which the year count of the specific calendar used is incremented. For many cultures, the event is celebrated in some manner....
gift in 1986 at age 5. Describing her early regimen, she said, "I played two times a week from age six. It was a children's program. And it was just for fun; my parents didn't know I was going to play professionally, they just wanted me to do something because I had lots of energy. It was only when I started playing well at seven that I went to a professional academy. I would go to school, and then my parents would take me to the club, and I'd spend the rest of the day there just having fun with the kids." In 1986, Kournikova became a member of the Spartak Tennis Club
Spartak Tennis Club
The Spartak Tennis Club is a tennis training ground located near Sokolniki Park in Moscow, Russia. It has 15 outdoor clay courts, which remain closed for half of the year, and only one indoor court...
, coached by Larissa Preobrazhenskaya. In 1989, at the age of eight, Kournikova began appearing in junior tournaments, and by the following year, was attracting attention from tennis scouts across the world. Kournikova signed a management deal at age ten and went to Bradenton
Bradenton, Florida
Bradenton is a city in Manatee County, Florida, United States. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's 2007 population to be 53,471. Bradenton is the largest Principal City of the Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2007 estimated population of 682,833...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, to train at Nick Bollettieri
Nick Bollettieri
Nicholas James Bollettieri is an American tennis coach who is credited with developing many world-class champions, including Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Monica Seles, and Mary Pierce. Recently, he has worked with 2006 U.S. Open champion Maria Sharapova, Jelena Janković, Nicole Vaidišová and Sabine...
's celebrated tennis academy
Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy
The Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy is located in Bradenton, Florida, and was founded in 1978 by Nick Bollettieri as a full-time tennis boarding school that combines intensive tennis training with an academic curriculum....
.
1989–1997: Early years and breakthrough
Following her arrival in the United States, Kournikova became prominent on the tennis scene. At 14, she won the European Championships and the Italian OpenRome Masters
The Italian Open is an annual tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is the most prestigious red clay tennis tournament in the world after the French Open, with the men's competition being an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour, and the women's...
Junior tournament. She became the youngest player to win the 18-and-under division of the Junior Orange Bowl
Dunlop Orange Bowl
The Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships, known since 2008 as the Dunlop Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships with Dunlop as the title sponsor, is a prestigious junior tennis tournament, one of only five that are rated by the ITF as 'Grade A'...
tennis tournament. By the end of the year, Kournikova was crowned the ITF
International Tennis Federation
The International Tennis Federation is the governing body of world tennis, made up of 205 national tennis associations.It was established as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by 12 national associations meeting at a conference in Paris, France on 1 March 1913...
Junior World Champion U-18
International Tennis Federation
The International Tennis Federation is the governing body of world tennis, made up of 205 national tennis associations.It was established as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by 12 national associations meeting at a conference in Paris, France on 1 March 1913...
and Junior European Champion U-18.
In 1994, Kournikova received a wild card into ITF
International Tennis Federation
The International Tennis Federation is the governing body of world tennis, made up of 205 national tennis associations.It was established as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by 12 national associations meeting at a conference in Paris, France on 1 March 1913...
tournament in Moscow qualifications, but lost to third seeded Sabine Appelmans
Sabine Appelmans
Sabine Appelmans is a former tennis player from Belgium, and was Belgium's Fed Cup captain from 2007 until 2011.-Career:...
. She debuted in professional tennis at 14 in the Fed Cup
Fed Cup
Fed Cup is the premier team competition in women's tennis, launched in 1963 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the International Tennis Federation...
for Russia
Russia Fed Cup team
The Russia Fed Cup team represents Russia in Fed Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Russian Tennis Federation. They currently compete in the World Group.- Current Team :* Maria Sharapova * Elena Vesnina...
, the youngest player ever to participate and win. In 1995, she turned pro, and won two ITF
International Tennis Federation
The International Tennis Federation is the governing body of world tennis, made up of 205 national tennis associations.It was established as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by 12 national associations meeting at a conference in Paris, France on 1 March 1913...
titles, in Midland, Michigan
Midland, Michigan
Midland is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan in the Tri-Cities region of the state. It is the county seat of Midland County. The city's population was 41,863 as of the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Midland Micropolitan Statistical Area....
and Rockford, Illinois
Rockford, Illinois
Rockford is a mid-sized city located on both banks of the Rock River in far northern Illinois. Often referred to as "The Forest City", Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County, Illinois, USA. As reported in the 2010 U.S. census, the city was home to 152,871 people, the third most populated...
. The same year Kournikova reached her first WTA Tour doubles final at the Kremlin Cup
Kremlin Cup
The Kremlin Cup is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It is currently part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the ATP Tour and is a Premier Tournament on the WTA Tour...
. Partnering with 1995 Wimbledon
1995 Wimbledon Championships
The 1995 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on :grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon in London in England...
girls' champion in both singles and doubles Aleksandra Olsza
Aleksandra Olsza
Aleksandra Olsza is a retired Polish tennis player. Her career highlights include winning of 1995 Wimbledon Championships in both girls' singles and doubles. At the 1996 U.S. Open Olsza defeated World No. 12 Magdalena Maleeva.- Achievements :...
, they lost to Meredith McGrath
Meredith McGrath
Meredith McGrath is a former professional tennis player. She was born on April 28, 1971 in Midland, Michigan, USA and made her debut on the Women's Tennis Association tour in 1988. She won three singles titles in a ten year career, at Oklahoma City and Eastbourne in 1994 and Birmingham in 1996. ...
and Larisa Neiland
Larisa Neiland
Larisa Savchenko Neiland is a former tennis player who represented Latvia. A former number-one ranked doubles player, Neiland won two women's doubles Grand Slam titles. She also won two singles titles and sixty-five doubles titles.-Career:Neiland turned professional in 1983...
.
At 15, she made her grand slam
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
debut, when she reached the fourth round of the 1996 US Open, only to be stopped by then-top ranked player Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...
, the eventual champion. After this tournament, Kournikova's ranking jumped from No. 144 to debut in the Top 100 at No. 69. Kournikova was a member of the Russian delegation to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
. In 1996, she was named WTA Newcomer of the Year
WTA Awards
This is a list with all the WTA Awards given by the Women's Tennis Association to players who have done or achieved something remarkable during the season or their career.-Player of the Year:-Doubles Team of the Year:-Most Improved Player:...
, and she was ranked No. 57 in the end of the season.
Kournikova entered the 1997 Australian Open
1997 Australian Open - Women's Singles
Monica Seles was the defending champion but did not compete that year.Martina Hingis won in the final 6–2, 6–2 over Mary Pierce. She became the youngest woman to win a Grand Slam singles title.-Seeds:...
as World No. 67, where she lost in the first round to World No. 12 Amanda Coetzer
Amanda Coetzer
Amanda Coetzer is a former professional tennis player from South Africa.Coetzer turned professional in 1988 and retired in 2004...
. At the Italian Open
Rome Masters
The Italian Open is an annual tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is the most prestigious red clay tennis tournament in the world after the French Open, with the men's competition being an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour, and the women's...
, Kournikova lost to Amanda Coetzer in the second round. However, she reached the semifinals in the doubles partnering with Elena Likhovtseva
Elena Likhovtseva
Elena Alexandrovna Likhovtseva is a Russian tennis player, currently inactive. She turned professional in January 1992 at the age of 16.Likhovtseva's career best appearance in a Grand Slam was when she reached the semi finals of the French Open 2005 before she was defeated by Mary Pierce, 6–1 6–1...
, before losing to the sixth seeds Mary Joe Fernández
Mary Joe Fernández
Mary Joe Fernández Godsick is an American former professional tennis player...
and Patricia Tarabini
Patricia Tarabini
Patricia Tarabini was an Argentine tennis player. Tarabini represented her country and won the Bronze Olympic medal at the 2004 Athens games, with Paola Suárez, where they lost 7–9 in the third set to eventual gold medalists from China, Sun Tiantian and Li Ting. On May 9, 1988, Tarabini reached...
.
At the 1997 French Open
1997 French Open - Women's Singles
Steffi Graf was the defending champion, but she was knocked out in the quarterfinals by Amanda Coetzer.Iva Majoli won the title, defeating World No...
, Kournikova made it to the third round before losing to World No. 1 Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...
. She also reached the third round in doubles with Likhovtseva. At the 1997 Wimbledon Championships
1997 Wimbledon Championships - Women's Singles
Steffi Graf was the defending champion, but she did not compete this year due to injury.World No. 1 Martina Hingis won title, defeating Jana Novotná in the final, 2–6, 6–3, 6–3, to became the youngest person since Lottie Dod to win Wimbledon.-Seeds:...
, Kournikova became only the second woman in the open era to reach the semifinals in her Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
debut, the first being Chris Evert
Chris Evert
Christine Marie "Chris" Evert is a former world number 1 professional tennis player from the United States. She won 18 Grand Slam singles championships, including a record seven championships at the French Open and a record six championships at the U.S. Open. She was the year-ending World No...
in 1972
1972 Wimbledon Championships
List of the 1972 Wimbledon champions:-Men's singles: Stan Smith def. Ilie Năstase, 4–6, 6–3, 6–3, 4–6, 7–5*It was Smith's 2nd career Grand Slam title, and his 1st Wimbledon title.-Women's singles: Billie Jean King def...
. There she lost to eventual champion Martina Hingis.
At the 1997 US Open, she lost in the second round to the eleventh seed Irina Spîrlea
Irina Spîrlea
Irina Spîrlea is a former tennis player from Romania, who turned professional in 1990. She won four singles and six doubles titles during her career. The right-hander reached her highest individual ranking on the WTA Tour on October 13, 1997, when she became number 7 in the world...
. Partnering with Likhovtseva, she reached the third round of the women's doubles event. Kournikova played her last WTA Tour event of 1997 at Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix is a tennis tournament held in Stuttgart, Germany . Held since 1978, the tournament is the oldest women's indoor tournament in Europe. Currently it is a Tier II tournament on the WTA Tour. The singles champion also receives a Porsche 911 Carrera sports car in addition...
in Filderstadt
Filderstadt
Filderstadt is a town in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is located approximately 13 km south of Stuttgart.Filderstadt is located next to the Stuttgart Airport and the new Trade Fair...
, losing to Amanda Coetzer in the second round of singles, and in the first round of doubles to Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Ann Davenport is a former World No. 1 American professional tennis player. She has won three Grand Slam singles tournaments and an Olympic gold medal in singles. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine ranked her as the 29th-best player of the preceding forty years...
and Jana Novotná partnering with Likhovtseva. She broke into the top 50 on 19 May, and was ranked No. 32 in singles and No. 41 in doubles at the end of the season.
1998–2000: Success and stardom
In 1998, Kournikova broke into the WTA'sWomen's Tennis Association
The Women's Tennis Association , founded in 1973 by Billie Jean King, is the principal organizing body of Women's Professional Tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women. Its counterpart organization in the men's professional game is the Association of...
top 20 rankings for the first time, when she was ranked No. 16. At the 1998 Australian Open
1998 Australian Open - Women's Singles
Martina Hingis was the defending champion, and she successfully defended her title by defeating Conchita Martínez, 6–3, 6–3. in the final.-Seeds:# Martina Hingis # Lindsay Davenport # Amanda Coetzer ...
, Kournikova lost in the third round to World No. 1 player Martina Hingis. She also partnered with Larisa Neiland in women's doubles, and they lost to eventual champions Hingis and Mirjana Lučić
Mirjana Lucic
Mirjana Lučić is a Croatian professional tennis player. She enjoyed a promising career on the WTA Tour in the late 1990s, during which she set several "youngest-ever" records, won one Grand Slam women's doubles title at the Australian Open in 1998 when she was only 15 years old, partnering Martina...
in the second round. Although she lost in the second round of the Paris Open to Anke Huber in singles, Kournikova reached her second doubles WTA Tour final, partnering with Larisa Neiland. They lost to Sabine Appelmans
Sabine Appelmans
Sabine Appelmans is a former tennis player from Belgium, and was Belgium's Fed Cup captain from 2007 until 2011.-Career:...
and Miriam Oremans
Miriam Oremans
Miriam Oremans is a former professional female tennis player from the Netherlands. On 26 July 1993 she reached her career-high singles ranking of number 25....
. Kournikova and Neiland reached their second consecutive final at the Linz Open
Generali Ladies Linz
The Generali Ladies Linz is a tennis tournament held in Linz, Austria. Held since 1987, this WTA Tour event is a Tier II-tournament and is played on indoor hardcourts...
, losing to Alexandra Fusai and Nathalie Tauziat. At the Miami Open, Kournikova reached her first WTA Tour singles final, before losing to Venus Williams
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...
in the final.
Kournikova then reached two consecutive quarterfinals, at Amelia Island
Amelia Island
Amelia Island is one of the southernmost of the Sea Islands, a chain of barrier islands that stretches along the east coast of the United States from South Carolina to Florida. It is long and approximately 4 miles wide at its widest point. Amelia Island is situated off the coast in Nassau County,...
and the Italian Open, losing respectively to Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis. At the German Open, she reached the semifinals in both singles and doubles, partnering with Larisa Neiland. At the 1998 French Open
1998 French Open - Women's Singles
Iva Majoli was the defending champion, but lost to Lindsay Davenport in the quarterfinals.Arantxa Sánchez Vicario won the title, defeating Monica Seles, 7–6, 0–6, 6–2, in the final...
Kournikova had her best result at this tournament, making it to the fourth round before losing to Jana Novotná. She also reached her first Grand Slam doubles semifinals, losing with Neiland to Lindsay Davenport and Natasha Zvereva. During her quarterfinals match at the grass-court Eastbourne Open versus Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...
, Kournikova injured her thumb, which would eventually force her to withdraw from the 1998 Wimbledon Championships
1998 Wimbledon Championships
The 1998 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on :grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon in London in England...
. However, she won that match, but then withdraw from her semifinals match against Arantxa Sánchez Vicario. Kournikova returned for the Du Maurier Open and made it to the third round, before losing to Conchita Martínez. At the 1998 US Open Kournikova reached the fourth round before losing to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario. Her strong year qualified her for the year-end 1998 WTA Tour Championships
1998 WTA Tour Championships
The 1998 Chase Championships was a tennis tournament played on indoor carpet courts at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York in the United States. It was the 27th edition of the year-end singles championships, the 23rd edition of the year-end doubles championships, and was part of the...
, but she lost to Monica Seles in the first round. However, with Seles, she won her first WTA doubles title, in Tokyo, beating Mary Joe Fernández and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the final. At the end of the season, she was ranked No. 10 in doubles.
At the start of the 1999 season, Kournikova advanced to the fourth round in singles before losing to Mary Pierce
Mary Pierce
Mary Pierce is a French-American tennis professional playing on the Women's Tennis Association tour. She is a citizen of France, Canada, and the United States but plays for France in team competitions and the Olympics.Pierce has won four Grand Slam titles, two in singles and two in doubles...
. However, Kournikova won her first doubles Grand Slam title, partnering Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...
. The two defeated Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Ann Davenport is a former World No. 1 American professional tennis player. She has won three Grand Slam singles tournaments and an Olympic gold medal in singles. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine ranked her as the 29th-best player of the preceding forty years...
and Natasha Zvereva
Natasha Zvereva
Natalya "Natasha" Zvereva, or Zverava is a former tennis player from Belarus. Zvereva was the first major athlete in the Soviet Union to demand publicly that she should be able to keep her tournament earnings...
in the final. At the Tier I Family Circle Cup
Family Circle Cup
The Family Circle Cup is a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. The tournament is currently played on the green clay courts at the Daniel Island Tennis Center in Charleston, South Carolina, USA...
, Kournikova reached her second WTA Tour final, but lost to Martina Hingis. She then defeated Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Marie Capriati is a former world number one ranked professional tennis player, and the winner of three women's singles championships in Grand Slam tournaments. Capriati made her professional debut in 1990 at the age of 14 when she reached the finals of the hard court tournament in Boca...
, Lindsay Davenport and Patty Schnyder
Patty Schnyder
Patty Schnyder is a retired Swiss professional tennis player. She played on the WTA tour from 1993 to 2011 and is a former World No. 7. She defeated several World No...
on her route to the Bausch & Lomb Championships
Bausch & Lomb Championships
The MPS Group Championships was a women's tennis tournament held in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, United States. The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour event was an International series tournament played on outdoor green clay courts from 1980 to 2010.-History:...
semifinals, losing to Ruxandra Dragomir
Ruxandra Dragomir
Ruxandra Dragomir Ilie is a retired female tennis player from Romania, who won four singles and five doubles titles during her career. The right-hander reached her highest individual ranking on the WTA Tour on August 25, 1997, when she became the number 15 of the world...
. At The French Open, Kournikova reached the fourth round before losing to eventual champion Steffi Graf. Once the grass-court season commenced in England, Kournikova lost to Nathalie Tauziat
Nathalie Tauziat
Nathalie Tauziat is a former professional tennis player from France. She was the runner-up in women's singles at the 1998 Wimbledon Championships. Her career-high singles ranking was third in 2000....
in the semifinals in Eastbourne. At Wimbledon, Kournikova lost to Venus Williams
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...
in the fourth round. She also reached the final in mixed doubles, partnering with Jonas Björkman
Jonas Björkman
Jonas Lars Björkman is a former World Number 4 Swedish professional tennis player. He is also a former World No. 1 in doubles. Björkman retired from professional tennis after competing at the 2008 Tennis Masters Cup Doubles championships....
, but they lost to Leander Paes
Leander Paes
Leander Adrian Paes, pronounced pās, is an Indian professional tennis player who currently features in the doubles events in the ATP tour and the Davis Cup tournament...
and Lisa Raymond
Lisa Raymond
Lisa Raymond is an American professional tennis player who has achieved notable success in doubles tennis. On June 12, 2000, she reached the world number one ranking in doubles...
. Kournikova again qualified for year-end WTA Tour Championships, but lost to Mary Pierce in the first round, and ended the season as World No. 12.
While Kournikova had a successful singles season, she was even more successful in doubles. After their victory at the Australian Open, she and Martina Hingis won tournaments in Indian Wells, Rome, Eastbourne and the WTA Tour Championshiops, and reached the final of The French Open where they lost to Serena
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...
and Venus Williams. Partnering with Elena Likhovtseva, Kournikova also reached the final in Stanford. On 22 November 1999 she reached the World No. 1 ranking in doubles, and ended the season at this ranking. Anna Kournikova and Martina Hingis were presented with the WTA Award for Doubles Team of the Year
WTA Awards
This is a list with all the WTA Awards given by the Women's Tennis Association to players who have done or achieved something remarkable during the season or their career.-Player of the Year:-Doubles Team of the Year:-Most Improved Player:...
.
Kournikova opened her 2000 season
2000 WTA Tour
The 2000 Sanex WTA Tour was the 28th season since the founding of the Women's Tennis Association. It commenced on January 3, 2000, and concluded on November 13, 2000, after 58 events. For this season, a new event was added: the State Farm Classic in Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S...
winning the Gold Coast Open doubles tournament partnering with Julie Halard. She then reached the singles semifinals at the Medibank International Sydney, losing to Lindsay Davenport. At the 2000 Australian Open
2000 Australian Open
The 2000 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts from 17 through to 30 January.-Singles players:Men's SinglesWomen's Singles-Former champions:...
, she reached the fourth round in singles and the semifinals in doubles. That season, Kournikova reached eight semifinals (Sydney, Scottsdale
State Farm Women's Tennis Classic
The State Farm Women's Tennis Classic was a tennis tournament held in Scottsdale, Arizona, United States from 2000 to 2003. It was played on outdoor hardcourts and was a Tier II tournament throughout its run. Despite its short time as a WTA tournament, it boasts an impressive list of winners...
, Stanford, San Diego, Luxembourg
Fortis Championships Luxembourg
The BGL Luxembourg Open is a tennis tournament held in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Held since 1991, the tournament was an exhibition event until 1995. After that, it became a WTA Tier III tournament, which it remained until 2004. In 2005, it was promoted to Tier II, marking the first such...
, Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
and 2000 WTA Tour Championships
2000 WTA Tour Championships
The 2000 WTA Tour Championships were held in New York, United States between November 13 and November 19.-Singles: Martina Hingis def. Monica Seles, 6–7, 6–4, 6–4-Doubles:...
), seven quarterfinals (Gold Coast, Tokyo, Amelia Island, Hamburg, Eastbourne, Zürich and Philadelphia) and one final. On 20 November 2000 she broke into top 10 for the first time, reaching No. 8. She was also ranked #4 in doubles at the end of the season. Kournikova was once again, more successful in doubles. She reached the final of the 2000 US Open in mixed doubles, partnering with Max Mirnyi
Max Mirnyi
Max Mirnyi is a professional tennis player from Belarus.Today Mirnyi is a doubles specialist, but he also enjoyed a good singles career, finishing in the top 50 in the world for seven straight years, as well as representing Belarus in Davis Cup competition since April 1994, where he holds a...
, but they lost to Jared Palmer
Jared Palmer
Jared Eiseley Palmer is a professional tennis player who won 28 professional doubles titles and one singles title in his career on the ATP Tour. He also won four double titles on the challenger's circuit...
and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario. She also won six doubles titles — Gold Coast (with Julie Halard), Hamburg (with Natasha Zvereva), Filderstadt, Zürich, Philadelphia and the 2000 WTA Tour Championships (with Martina Hingis).
2001–2003: Injuries and final years
Her 2001 season was dominated by injury, including a left foot stress fracture which forced her withdrawal from twelve tournaments, including the French Open2001 French Open
The 2001 French Open was the second Grand Slam event of 2001 and the 100th edition of the French Open. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from late May through early June, 2001.-Men's Singles:...
and Wimbledon
2001 Wimbledon Championships
The 2001 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on outdoor grass courts in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom the event was part of the 2001 ATP Tour and 2001 WTA Tour. The tournament was held from June 25 to July 9, 2001...
. She underwent surgery in April. She reached her second career grand slam
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
quarterfinals, at the Australian Open
2001 Australian Open
The 2001 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts from 15 to 28 January.-Men's Singles: Andre Agassi def. Arnaud Clément, 6–4, 6–2, 6–2...
. Kournikova then withdrew from several events due to continuing problems with her left foot and did not return until Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
. With Barbara Schett
Barbara Schett
Barbara Schett Eagle is a former Austrian tennis player, who reached her highest singles ranking, World No. 7, on 13 September 1999. She ended her career at the 2005 Australian Open. Between 1993 to 2004 she played in 48 games for the Austria Fed Cup team, winning 30...
, she won the doubles title in Sydney. She then lost in the finals in Tokyo, partnering with Iroda Tulyaganova
Iroda Tulyaganova
Iroda Tulyaganova is a professional tennis player who comes from Uzbekistan.She has been ranked as high as No.16 on the WTA Tour and has won three WTA singles titles in her career...
, and at San Diego, partnering with Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...
. Hingis and Kournikova also won the Kremlin Cup
Kremlin Cup
The Kremlin Cup is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It is currently part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the ATP Tour and is a Premier Tournament on the WTA Tour...
. At the end of the 2001 season, she was ranked #74 in singles and #26 in doubles.
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, Tokyo, Acapulco
Acapulco
Acapulco is a city, municipality and major sea port in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, southwest from Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semi-circular bay and has been a port since the early colonial period of Mexico’s history...
and San Diego, and the finals of China Open
China Open (tennis)
The China Open is an annual professional tennis tournament held in Beijing, China. The men's singles and doubles events were first held in 1993, the year in which the Qatar Open and Dubai Tennis Championships were also introduced to the men's tour, as the ATP opened a series of new tournaments in...
, losing to Anna Smashnova
Anna Smashnova
Anna Smashnova is a former professional tennis player from Israel. She retired from professional tennis after Wimbledon 2007.Smashnova, who has been noted as having a great last name for a tennis player, reached her career-high singles ranking of World # 15 in 2003. She was in 13 finals, and won...
. This was Kournikova's last singles finals. With Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...
, Anna Kournikova lost in the finals of Sydney, but they won their second grand slam
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
title together, the Australian Open
2002 Australian Open
List of the 2002 Australian Open champions:-Men's Singles: Thomas Johansson def. Marat Safin, 3–6, 6–4, 6–4, 7–6...
in women's doubles. They also lost in the quarterfinals of the US Open. With Chanda Rubin
Chanda Rubin
Chanda Rubin is an American tennis player. Winning seven WTA Tour singles titles, she reached her highest ranking World No. 6 on April 8, 1996, after reaching semifinals at the 1996 Australian Open. Rubin is also former World No...
, Anna Kournikova played the semifinals of Wimbledon
2002 Wimbledon Championships
List of the 2002 Wimbledon Champions:-Men's singles: Lleyton Hewitt def. David Nalbandian, 6–1, 6–3, 6–2*It was Hewitt's 4th title of the year, and his 16th overall. It was his 2nd career Grand Slam title, and his 1st Wimbledon title.-Women's singles: Serena Williams def...
, but they lost to Serena
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...
and Venus Williams
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...
. Partnering Janet Lee
Janet Lee
Janet Lee is a Taiwanese-American retired professional tennis player. She won three doubles titles during her career on the WTA Tour. She competed in all four Grand Slam tournaments in both singles and doubles...
, she won the Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
title. At the end of 2002 season, she was ranked #35 in singles and #11 in doubles.
In 2003, Anna Kournikova collected her first grand slam
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
match victory in two years at the Australian Open
2003 Australian Open
The 2003 Australian Open was a tennis tournament held in 2003. It was the first Grand Slam event of the 2003 ATP Tour and the 2003 WTA Tour. It was the 91st edition of the event.-Men's Singles: Andre Agassi def...
. She defeated Henrieta Nagyová
Henrieta Nagyová
Henrieta Nagyová is a Slovak female professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1994 and has been ranked as high as the 21st in the world . In recent years her ranking has fallen due to constant injury. In late 2005, she brought her ranking up to a year ending 145, after it fell below 200...
in the 1st round, and then lost to Justine Henin-Hardenne
Justine Henin-Hardenne
Justine Henin , formerly known as Justine Henin-Hardenne , is a retired professional Belgian tennis player and former World No. 1....
in the 2nd round. She withdrew from Tokyo due to a sprained back suffered at the Australian Open and did not return to Tour until Miami. Kournikova retired in the 1st round of the Family Circle Cup
Family Circle Cup
The Family Circle Cup is a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. The tournament is currently played on the green clay courts at the Daniel Island Tennis Center in Charleston, South Carolina, USA...
in Charleston, South Carolina, due to a left adductor strain. She reached the semifinals at the ITF
International Tennis Federation
The International Tennis Federation is the governing body of world tennis, made up of 205 national tennis associations.It was established as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by 12 national associations meeting at a conference in Paris, France on 1 March 1913...
tournament in Sea Island
Sea Island, Georgia
Sea Island is an affluent resort island located in the barrier islands just off the Atlantic coast of southern Georgia in the United States. The resort complex is located in an unincorporated Glynn County....
, before withdrawing from a match versus Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ,. is a Russian professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. A US resident since 1994, Sharapova has won 24 WTA singles titles, including three Grand Slam singles titles at the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open...
due to the adductor injury. She lost in the 1st round of the ITF tournament in Charlottesville. She did not compete for the rest of the season due to a continuing back injury At the end of the 2003 season and her professional career, she was ranked #305 in singles and #176 in doubles.
Kournikova's two Grand Slam doubles titles came in 1999 and 2002, both at the Australian Open
Australian Open
The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court...
in the Women's Doubles event with partner Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...
. Kournikova proved a successful doubles player on the professional circuit, winning 16 tournament doubles titles, including two Australian Opens and being a finalist in mixed doubles at the US Open and at Wimbledon, and reaching the No.1 ranking in doubles in the Women's Tennis Association
Women's Tennis Association
The Women's Tennis Association , founded in 1973 by Billie Jean King, is the principal organizing body of Women's Professional Tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women. Its counterpart organization in the men's professional game is the Association of...
tour rankings. Her pro career doubles record was 200–71. However, her singles career plateaued after 1999. For the most part, she managed to retain her ranking between 10 and 15 (her career high singles ranking was No.8), but her expected finals breakthrough failed to occur; she only reached four finals out of 130 singles tournaments, never in a Grand Slam event, and never won one.
Her singles record is 209–129. Her final playing years were marred by a string of injuries, especially back injuries, which caused her ranking to erode gradually. As a personality Kournikova was among the most common search strings for both articles and images in her prime.
2004–present: Exhibitions and World Team Tennis
Kournikova has not played on the WTA Tour since 2003, but still plays exhibition matches for charitable causes. In late 2004, she participated in three events organized by Elton JohnElton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
and by fellow tennis players Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...
and Andy Roddick
Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen "Andy" Roddick is an American professional tennis player and a former World No. 1. He is currently the second highest-ranked American player, behind Mardy Fish....
. In January 2005, she played in a doubles charity event for the Indian Ocean tsunami with John McEnroe
John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe, Jr. is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. During his career, he won seven Grand Slam singles titles , nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title...
, Andy Roddick
Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen "Andy" Roddick is an American professional tennis player and a former World No. 1. He is currently the second highest-ranked American player, behind Mardy Fish....
, and Chris Evert
Chris Evert
Christine Marie "Chris" Evert is a former world number 1 professional tennis player from the United States. She won 18 Grand Slam singles championships, including a record seven championships at the French Open and a record six championships at the U.S. Open. She was the year-ending World No...
. In November 2005, she teamed up with Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...
, playing against Lisa Raymond
Lisa Raymond
Lisa Raymond is an American professional tennis player who has achieved notable success in doubles tennis. On June 12, 2000, she reached the world number one ranking in doubles...
and Samantha Stosur
Samantha Stosur
Samantha "Sam" Jane Stosur is an Australian professional tennis player. She won the 2011 US Open singles title and was a finalist at the 2010 French Open. Stosur is ranked World No. 6 and her career high in singles is World No. 4, achieved on 21 February 2011. She is a former world No...
in the WTT finals for charity. Kournikova is also a member of the St. Louis Aces in the World Team Tennis
World Team Tennis
World TeamTennis is a coed professional tennis league played with a unique team format in the United States. Each match consists of five sets. Each set features a different configuration . Coaches, before the match, decide the order in which the sets will be played...
(WTT), playing doubles only.
In September 2008, Kournikova showed up for the 2008 Nautica Malibu Triathlon held at Zuma Beach
Zuma Beach
Zuma Beach is a County beach located at 30000 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California. One of the largest and most popular beaches in the Los Angeles County, Zuma is known for its long, wide sands and excellent surf...
in Malibu, California. The Race raised funds for children's Hospital Los Angeles. She won that race for women's K-Swiss
K-Swiss
K-Swiss, Inc. is an American footwear company based in Westlake Village, California. The company designs, develops, and markets a range of athletic shoes under the K-Swiss brand.- History :...
team. On 27 September 2008, Kournikova played exhibition mixed doubles matches in Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
, partnering with Tim Wilkison
Tim Wilkison
Tim Wilkison is a former professional male tennis player from the United States.Wilkison was the #1 ranked junior in the United States and went on to play professional tennis for over 25 years. He won 6 singles titles and 9 doubles championships...
and Karel Nováček
Karel Novácek
Karel Nováček is a retired Czech former top ten tennis player. Born in Prostějov, Czechoslovakia . Nováček now lives in Boca Raton, Florida, United States....
. Kournikova and Wilkison defeated Jimmy Arias
Jimmy Arias
James Arias is a former tennis touring professional player from the United States, a bronze medallist.From Grand Island, near Buffalo, New York, Arias's peak year was 1983, when as a 19 year-old he finished the year ranked World No. 6, having reached the U.S...
and Chanda Rubin
Chanda Rubin
Chanda Rubin is an American tennis player. Winning seven WTA Tour singles titles, she reached her highest ranking World No. 6 on April 8, 1996, after reaching semifinals at the 1996 Australian Open. Rubin is also former World No...
, and then Kournikova and Novacek defeated Rubin and Wilkison.
On October 12, 2008, Anna Kournikova played one exhibition match for the annual charity event, hosted by Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society...
and Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
, and raised more than $400,000 for the Elton John AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
Foundation and Atlanta AIDS Partnership Fund. She played doubles with Andy Roddick
Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen "Andy" Roddick is an American professional tennis player and a former World No. 1. He is currently the second highest-ranked American player, behind Mardy Fish....
(they were coached by Elton John) versus Martina Navratilova and Jesse Levine
Jesse Levine
Jesse Levine is a Canadian-born American professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles rank of No. 94 on November 3, 2008....
(coached by Billie Jean King); Kournikova and Roddick won.
Kournikova competed alongside John McEnroe
John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe, Jr. is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. During his career, he won seven Grand Slam singles titles , nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title...
, Tracy Austin
Tracy Austin
Tracy Ann Austin Holt is a former World No. 1 female professional tennis player from the United States who won the women's singles title at the US Open in 1979 and 1981 and the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon in 1980, before a series of injuries cut her career short.-To 1980:Austin defeated...
and Jim Courier
Jim Courier
James Spencer "Jim" Courier, Jr. is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. During his career, he won four Grand Slam singles titles, two at the French Open and two at the Australian Open...
at the "Legendary Night", which was held on May 2, 2009, at the Turning Stone Event Center, Verona, New York. The exhibition included a mixed doubles match of McEnroe and Austin against Courier and Kournikova.
In 2008, she was named a spokesperson for K-Swiss
K-Swiss
K-Swiss, Inc. is an American footwear company based in Westlake Village, California. The company designs, develops, and markets a range of athletic shoes under the K-Swiss brand.- History :...
. In 2005, Kournikova stated that if she were 100% fit, she would like to come back and compete again.
In June 2010, Kournikova reunited with her doubles partner Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...
to participate in competitive tennis for the first time in seven years in the Invitational Ladies Doubles event at Wimbledon. On 29 June 2010 they defeated the British pair Samantha Smith
Samantha Smith (tennis)
Samantha Smith was the number 1 ranked British ladies tennis player from 1996–1999, and now commentates on the game, predominantly for the BBC, Sky Sports and Eurosport, as well as Channel Seven in Australia during the Australian Open.-Early life:Smith was born in Essex, and educated at Bancroft's...
and Anne Hobbs
Anne Hobbs
Anne Hobbs is a British former professional tennis player.-Tennis career:Hobbs represented Great Britain in the Wightman Cup and Federation Cup from 1978 to 1989...
.
Playing style
As a player, Kournikova was noted for her footspeed and aggressive baseline play, and excellent angles and dropshots; however, her relatively flat, high-risk groundstrokes tended to produce frequent errors, and her serve was sometimes unreliable in singles.Kournikova plays right-handed with a two-handed backhand
Backhand
The backhand is a tennis shot in which one swings the racquet around one's body in the direction where one wants the ball to go, usually performed from the baseline or as an approach shot. The term is also used in other racquet sports, and other areas where a similar motion is employed...
. She is a great player at the net. She can hit forceful groundstrokes and also drop shot
Drop shot
A drop shot in tennis is slicing, putting a backspin on the ball just over the net. A good drop shot travels such that the opponent is unable to run fast enough to retrieve it....
s.
Her playing style fits the profile for a doubles player, and is complemented by her height. She has been compared to such doubles specialists as Pam Shriver
Pam Shriver
Pamela Howard Shriver Lazenby , is a former professional tennis player and is currently a sports broadcaster from the United States for ESPN2. During the 1980s and 1990s, she won 133 top-level titles, including 21 women's doubles titles and one mixed doubles title at Grand Slam tournaments...
and Peter Fleming
Peter Fleming (tennis player)
Peter Blair Fleming is a former professional tennis player from the United States.Fleming attended Chatham High School, where he won the New Jersey high school individual championship in 1972, during his junior year.Fleming was a highly successful professional tennis player...
.
Personal life
Kournikova was in a relationship with fellow Russian, Pavel BurePavel Bure
Pavel Vladimirovich Bure is a retired Russian professional ice hockey right winger. Nicknamed "The Russian Rocket" for his speed, Bure played for 12 seasons in the National Hockey League with the Vancouver Canucks, Florida Panthers and New York Rangers...
, an NHL
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
player. The two met in 1999 when Kournikova was still linked to Bure's former Russian teammate Sergei Fedorov
Sergei Fedorov
Sergei Viktorovich Fedorov is a Russian professional ice hockey forward and occasional defenceman...
. Bure and Kournikova were reported to have been engaged in 2000 after a reporter took a photo of them together in a Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
restaurant where Bure supposedly asked Kournikova to marry him. As the story made headlines in Russia, where they were both heavily followed in the media as celebrities, Bure and Kournikova both denied any engagement. Kournikova, 10 years younger than Bure, was 18 years old at the time. The following year, Kournikova and Fedorov were married in Moscow. They were soon divorced, however. Fedorov claimed he and tennis star Anna Kournikova were married in 2001, but later divorced in 2003. Kournikova's representatives deny any marriage to Fedorov; however, Sergei's agent Pat Brisson claims that although he does not know when they got married, he knew "he was married".
Kournikova started dating pop star
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
Enrique Iglesias
Enrique Iglesias
Enrique Iglesias is a Spanish pop music singer, a son of singer Julio Iglesias.Enrique started his musical career on Mexican label Fonovisa...
in late 2001 (she appeared in his video, "Escape"), and rumors that the couple had secretly married circulated in 2003 and again in 2005. Kournikova herself has consistently refused to directly confirm or deny the status of her personal relationships. But in May 2007, Enrique Iglesias
Enrique Iglesias
Enrique Iglesias is a Spanish pop music singer, a son of singer Julio Iglesias.Enrique started his musical career on Mexican label Fonovisa...
was (mistakenly, as he would clarify later) quoted in the New York Sun
New York Sun
The New York Sun was a weekday daily newspaper published in New York City from 2002 to 2008. When it debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of an otherwise unrelated earlier New York paper, The Sun , it became the first general-interest broadsheet newspaper to be started...
that he had no intention of marrying Kournikova and settling down because they had split up. The singer would later deny these rumors of "divorce" or simply separation. In June 2008, Iglesias told the Daily Star that he had married Kournikova the previous year and that they are currently separated. In an interview with Graham Norton
Graham Norton
Graham William Walker, known by his stage name Graham Norton , is an Irish actor, comedian, television presenter and columnist...
in 2010, Kournikova confirmed that she and Iglesias have been together for over eight years but have no plans to marry in the near future. Kournikova and Iglesias have been a long term relationship for 10 years now.
Kournikova has a younger brother, Allan. He became an American citizen in late 2009.
Kournikova resides in Miami Beach, Florida
Miami Beach, Florida
Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter which separates the Beach from Miami city proper...
. She put her seven-bedroom, waterfront property in Bayshore
Bayshore (Miami Beach)
Bayshore is a neighborhood of Miami Beach in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It is located in the center portion of the main island that the city occupies. The area is roughly bordered by 23rd Street and Dade Boulevard and 47th Street to the north, containing the Sunset...
on the market in May 2011.
Media publicity
In 2000, Kournikova became the new face for Berlei
Berlei
Berlei is a brand of women's lingerie and in particular bras and girdles.-History:The brand originated in Australia in 1917. Berlei undergarments are now sold in Australia by Pacific Brands and in the United Kingdom by Courtaulds Textiles....
's shock absorber sports bras, and appeared in the "only the ball should bounce" billboard campaign. Photographs of her scantily-clad form have appeared in various men's magazines, including one in the much-publicized 2004 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue
The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is published annually by Sports Illustrated. It features fashion models wearing swimwear in exotic locales. According to some, the magazine is the arbiter of supermodel succession. In addition, the issue is a media nexus that in 2005 carried in advertising....
, where she posed in bikinis and swimsuits, and in other men's publications such as FHM
FHM
FHM, originally published as For Him Magazine, is an international monthly men's lifestyle magazine.- History :The magazine began publication in 1985 in the United Kingdom under the name For Him and changed its title to FHM in 1994 when Emap Consumer Media bought the magazine, although the full For...
and Maxim
Maxim (magazine)
Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....
. Kournikova was named one of People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
's 50 Most Beautiful People in 1998 and was voted "hottest female athlete" on ESPN.com
ESPN.com
ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN and a division of ESPN Inc. Since launching in 1995 as ESPNet.SportsZone.com, the website has developed numerous sections including: Page 2, SportsNation, ESPN 3.com, ESPN Motion, My ESPN, ESPN Sports Travel, ESPN Video Games, ESPN Insider, ESPN.com's...
. In 2002 she also placed first in FHM
FHM
FHM, originally published as For Him Magazine, is an international monthly men's lifestyle magazine.- History :The magazine began publication in 1985 in the United Kingdom under the name For Him and changed its title to FHM in 1994 when Emap Consumer Media bought the magazine, although the full For...
's 100 Sexiest Women in the World in US and UK editions. By contrast, ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
—citing the degree of hype as compared to actual accomplishments as a singles player—ranked Kournikova 18th in its "25 Biggest Sports Flops of the Past 25 Years". Kournikova was also ranked #1 in the ESPN Classic series "Who's number 1?" when the series featured sport's most overrated athletes.
She continued to be the most searched athlete on the Internet through 2008 even though she had retired from the professional tennis circuit years earlier. After slipping from first to sixth among athletes in 2009, she moved back up to third place among athletes in terms of search popularity in 2010.
In October 2010, Kournikova headed to NBC's The Biggest Loser
The Biggest Loser
The Biggest Loser is an American reality game show that debuted on NBC October 19, 2004. The show features obese people competing to win a cash prize by losing the highest percentage of weight relative to their initial weight....
where she led the contestants in a tennis-workout challenge. In May 2011, it was announced that Kournikova would join The Biggest Loser
The Biggest Loser
The Biggest Loser is an American reality game show that debuted on NBC October 19, 2004. The show features obese people competing to win a cash prize by losing the highest percentage of weight relative to their initial weight....
as a regular celebrity trainer in season 12. She will not be returning for season 13.
In November 2010, she became an American citizen.
Influences on popular culture
A variation of a White RussianWhite Russian (cocktail)
A White Russian is a sweet cocktail made with vodka, coffee liqueurs , and cream served with ice in an Old Fashioned glass...
made with skim milk is known as an Anna Kournikova. In the lingo of the poker variation Texas Hold 'em
Texas hold 'em
Texas Hold 'em is a variation of the standard card game of poker. The game consists of two cards being dealt face down to each player and then five community cards being placed face-up by the dealer—a series of three then two additional single cards , with...
, the hole cards Ace
Ace
An ace is a playing card. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the case of the Ace of Spades...
–King
King (playing card)
The king is a playing card with a picture of a king on it. The usual rank of a king is as if it were a 13; that is, above the queen. In some games, the king is the highest-ranked card; in others, the ace is higher...
(unsuited) are sometimes referred to as an "Anna Kournikova", a term introduced by the poker commentator Vince van Patton during a WPT tournament because it "looks great but never wins". A computer virus named the Anna Kournikova
Anna Kournikova (computer virus)
The Anna Kournikova computer virus was a computer virus authored by Dutch programmer Jan de Wit on February 11, 2001. It was designed to trick email users into opening a mail message purportedly containing a picture of tennis player Anna Kournikova, while actually hiding a malicious program...
virus arose on February 12, 2001.
Career statistics and awards
- 1996: WTA Newcomer of the YearWTA AwardsThis is a list with all the WTA Awards given by the Women's Tennis Association to players who have done or achieved something remarkable during the season or their career.-Player of the Year:-Doubles Team of the Year:-Most Improved Player:...
- 1999: WTA Doubles Team of the YearWTA AwardsThis is a list with all the WTA Awards given by the Women's Tennis Association to players who have done or achieved something remarkable during the season or their career.-Player of the Year:-Doubles Team of the Year:-Most Improved Player:...
(with Martina HingisMartina HingisMartina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...
)
Books
- Anna Kournikova by Susan Holden (2001) (ISBN 978-1-84222-416-8 / ISBN 978-1-84222-416-8)
- Anna Kournikova (Women Who Win) by Connie Berman (2001) (ISBN 978-0-7910-6529-7 / ISBN 978-0-7910-6529-7)