Comprehensive information and links about Anna Kournikova

Anna Kournikova born June 7, 1981) was a professional tennis player. She was one of the best known tennis players, even among those who do not follow the game. Anna was born in Moscow, Russia to Alla and Sergei Kournikov; her family later emigrated to the United States, and she currently resides in Miami, Florida. Anna's major-league tennis career has been curtailed for the past several years by serious back spinal problems, and this might be the end of it. Anna has had some success at the singles game, but her specialty has been doubles, where she has become the world's #1 doubles player at times, and she has won Grand Slam titles in Australia in 1999 and 2002, with Martina Hingis as her partner. With Anna's being taller than the average tennis player, and being strong at the net and at the serve, she fits well into doubles. [Other comparable players have been Pam Shriver and Peter Fleming, with numerous doubles championships to their credit, playing with shorter partners, such as Martina Navratalova and John McEnroe. With their skill and good looks, Anna and Martina jestingly called themselves "The Spice Girls of Tennis".

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Tennis career

Kournikova dazzled the world at age 13 and 14 in international junior tennis, winning several tournaments including the 1995 Italian Open. Kournikova was 14 years old when she ended 1995 as Junior European Champion Under 18 and ITF Junior World Champion Under 18.

Kournikova debuted in professional tennis at age 14 in the Fed Cup for Russia, the youngest player ever to participate and win. At age 15, she reached the fourth round of the 1996 U.S. Open, only to be stopped by then-top ranked player Steffi Graf.

Kournikova was a member of the Russian delegation to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1997, as a 16-year old, she reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon. 1998 was her breakthrough year, when she broke into the WTA's top 20 rankings for the first time and scored impressive victories over Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, and Steffi Graf. 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, with whom she played frequently starting in 1999.

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 U.S. Open and at Wimbledon, and reaching #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 #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. One contributing factor might have been her habit of entering high-profile events with strong fields of elite players. As a player, Kournikova was noted for her excellent footspeed and aggressive baseline play; however, her flat, high-risk groundstrokes tended to produce high numbers of errors and her serve was sometimes unreliable in singles. [Anyone who wins big at doubles MUST serve well.] She had a record of 209-129 as a singles player.

Her final playing years were marred by a string of injuries, especially back injuries, which saw her ranking gradually erode. 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 John and by fellow tennis stars and good friends Serena Williams and Andy Roddick. In January 2005, she played in a doubles charity event for the Indian Ocean tsunami with John McEnroe, Roddick, and Chris Evert.

Anna was also a member of the Newport Beachbreakers in the World Team Tennis (WTT) competition in July and November 2005, playing doubles only. In November 2005 she teamed up with Martina Hingis playing against Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur in the WTT finals for charity. In a feature for magazine's July 2005 issue, Kournikova stated that if she were 100% fit, she would like to come back and compete again.

Much of Anna's fame -- more, many have argued, than she ever gained in her tennis career -- has come from the publicity surrounding her personal life as well as numerous modeling shoots. During her debut at the 1996 U.S. Open 1996 at the age of 15, Kournikova's physical beauty was noticed by the world and soon pictures of her appeared in numerous magazines all over the planet. Anna has fine facial features and an attrative , topped off by long blonde hair, sometimes braided into a meter-long queue (pony tail).

Anna has never been married, yet, but she has been reported to have been engaged to two different NHL ice hockey players (see below), and the probable worst rumor was that she was engaged to both of them at the same time. One can conclude that she is attracted to ice hockey plavers, as suits a young lady from cold, cold Russia.

A number of her relationships with other celebrities, including involvement with pop star Enrique Iglesias (whose video, , she appeared in) and hockey star Sergei Fedorov, have featured prominently in the tabloid press. Photographs of her attractively-clad form have appeared in various men's magazines, including more than one much-publicized Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues (2004-05), where she posed attractively in bikinis and swimsuits, and in other popular men's publications such as . So far, she has not posed topless or nude for any publications.

Kournikova was named one of s 50 Most Beautiful People in 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2003. She has also been voted "hottest female athlete" and "hottest couple" (with Iglesias) on ESPN.com and 2003's "sexiest woman in the world" by worldwide FHM readers for. By contrast, ESPN -- citing the degree of hype as compared to actual accomplishments as a singles player -- ranked Anna 18sup in its "25 Biggest Sports Flops of the Past 25 Years".

Kournikova had a small role (as a motel manager) in the 2000 film