Read Annas biography, how she got her first racket etc.! If anything is WRONG please contact me! Thanx
Anna Kournikova was born June 7, 1981 in
Moscow, Russia. She was five when she started
playing tennis in a club in Moscow. Unlike other
ambitious parents, Anna wasn't forced to
anything, Alla and Sergei (a greco-roman
wrestler) didn't know anything about tennis and
they just wanted her to play for health reasons.
But her talent for tennis was discovered early
in a children sports program. From this moment
it was clear that Anna has the skills to reach
the top.Their financial situation in russia in the early 80's forced the Kournikova's to sell their televsion to buy Anna
a tennis racket. Hardly to
imagine when you look on Anna's current
earnings with sponsors and price money.Her first experiences she made in the Tennis Club Soklniki Park and she was practising afterwards in the Spartak Club. She was coached by the husband of Olga Morozova (Morozova was a professional
russian tennis-player).Anna turned 9 and moved to Nick Bolletieri's Tennis Academy, in Bradenton, February 1992, after IMG, a management agency, saw her playing in a children's practising at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. Reasons why she moved there with her mother were better training facilities. As Anna said, in Moscow it was difficult for work-outs and training, she also had to shuttle around from tennis-courts, gyms and school.
Though she is living in the States since many years, she doesn't deny her origin. But people in Russia are not so fond of her, a radio interview in Russia for example forced this opinion where Anna said she feels more American now. Rumours about an american citizenship couldn't be confirmed yet. Despite that Anna
likes Russian culture and the different history.Anna was very sucessful on the junior tour. She reached the Orange Bowl finals, one of the most important junior tournaments, when she was 13. She lost the final, but with a win she could have been the youngest player ever winning this tournament. But she was winning this tournament one year later (1995) and became number one in junior ranking. She won the Eddie Herr Tournament in 1994 as well as the Italian Junior Championships in 1995.
A first rivalry with Martina Hingis started in 1994 at the US Open Junior Championships. She had to face Martina Hingis and lost to her with 6-0, 6-0.
According to her own words, she never had any other professional ambitions than playing tennis. All the hype about her looks, her fans all over the world and all the glamour are not distracting her from what her primary dedication is: Tennis.
Career highlights in Singles: Anna reached 4 WTA Finals in Key Biscayne (1998), Hilton Head (1999), Moscow (2000) and Shanghai (2002)! Her highest Singles Ranking was 8th (end of 2000/a few times in 2001).
C
areer Highlights in Doubles: Anna won 16 Doubles Titles, the first
one with
Monica Seles at the Princess Cup in Tokyo, Japan (September 27, 1998). Most notably Anna won the Australian
Open together with Martina Hingis
in 1999 and 2002. Furthermore she also won the season-ending WTA
Tour
Championships twice in Doubles with Martina Hingis (1999, 2000) and she was
ranked No. 1 Doubles Player of the World
at the end of 1999/beginning of 2000!
A
nna has a close relationship with her mother Alla,
who is her friend and personal advisor. From
August 1999 till July 2000 Eric
Van Harpen, a native Dutch, was her coach.
He has also coached Conchita Martinez who won
the 1994 Wimbledon title. Her former coach was
Pavel Slocil but he couldn't work together with
Anna's mother he said afterwards after both
split in April 1999! From May 2002 till July
2003 Harold Solomon was Anna's last coach. Since
then, Anna
hasn't got a coach anymore.
Most
of the year Anna is traveling. She
spends her spare time in Miami, South
Beach, Florida were she first had an apartment
and, around 200/2001, she bought a mansion on
Sunset Island.
Throughout the years, Anna suffered many many injuries.
It all started back in the end of 1997 when Anna had the 1st stress
fracture in 
her left foot. In June 1998, Anna injured her right
thumb (torn ligament) in her QF-match vs Steffi Graf and she missed
Wimbledon. In August 1999, another stress fracture in her right foot
(missed US Open) occured. Just a few months later (May 10, 2000),
she damaged ligaments in her left ankle and she missed the Italian
Open in Rome - this injury affected her for many months and Grand
Slams. One of the biggest injuries was another stress fracture in
her left foot which Anna suffered in February 2001 - this one even
required surgery (in Heidelberg, Germany). A first comeback failed
(San Diego, July 2001), the second attempt was successful (Leipzig,
September 2001). More injuries followed (strained right thigh (Rome,
Strasbourg 2002), partial tear of anterior ligament in left ankle (Moscow
2002) and finally, a chronic back injury forced her to withdraw from
Birmingham in June 2003 and, well, she never came back to the WTA
Tour since then...
Offcourt: In her spare time she likes watching TV. She had a famous appearance in
Jay Leno's
"Tonight Show" back in August 1997 (straight
after her huge success in her Wimbledon
debut where she reached the semifinal). She also
likes dancing and listening to music and had her
first small role in a big movie beside Jim
Carrey in "Me, myself & Irene". At
the end of 2001 she had a main role in Enrique Iglesias' "Escape"-video.
Anna was also voted "Se
xiest Woman in the World 2002"
by FHM readers. In
the 2nd half of 2003, she started to do more showbusiness
events, like co-hosting the World Music Awards on October 12 in
Monte Carlo Sporting Club, presenting awards and holding laudatory
speeches at numerous Award Shows (World Music
Awards 2005, GQ "Men of the Year 2003"-Awards,
Teen Choice Awards 2005 etc.). Other famous
appearances since 2003: Anna hosted a Gillette
Casting Event (US-nationwide search for the
"Most Completely Irresistible Face") in New York
(May 5, 2004), she made one of her most
sexiest photoshootings for the "Sports Illustrated 
Swimsuit Issue 2004" (Puerto
Rico, October 2003)
and also presented her own fragrance products (LR-International
and Airelle) in Paris (May 29, 2004). Anna is
also interested in movies - she attended the "Once
upon a Time in Mexico"-premiere in New York
(Enrique Iglesias is a character in this movie)
in September 2003. In April 2005, Anna was twice
the "Celebrity Guest Co-host" of
ABC's
TV-show "The View". She also likes fashion: Anna
attended numerous fashion shows like Adidas' Y-3 shows (Spring 2006-show (September 2005 in New
York), Autumn/Winter 2006-show (New York fashion
week in February 2006)).
A horrible offcourt-happening: William Lepeska
nearly succeeded in swimming to Anna's Miami
home and he wanted to meet Anna personally
because he's in love with Anna...! Later in
Febru
ary, Anna applied for a restraining order
at a civil hearing in Miami and even had to
answer some questions from Lepeska! Anna won a
permanent restraining order and now, Lepeska is
ordered to stay 1000 feet away from her.
Charities / Exhibitions / Humanitarian
Work:
Since the beginning of her Pro Career,
Anna has participated in numerous charity and
exhibition events. Examples: From 1997 till 2000
she participated in the A&P Classic in Mahwah
(USA), she also played exhibitions in South
Africa (November 5-11, 2001), Pattaya
(November 2003), twice in Spain (Zaragoza in
December 2002, Leon in December 2003) and back in 1998 (November 30) she played an exhibition vs Steffi Graf in
Cologne (Germany).
Furthermore, Anna also plays Tennis for the good cause. A few examples: Since 2003 she is a regular player at the World TeamTennis Pro League (2003, 2004 for Kansas City Explorers | 2005, 2006 for Sacramento Capitals) and since 2004 she's playing at the World TeamTennis Smash Hits, a big event which helps raising money for Elton John's AIDS foundation. She also played many times at Arthur Ashe Kids Day, the US Open-leadup-event. In 2005, Anna participated in the "Serving for Tsunami Relief"-event (January 31) which helped raising money for the Tsunami victims.
Anna's humanitarian efforts are increasing
since she stopped playing on the WTA Tour. She
committed herself to volunteer work for the Boys
& Girls Club of America in 2003 - Anna called
Kurt Aschermann (senior vice president of
marketing for the Boys & Girls Club of America)
and said that she wanted to donate time for this.
Aschermann: "We've never had a commitment like
this." Anna was also involved in St. Jude's
Hospital (Memphis) through Tennis - she
presented a $30.000 check to the hospital in
February 2003 and a $25.000 check in February
2004.
Sponsors: Since the beginning of
her tennis career, Anna got more and more sponsors.
Adidas
is her biggest sponsor and Anna attended many
photoshootings, store-openings and starred in
some TV-Commercials as well throughout the years.
Lycos has been another Sponsor of Anna - the
Internet company was also hosting Anna's
official website a few years ago and
Anna was the star of another Lycos-Ad ("
Win a
BMW"-competition). Since September 2000,
Anna is an ambassador for OMEGA (swiss watch
manufacturer). Since then, Anna appeared at
numerous OMEGA-events all over the world (for
example: Hongkong 2001, Dubai
2002+2004, Shanghai 2002, Plymouth (GBR) 2004,
Tapei City 2003, Singapore 2004, St. Moritz
2004
, Mexico City 2005 etc.).
Futhermore, Berlei (manufacturer of the "Shock
Absorber" sports bra), was one of Anna's
spon
sors and most recognizable was the "Only the
ball should bounce"-billboards-ad campaign
which was launched prior to Wimbledon 2000.
Awards: Anna received the "Newcomer of the Year
1996"-award as well as the "Doubles Team of the Year 1999"-Award
(Doubles team with Martina Hingis).
My most notable quote from Anna: "Those who
work hard deserve their success."
What else can I add to that ...
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