Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova born 7 June 1981 is a Russian professional tennis player who now is a Russian-American citizen. Her celebrity status made her one of the best known tennis players worldwide. At the peak of her fame, fans looking for images of Kournikova made her name one of the most common search strings on the Internet search engine Google.
Although also successful in singles, reaching No. 8 in the world in 2000, she never won a WTA Title in singles. Kournikova's specialty 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 facetiously 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 currently resides in Miami Beach, Florida,and plays in occasional exhibitions and in doubles for the St. Louis Aces of World Team Tennis.
Early life
Anna was born in Moscow, Soviet Union, on June 7, 1981. Her father, Sergei Kournikov, was 20 at the time.Sergei, a former Greco-Roman wrestling 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 Anna was born, had been a 400-meter runner.
Sergei 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.
Anna received her first tennis racquet as a New Year gift in 1986 at age 5. Anna says: "I played two times a week from age five. 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, Anna became a member of the prestigious Spartak Tennis Club, coached by Larissa Preobrazhenskaya. In 1989, at the age of eight, Anna began appearing in junior tournaments, and by the following year, was attracting attention from tennis scouts across the world. Anna signed a management deal at age ten and went to Bradenton, Florida to train at Nick Bollettieri's celebrated tennis academy.
Personal life
Kournikova was in a relationship with fellow Russian, Pavel Bure, 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. Enrique has stated in interviews after that it was simply a joke, and they are still very much together. 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 has a younger brother, Allan. He became an American citizen in late 2009.
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Full Name:Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova
Country: Russia / United States
Residence; Miami, Florida, United States
Date of birth: 7 June 1981 (1981-06-07)
Place of birth: Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Height: 1.72 m (5 ft 7 1⁄2 in)
Turned pro: October 1995
Plays Right:-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money: US$3,584,662
Singles
Career record 209–129
Career titles 0 WTA, 2 ITF
Highest ranking No. 8 (20 November 2000)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open QF (2001)
French Open 4R (1998, 1999)
Wimbledon SF (1997)
US Open 4R (1996, 2002)
Other tournaments
Championships SF (2000)
Olympic Games 1R (1996)
Doubles
Career record 200–71
Career titles 16 WTA
Highest ranking No. 1 (22 November 1999)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open W (1999, 2002)
French Open F (1999)
Wimbledon SF (2000, 2002)
US Open QF (1996, 2002)
Other Doubles tournaments
WTA Championships