PLEASURE WORLD

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Anna Kournikova (née Anya Kournikova) was born on June 7, 1981, in Moscow, Russia, to Sergei and Alla. Her father, a lecturer at the sports university in Moscow and a part-time tennis coach, and mother, did not encourage Anna to play tennis for the fame, but rather for the health benefits of the sport.

Anna’s early tennis days

Anna Kournikova’s talent was first discovered when she played at a weekly children’s sports program at the age of 5, thanks to the racket she received from her parents for Christmas. She started to play and practice more often, in places such as Moscow’s Soklniki Park and the prestigious Spartak Tennis Club, despite the fact that her family was far from wealthy.

While still in Moscow, Anna Kournikova’s first tennis coach was Larissa Preobraschenskaja, from 1985 to 1989. The budding tennis player trained and practiced while studying at school. In 1992, 11-year-old Anna Kournikova moved to Florida with her mother to attend Nick Bollettieri’s Tennis Academy in Bradenton. The tennis facilities made it easier for Anna Kournikova, who had to commute from the gym to the tennis court to school while in Moscow.

Anna Kournikova goes pro

By the time she was 14, she had become the youngest player to win a Fed Cup match, and made sure people took notice of her when she won the European Championships and Italian Open juniors. When she turned pro in 1996, she stepped onto the scene as an ITF Junior World Champion.

Expectations were high and Anna Kournikova delivered: she reached the fourth round in her first Grand Slam tournament, the 1996 U.S. Open and the semifinals in her first Wimbledon appearance in 1997.

1998 was a big year for the blonde beauty: Anna Kournikova became the first Russian female to be seeded at the U.S. Open since 1976, reached the top 10 of the singles rankings, and upset Martina Hingis in the quarterfinals at the 1998 German Open, becoming the ninth-youngest player to defeat a No. 1 tennis player before turning 17.

The following year, Anna Kournikova won her first Grand Slam doubles title at the 1999 Australian Open, with partner Martina Hingis. She managed to reach the fourth round in singles at all three Grand Slams, two Grand Slam doubles finals and one Grand Slam mixed doubles final.

In 2000, Anna Kournikova and Martina Hingis continued to do damage on the courts, and ended the season with a career ranking of No. 8. She even defeated Lindsay Davenport and Nathalie Tauziat on the way to the fifth semifinal of that year in San Diego. She later moved down the rankings to No. 19 and beat Sandrine Testud before losing to Venus Williams. At the 2000 German Open in May, Anna Kournikova experienced the first in what would become a string of injuries.

Anna Kournikova dates enrique iglesias

She continued to make appearances in high-profile tournaments and drawing in big crowds, but not as many titles or wins unfortunately. After 2003′s Australian Open, she suffered a back injury that led to her withdrawal from that year’s Wimbledon games.

In 2001, she had a bit part in the Jim Carrey comedy Me, Myself & Irene as a motel manager, and the following year, she starred opposite Enrique Iglesias in the pop singer’s video for “Escape.” FHM’s Sexiest Woman in the World also made headlines thanks to her relationships with NHL players Pavel Bure and Sergei Fedorov (who she was allegedly married to), and her on-again, off-again romance with Enrique Iglesias.

Anna Kournikova makes millions with endorsements

Anna Kournikova also proved her earning power by being one of the richest women in sports, thanks to lucrative contracts with companies like Adidas, Yonex, Berlei (the famous sports bra), Omega (also the choice of Cindy Crawford and Pierce Brosnan), and Lycos (who once named Anna Kournikova the most popular athlete on the internet, moving Michael Jordan to the No. 2 spot).

By 2002, she was reportedly making $10 million a year, and she continues to be the most photographed woman in sports — even though her ranking and stats are nothing to write Russia about.

Career statistics and awards

Singles

WTA Tier I

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in final	Score in final
Runner-up	1998	Miami	Hard	Venus Williams	2—6, 6—1, 6—4
Runner-up	1999	Hilton Head	Clay	Martina Hingis	6—4, 6—3
Runner-up	2000	Moscow	Carpet	Martina Hingis	6—3, 6—1

Doubles

Grand Slam

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in final	Score in final
Winners	1999	Australian Open	Hard	Martina Hingis	Lindsay Davenport Natasha Zvereva	7—5, 6—3
Runner-up	1999	French Open	Clay	Martina Hingis	Serena Williams Venus Williams	6—3, 6—7, 8—6
Winners	2002	Australian Open (2)	Hard	Martina Hingis	Daniela Hantuchová Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6—2, 6—7, 6—1

WTA Tour Championships

Outcome	Year	Venue	Surface	Partner	Opponents in final	Score in final
Winners	1999	New York City	Carpet	Martina Hingis	Larisa Neiland Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6—4, 6—4
Winners	2000	New York City (2)	Carpet	Martina Hingis	Nicole Arendt Manon Bollegraf	6—2, 6—3

WTA Tier I

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in final	Score in final
Winners	1999	Indian Wells	Hard	Martina Hingis	Mary Joe Fernández Jana Novotná	6—2, 6—2
Winners	1999	Rome	Clay	Martina Hingis	Alexandra Fusai Nathalie Tauziat	6—2, 6—2
Runner-up	2000	Indian Wells	Hard	Natasha Zvereva	Lindsay Davenport Corina Morariu	6—3, 6—2
Runner-up	2000	Moscow	Carpet	Martina Hingis	Julie Halard-Decugis Ai Sugiyama	4—6, 6—4, 7—6(5)
Winners	2000	Zürich	Carpet	Martina Hingis	Kimberly Po Anne-Gaëlle Sidot	6—3, 6—4
Runner-up	2001	Tokyo	Hard	Iroda Tulyaganova	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	7—6(5), 6—2, 7—6(6)
Winners	2001	Moscow	Carpet	Martina Hingis	Elena Dementieva Lina Krasnoroutskaya	7—6(1), 6—3

Mixed Doubles

Grand Slam

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in final	Score in final
Runner-up	1999	Wimbledon	Grass	Jonas Björkman	Leander Paes Lisa Raymond	6—4, 3—6, 6—3
Runner-up	2000	US Open	Hard	Max Mirnyi	Jared Palmer Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6—4, 6—3

WTA Tour finals

Singles (4)

Runner-ups (4)

No.	Date	Tournament	Location’	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	29 March 1998	Sony Ericsson Open	Key Biscayne, Florida, the U.S.	Hard	Venus Williams	2–6, 6–1, 6–4
2.	4 April 1999	Family Circle Cup	Hilton Head, South Carolina, the U.S.	Clay	Martina Hingis	6–3, 6–4
3.	29 October 2000	Kremlin Cup	Moscow, Russia	Carpet	Martina Hingis	6–3, 6–1
4.	15 September 2002	China Open	Shanghai, China	Hard	Anna Smashnova	6–2, 6–3

Doubles (28)

Wins (16)

No.	Date	Tournament	Location’	Surface	Partnering	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	27 September 1998	Toyota Princess Cup	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Monica Seles	Mary Joe Fernández Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–4 6–4
2.	30 January 1999	Australian Open	Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Martina Hingis	Lindsay Davenport Natasha Zvereva	7–5, 6–3
3.	14 March 1999	Pacific Life Open	Indian Wells, California, the U.S.	Hard	Martina Hingis	Mary Joe Fernández Jana Novotná	6–2, 6–2
4.	9 May 1999	Internazionali BNL d’Italia	Rome, Italy	Clay	Martina Hingis	Alexandra Fusai Nathalie Tauziat	6–2, 6–2
5.	20 June 1999	International Women’s Open	Eastbourne, the United Kingdom	Grass	Martina Hingis	Jana Novotná Natasha Zvereva	6–4, retired
6.	21 November 1999	WTA Tour Championships	New York City, New York, the U.S.	Carpet	Martina Hingis	Larisa Neiland Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–4, 6–4
7.	3 January 2000	MAW Hardcourts	Gold Coast, Australia	Hard	Julie Halard	Sabine Appelmans Rita Grande	6–3, 6–0
8.	7 May 2007	Hamburg Masters	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Natasha Zvereva	Nicole Arendt Manon Bollegraf	65–7, 6–2, 6–4
9.	8 October 2000	Porsche Tennis Grand Prix	Filderstadt, Germany	Hard (i)	Martina Hingis	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Barbara Schett	6–4, 6–2
10.	15 October 2000	Zürich Open	Zürich, Switzerland	Carpet	Martina Hingis	Kimberly Po Anne-Gaëlle Sidot	6–3, 6–4
11.	12 November 2000	Advanta Championships Philadelphia	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the U.S.	Carpet	Martina Hingis	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	6–2, 7–5
12.	19 November 2000	WTA Tour Championships	New York City, New York, the U.S.	Carpet	Martina Hingis	Nicole Arendt Manon Bollegraf	6–2, 6–3
13.	14 January 2001	Medibank International Sydney	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Barbara Schett	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	6–2, 7–5
14.	7 October 2001	Kremlin Cup	Moscow, Russia	Carpet	Martina Hingis	Elena Dementieva Lina Krasnoroutskaya	7–61, 6–3
15.	27 January 2002	Australian Open	Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Martina Hingis	Daniela Hantuchová Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–2, 64–7, 6–1
16.	15 September 2002	China Open	Shanghai, China	Hard	Janet Lee	Ai Sugiyama Rika Fujiwara	7–5, 6–3

Runner-ups (12)

No.	Date	Tournament	Location	Surface	Partnering	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	24 September 1995	Kremlin Cup	Moscow, Russia	Carpet	Aleksandra Olsza	Meredith McGrath Larisa Neiland	0–6, 1–6
2.	15 February 1998	Open Gaz de France	Paris, France	Hard	Larisa Neiland	Sabine Appelmans Miriam Oremans	6–1, 3–6, 7–6(3)
3.	1 March 1998	Generali Ladies Linz	Linz, Austria	Hard	Larisa Neiland	Alexandra Fusai Nathalie Tauziat	3–6, 6–3, 4–6
4.	11 October 1998	Porsche Tennis Grand Prix	Filderstadt, Germany	Hard	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Lindsay Davenport Natasha Zvereva	4–6, 2–6
5.	6 June 1999	French Open	Paris, France	Clay	Martina Hingis	Serena Williams Venus Williams	3–6, 7–6(2), 6–8
6.	11 August 1999	Bank of the West Classic	Stanford, California, the U.S.	Hard	Elena Likhovtseva	Lindsay Davenport Corina Morariu	4–6, 4–6
7.	19 March 2000	Pacific Life Open	Indian Wells, California, the U.S.	Hard	Natasha Zvereva	Lindsay Davenport Corina Morariu	2–6, 3–6
8.	6 August 2000	Acura Classic	San Diego, California, the U.S.	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	6–4, 3–6, 6(6)–7
9.	29 October 2000	Kremlin Cup	Moscow, Russia	Carpet	Martina Hingis	Julie Halard-Decugis Ai Sugiyama	6–4, 4–6, 6(5)–7
10.	4 February 2001	Toray Pan Pacific Open	Tokyo, Japan	Carpet	Iroda Tulyaganova	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	6(5)–7, 6–2, 6(6)–7
11.	5 August 2001	Acura Classic	San Diego, California, the U.S.	Hard	Martina Hingis	Cara Black Elena Likhovtseva	4–6, 6–1, 4–6
12.	13 January 2002	Medibank International Sydney	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Martina Hingis	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	w/o

Singles performance timeline

A = did not participate in the tournament.

SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

- = tournament either not held or was not classified as a Tier I event on the Women’s Tennis Association tour at the time it was held.

ITF Circuit singles titles

#	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1.	26 February 1996	Midland, Michigan, the U.S.	Hard	Lindsay Lee-Waters	7–6(2), 6–1
2.	15 March 1996	Rockford, Illinois, the U.S.	Hard	Yuka Yoshida	6–1, 6–4

WTA Tour career earnings

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