Thursday, June 7, 2012

Anna Kournikova -Russian Angel

Anna Kournikova is a Russian professional tennis player. At age 15, she reached the fourth round of the U.S. Open, and at age 16 she reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon. In 1999, she won two Grand Slam doubles titles with partner Martina Hingis. However, she was soon ranking quite low in tournaments. Despite her losing record, her fame grew thanks to her modeling career and personal life.


Born Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova on June 7, 1981, in Moscow, Russia. The daughter of Alla and Sergei Kournikov, Anna began playing competitive tennis early on. She was competing in the juniors by age nine and within two years, she was headed to the U.S. to train at Nick Bollettieri's famed Florida tennis academy. She subsequently won several international junior tennis tournaments and was declared the Junior European Champion and Junior World Champion in 1995.
At age 15, Kournikova reached the fourth round of the U.S. Open, and at age 16 she reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon. In 1999, she won two Grand Slam doubles titles with partner Martina Hingis. However, in 130 singles tournaments she only reached the finals four times, never winning, and spent the bulk of her career ranked out of the top thirty.

Despite her losing record, Kournikova s fame grew steadily thanks to her modeling career and publicity surrounding her personal life. This media attention often focused on romantic liaisons with such celebrities as pop star Enrique Iglesias and hockey player Sergei Fedorov. She has also attempted a career in acting, appearing briefly in 2000?s Me, Myself and Irene. Kournikova has retired from the WTA tour, but continues to plays exhibition matches for charitable causes.

1 comment: