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Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova (Russian: Ð?нна Сергеевна Курникова (listen (help·info)), Anna Sergeevna Kurnikova; born June 7, 1981) is a retired Russian professional tennis player and model. Although she never won a major singles tournament, she became one of the best known tennis players worldwide. At the peak of her fame, fans looking for images of Kournikova made her name (or misspellings of it) one of the most common search strings on Google.
She was born in Moscow, Soviet Union to Alla and Sergei Kournikov; she and her mother later migrated to the United States. Presently, she resides in Miami, Florida.
Kournikova's major-league tennis career has been curtailed for the past several years, and possibly ended, by serious back and spinal problems. She has had some success at the singles game, but her specialty has been doubles, where she has at times been the world's No.1 doubles player. With Martina Hingis as her partner, she won Grand Slam titles in Australia in 1999 and 2002.
Kournikova's playing style fits the profile for a doubles player, and is complemented by her height. She has been compared to such players as Pam Shriver and Peter Fleming.
At ages 13 and 14, Kournikova made headlines in international junior tennis, winning several tournaments including the 1995 Italian Open. She 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, where she lost to the eventual champion, Martina Hingis by a score of 6-3, 6-2. 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 the No.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 No.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. As a player, Kournikova was noted for her footspeed and aggressive baseline play and excellent angles and dropshots; however, her flat, high-risk groundstrokes tended to produce high numbers of errors and her serve was sometimes unreliable in singles. Her singles record is 209-129.
Her final playing years were marred by a string of injuries, especially back injuries, which caused her ranking to erode gradually. 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 players 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.
In November 2005, she teamed up with Martina Hingis, playing against Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur in the WTT finals for charity. Kournikova is also a member of the Sacramento Capitals in the World Team Tennis (WTT), playing doubles only.
In a feature for ELLE magazine's July 2005 issue, Kournikova stated that if she were 100% fit, she would like to come back and compete again.
Most of Kournikova's fame has come from the publicity surrounding her personal life as well as numerous modeling shoots. During her debut at the 1996 U.S. Open at the age of 15, Kournikova's beauty was noticed by the world and soon pictures of her appeared in numerous magazines worldwide.
Kournikova's marital status has been an issue on several occasions. There were conflicting rumors about whether or not she was engaged to hockey player Pavel Bure. There were reports that she married NHL hockey star Sergei Fedorov in 2001. Kournikova's representatives have denied this, but Fedorov stated in 2003 that the couple had married and since divorced. Kournikova currently has a relationship with pop star Enrique Iglesias (in whose video, "Escape", she appeared), and rumors that the couple had secretly married appeared in 2003 and again in 2005. Kournikova herself has consistently refused to directly confirm or deny rumors about the status of her personal relationships. But, in May 2007, Enrique Iglesias was (mistakenly, as he would clarify later) quoted in the NY Sun that he had no intention to marry Anna and settle down so they had split up. The singer would later deny these rumors of 'divorce' or simply separation.
In 2000, Kournikova became the new face for Berlei's shock absorber sports bras range, and appeared in the highly successful "only the ball should bounce" bill board campaign. Photographs of her scantily-clad form have appeared in various men's magazines, including more than one much-publicized Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue (2004 – 2005), where she posed in bikinis and swimsuits, and in other popular men's publications such as FHM and Maxim.
Kournikova was named one of People's 50 Most Beautiful People in 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2003 and was voted "hottest female athlete" and "hottest couple" (with Iglesias) on ESPN.com. In 2002 she also placed first in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women in the World in U.S. and UK editions.
By contrast, ESPN — citing the degree of hype as compared to actual accomplishments as a singles player — ranked Kournikova 18th in its "25 Biggest Sports Flops of the Past 25 Years". .
Year
Championship
Partnering
Opponents in Final
Score in Final
Australian Open
Martina Hingis
Lindsay Davenport
Natasha Zvereva
7-5, 6-3
Australian Open (2)
Martina Hingis
Daniela Hantuchová
Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario
6-2, 6-7, 6-1
Year
Championship
Partnering
Opponents in semi final
Score in Final
French Open
Martina Hingis
Serena Williams
Venus Williams
6-3, 6-7, 8-6
Year
Championship
Partnering
Opponents in Final
Score in Final
Wimbledon
Jonas Björkman
Leander Paes
Lisa Raymond
6-4, 3-6, 6-3
U.S. Open
Max Mirnyi
Jared Palmer
Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario
6-4, 6-3
Legend
Grand Slam (2)
WTA Championships (2)
Tier I (4)
Tier II (6)
Tier III (1)
Tier IV (1)
No.
Date
Tournament
Surface
Partnering
Opponents in the final
Score
1.
09-21-98
Tokyo, Japan
Hard
Monica Seles
Mary Joe Fernández &
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
6-4 6-4
2.
01-08-99
Australian Open, Melbourne
Hard
Martina Hingis
Lindsay Davenport &
Natasha Zvereva
7-5, 6-3
3.
03-01-99
Indian Wells Masters, USA
Hard
Martina Hingis
Mary Joe Fernández &
Jana Novotna
6-2, 6-2
4.
05-03-99
Rome Masters, Italy
Clay
Martina Hingis
Alexandra Fusai &
Nathalie Tauziat
6-2, 6-2
5.
06-14-99
Eastbourne, England
Grass
Martina Hingis
Jana Novotná &
Natasha Zvereva
6-4, ret.
6.
11-15-99
WTA Championships, New York, USA
Carpet
Martina Hingis
Larisa Neiland &
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
6-4, 6-4
7.
01-03-00
Gold Coast, Australia
Hard
Julie Halard
Sabine Appelmans &
Rita Grande
6-3, 6-0
8.
05-01-00
Hamburg, Germany
Clay
Natasha Zvereva
Nicole Arendt &
Manon Bollegraf
65-7, 6-2, 6-4
9.
10-02-00
Filderstadt, Germany
Hard (I)
Martina Hingis
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario &
Barbara Schett
6-4, 6-2
10.
10-09-00
Zurich, Switzerland
Carpet
Martina Hingis
Kimberly Po &
Anne-Gaëlle Sidot
6-3, 6-4
11.
11-06-00
Philadelphia, USA
Carpet
Martina Hingis
Lisa Raymond &
Rennae Stubbs
6-2, 7-5
12.
11-13-00
WTA Championships, New York, USA
Carpet
Martina Hingis
Nicole Arendt &
Manon Bollegraf
6-2, 6-3
13.
01-08-01
Sydney, Australia
Hard
Barbara Schett
Lisa Raymond &
Rennae Stubbs
6-2, 7-5
14.
10-01-01
Moscow, Russia
Carpet
Martina Hingis
Elena Dementieva &
Lina Krasnoroutskaya
7-61, 6-3
15.
01-14-02
Australian Open, Melbourne
Hard
Martina Hingis
Daniela Hantuchová &
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
6-2, 64-7, 6-1
16.
01-14-02
Shanghai, PR China
Hard
Janet Lee
Ai Sugiyama &
Rika Fujiwara
7-5, 6-3
Tournament
Career SR
Career W-L
Australian Open
A
A
1R
3R
4R
4R
QF
1R
2R
0 / 7
13-7
French Open
A
A
3R
4R
4R
2R
A
1R
A
0 / 5
9-5
Wimbledon
A
A
SF
A
4R
2R
A
1R
A
0 / 4
9-4
U.S. Open
A
4R
2R
4R
A
3R
A
1R
A
0 / 5
9-5
Grand Slam SR
0 / 0
0 / 1
0 / 4
0 / 3
0 / 3
0 / 4
0 / 1
0 / 4
0 / 1
0 / 21
N/A
Grand Slam Win-Loss
0-0
3-1
8-4
8-3
9-3
7-4
4-1
0-4
1-1
N/A
40-21
WTA Tour Championships
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
0 / 0
0-0
Tokyo
A
A
A
A
QF
QF
SF
SF
A
0 / 4
9-4
Indian Wells
A
A
2R
3R
1R
3R
A
2R
A
0 / 5
4-5
Miami
A
A
4R
F
4R
4R
A
1R
1R
0 / 6
12-6
Charleston
A
A
A
A
F
3R
A
1R
1R
0 / 4
5-4
Berlin
A
A
QF
SF
1R
2R
A
A
A
0 / 4
7-4
Rome
A
A
2R
QF
3R
A
A
3R
A
0 / 4
8-4
San Diego1
A
A
A
A
2R
SF
2R
SF
A
0 / 4
8-4
Montreal/Toronto
A
A
A
3R
A
3R
A
3R
A
0 / 3
5-3
Moscow 2
2R
2R
A
1R
A
F
1R
2R
A
0 / 6
6-5
Zurich
A
2R
A
1R
A
QF
1R
A
A
0 / 4
2-4
Finals reached
0
0
0
1
1
1
0
1
0
N/A
4
Tournaments Won
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
N/A
0
Hardcourt Win-Loss
0-0
7-3
6-6
23-12
11-7
26-13
6-6
18-13
1-3
N/A
98-63
Clay Win-Loss
0-0
0-0
6-3
12-4
13-5
6-5
0-0
6-8
0-2
N/A
43-27
Grass Win-Loss
0-0
0-0
5-1
3-0
6-2
2-2
0-0
0-2
0-0
N/A
16-7
Carpet Win-Loss
1-1
1-2
0-0
2-3
5-5
13-9
4-4
4-1
0-0
N/A
30-25
Overall Win-Loss
1-1
8-5
17-10
40-19
35-19
47-29
10-10
28-24
1-5
N/A
187-1223
Year End Ranking
281
57
32
13
12
8
74
35
305
N/A
N/A
