Anna Kournikova

From Tennis Star to Entrepreneur

After winning a remarkable 186 tennis matches out of 310 entered, with 40 of them in the Grand Slams, Anna Kournikova has become a household name and world renowned celebrity. She has appeared in music videos, charity events, star studded parties & galas, and magazine covers everywhere. Few professional tennis players have achieved such recognition as Anna and almost none at such an early age.

You could say it all started when Anna's parents sold their TV. They used the money for a Christmas gift of tennis racquets for a young 5 year old Anna who was thrilled to receive them. Tennis became her passion: playing in the local park progressed to junior clinics at the prestigious Spartak Tennis Club in Moscow. Eventually her tennis talent was recognized and at age nine signed a management deal.

Playing as a pro now, she gained more experience and made her mark in the 1996 U.S. Open as she reached the fourth round in her first Grand Slam event. The next year she reached the semifinals at her first Wimbledon appearance. Grass is still her favorite playing surface. A fast surface like grass combined with her 111.2 mph fastest serve makes her a formidable opponent.

She went on to beat every top player in the women's field and even defeated four consecutive top ten players in a single tournament in 1998. In doubles competition, she teamed up with Martina Hingis and won a Grand Slam doubles title at the 1999 Australian Open. However in 2003, she was forced to pull out of Wimbledon due to a back injury. Since then she has experienced difficulties with chronic lower back pain and is semi-retired from her beloved tennis competition.

Anna has made the transition smoothly from tennis to the commercial world, and commanded a $10 million per year income with her endorsements. She has a couple of DVD's out. One is her aerobic workout entitled, Basic Elements - My Complete Fitness Guide. She even includes nutritional tips for health. Her other DVD is entitled, A Date With Anna: The Making of the Anna Kournikova Calendar. Needless to say it has been a popular video.Her appearance with then boyfriend and now finance, Enrique Inglesas in his Escape video was a great success. Now Anna is the face of the award winning Shock Absorber line of Sports Bras manufactured by the Berlei Company, UK. In fact, she played a tennis match against the CEO of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos in New York to launch the Anna Kournikova Multiway Bra. The Harlem Junior Tennis Program children appeared on the court with her and 10% of each sale for a period of time went to that program.

Anna is the most recently appointed Star Ambassador for the luxurious line of Omega watches. She attended the Triple Crown Endurance Series final in Dubai as the Omega ambassador and presented one of Omega's prestige timepieces to the winner. Singapore was also on her list of places to visit for Omega, where she officially launched the company's highly successful Bijoux jewelry collection.

Being the world's most popular athlete in the Internet, according to Lycos, we are going to hear about her for a long time and perhaps someday, enjoy her superb tennis matches once again. Meanwhile, she still plays charity events.

To find out more information about Anna, such as news, her favorite music, WTA tour ranking, charity events, etc., visit her official website:

www.kournikova.com