At the summer of 1981 , Alla and Sergei Kournikova gave birth to their daughter Anna. Five years later , Anna had a racket in her hands for the first time. She played with friends in a weekly children's sports program. It was clear that Anna had a talent for tennis , and at the age of 9 years , she was discovered by IMG agents while playing at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. IMG , the International Management Group, is the largest sports- and marketing company, fonded by Mark Hume McCormack, who had many other great tennissers under his custody , like Bjorn Borg , Martina Navratilova an Monica Seles.

In 1992 Anna moved with her mother to Brandenton , Florida to train and live at Nick Bollettieri's Tennis Academy. This Academy has already produced superstars like Monica Seles and Andre Agassi.
When Anna was 13 years , she lost the final of the Rolex Orange Bowl Championship to the 18-years old Spanish Marion Ramon (7-5 , 6-4). If she had won that match , she would have become the youngest winner of the tournament. But she reached the finals again the next year. This time she was too strong for Sandra Nacek from Yugoslavia: 6-3 , 6-2. She was very succesful as a junior , winning the 1995 European Championship and the Italian Open Juniors. She made it to the semi-finals of Wimbledon Juniors and was a quarter-finalist at the French Open Juniors.

In October 1995 she became a professional , leaving the ITF World Champion ranked No. 1. At the age of 14 , she became the youngest player to compete and win in the Fed Cup Competition in the first tie of 1996, helping Russian to defeat Sweden (3-0). She won her first professional title as a qualifier at a 1996 ITF Women's Circuit sattelite event in Midland , Michigan, USA , where she defeated Julie Steven, Jana Nejedly, Rene Simpson, Tami Whitlinger-Jones and Lindsay Lee. It's remarkable that she flew to Oklahoma City right after the final, and won her first-round qualifyingmatch the same day. The next title Anna won was in Rockford , Illinois, another ITF Women's Circuit satellite event. As the fifth seed , she collected wins against Sonya Jeyaseelan, Tara Snyder, and Yuka Yoshida.

Anna then made her Grand Slam debut, ranked 144, at the 1996 US Open, losing to Steffi Graf, number 1 seeded and title-favorite, in the fourth round. This is a very good debut , as not many players make it to the fourth round in their first Grand Slam. She also played doubles with Likhovtseva, where she made it to the quarter-finals , and the mixed doubles. She became the 1996 COREL WTA TOUR Most Impressive Newcomer, and collected her first win over a top 10 player in may of this year , at the German Open in Berlin , where she defeated No. 6 Arantxa Sanchez.

Some Usefull Kournikova Facts:

                    Nationality: RUS
                    Birthdate: June 7, 1981
                    Birthplace: Moscow, Russia
                    Residence: Moscow, Russia
                    Height: 1.73 meters
                    Weight: 54.9 kilos
                    Plays: Right
                    Turned Pro: 1995
                    Current rank for singles: 11
                    Current rank for doubles: 22
                    High rank for singles: 13
                    High rank date for singles: April 20, 1998
                    High rank for doubles: 22
                    High rank date for doubles: April 20, 1998
                    Career titles for singles: 0
                    Career titles for doubles: 0
                    Career matches won: 41
                    Career matches lost: 24
                    Year to date matches won: 18
                    Year to date matches lost: 8
                    Career prize money: $477,894
                    Year to date prize money for singles: $63,344
                    Year to date prize money for doubles: $22,730

Some Useless Kournikova Facts:

* She likes to read , listen to music and watch television.
* Travels on tour with her mother
* If she wasn't a tennis player , she would be an actress
* Her favorite city is Paris
* Her favorite tournament is Roland Garros
* She likes Ice Hockey (@#$%^)
* Her favorite color is black

Back to Anna Heaven

A more actual story soon to come !