Anna Kournikova Biography

Biography

her Grand Slam debut by entering U.S. Open at the same year, going all the way up to the 4th round where she was finally defeated by Steffi Graff. On the other hand, Anna created sensation by being the youngest player in the 1996 Fed Cup competition, helping Russia to knock down Sweden in final. Her tennis rank went instantly from 299th to 56th by the end of the year, leading her to earn Sanex WTA Tour Most Impressive Newcomer Award.

In 1997, Anna failed to gain any trophies, yet she was noted due to her accomplishment to enter at least the tournaments' quarterfinals. She proceeded to the semi-finals at Wimbledon, then reached 4th round in German Open, and went to final of A&P Classic. Despite a repeated winning absence in the following year, Anna was at her best performance since she wiped out 4 top ten players at Lipton Championships in Key Biscayne, FL, namely Monica Seles, Conchita Martinez, Lindsay Davenport, and Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario. In the same year she decided to change her tennis instructor, Nick Bolletieri with Pavel Slozil who previously trained Steffi Graf and Jennifer Capriati.

. Anna's WTA Tour rank rose magnificently when she crushed Graf ...

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in the quarterfinal of the Eastbourne Tournament in 1998, bringing her name to be included in the top ten ranks for the first time. After a nearly two years working hard to win, she finally could experience the joy of winning, once more in woman doubles championship at the Princess Cup in Tokyo, together with Monica Seles. Partnering with Martina Hingis, she made another victory; this time earned her first Grand Slam title as she won over Jana Novotna-Monica Seles at Australian Open in January 1999. Throughout this year, she and Martina had won 9 doubles titles, including Italian Open and WTA Championship. This accomplishment led Anna to be in the top rank of double player in WTA along with the title of ITF World Doubles Champions.

In 2000, Anna's star glowed brighter as she reached a culmination in her career, achieving 8th rank in single player and won 6 more doubles titles. This glorious moment, unfortunately, did not last long enough for Anna experienced stress fracture on her left feet in early 2001, forcing her to withdraw from any tournaments. She then turned her attention to acting for a while, taking a minor part in "Me, Myself, & Irene", ...