As a player, Kournikova was noted for her footspeed and aggressive baseline play, and excellent angles and dropshots; however, her relatively flat, high-risk groundstrokes tended to produce frequent errors, and her serve was sometimes unreliable in singles.
Kournikova plays right-handed with a two-handed backhand. She is a great player at the net.She can hit forceful groundstrokes and also drop shots.
Her playing style fits the profile for a doubles player, and is complemented by her height.She has been compared to such doubles specialists as Pam Shriver and Peter Fleming.
Personal life
Kournikova at a WTT press conference in July 2010
Kournikova was in a relationship with fellow Russian, Pavel Bure, an NHL ice hockey player. The two met in 1999 when Kournikova was still linked to Bure's former Russian teammate Sergei Fedorov. Bure and Kournikova were reported to have been engaged in 2000 after a reporter took a photo of them together in a Florida restaurant where Bure supposedly asked Kournikova to marry him. As the story made headlines in Russia, where they were both heavily followed in the media as celebrities, Bure and Kournikova both denied any engagement. Kournikova, 10 years younger than Bure, was 18 years old at the time. The following year, Kournikova and Fedorov were married in Moscow. They were soon divorced, however. Fedorov claimed he and tennis star Anna Kournikova were married in 2001, but later divorced in 2003.Kournikova's representatives deny any marriage to Fedorov, however Sergei's agent Pat Brisson claims that although he does not know when they got married, he knew "he was married.
Kournikova started dating pop star Enrique Iglesias in late 2001 (she appeared in his video, "Escape"), and rumors that the couple had secretly married circulated in 2003 and again in 2005. Kournikova herself has consistently refused to directly confirm or deny the status of her personal relationships. But in May 2007, Enrique Iglesias was (mistakenly, as he would clarify later) quoted in the New York Sun that he had no intention of marrying Kournikova and settling down because they had split up. The singer would later deny these rumors of "divorce" or simply separation. In June 2008, Iglesias told the Daily Star that he had married Kournikova the previous year and that they are currently separated. Enrique has stated in interviews after that it was simply a joke, they are still very much together. In an interview with Graham Norton in 2010, Kournikova confirmed that she and Iglesias have been together for over eight years but have no plans to marry in the near future.
Kournikova has a younger brother, Allan. He became an American citizen in late 2009.
Media publicity
Anna Kournikova playing tennis in white outfit. Left hand is extended as if she has just tossed a ball and right hand is cocking back for the serve.
Kournikova preparing to serve
Most of Kournikova's fame has come from the publicity surrounding her looks and her personal life. During Kournikova's debut at the 1996 U.S. Open at the age of 15, the world noticed her beauty, and soon pictures of her appeared in numerous magazines worldwide.
In 2000, Kournikova became the new face for Berlei's shock absorber sports bras, and appeared in the highly successful "only the ball should bounce" billboard campaign. Photographs of her scantily-clad form have appeared in various men's magazines, including one in the much-publicized 2004 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, 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".Kournikova was also ranked #1 in the ESPN Classic series "Who's number 1?" when the series featured sport's most overrated athletes.
She continued to be the most searched athlete on the Internet through 2008 even though she had retired from the professional tennis circuit years earlier. After slipping from first to sixth among athletes in 2009, she moved back up to third place among athletes in terms of search popularity in 2010.
In October 2010, Kournikova will head to NBC's The Biggest Loser where she will lead the contestants in a tennis-workout challenge.In November 2010, she became an American citizen.
anna kournikova
anna kournikova
anna kournikova
anna kournikova
anna kournikova
anna kournikovaanna kournikova
anna kournikova
anna kournikova
anna kournikova
anna kournikova
anna kournikova
anna kournikovaanna kournikovaanna kournikova
anna kournikovaanna kournikova
