Anna Kournikova

Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova, born June 7, 1981 in Moscow, Russia, is a tennis player. Her family later emigrated to the United States, and she currently resides in Miami, Florida.

Anna dazzled the world at age 13 and 14 in international junior tennis, winning several tournaments including the 1995 Italian Open. Anna Kournikova was 14 years old when she ended 1995 as Junior European Champion U(nder)18 and Junior World Champion U18.
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.
Anna was a member of the Russian delegation to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. As a 16-year old, she reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon. Kournikova's first of two Grand Slam doubles titles came in 1999 at the Australian Open in the Women's Doubles event with partner Martina Hingis, with whom she played frequently.

Kournikova proved a successful doubles player on the senior circuit, winning sixteen doubles titles, including two Australian Opens and being a finalist in mixed doubles at the US Open and Wimbledon, and reaching #1 in doubles in the Women's Tennis Association tour rankings. Her career doubles record was 200-71. However, while she was ranked as high as #8 as a singles player at one point and spent three years in a row in the Top 15 (1998 - 2000), she only reached a WTA singles final four times in 130 tournaments, never won one, and spent the bulk of her career ranked just outside the top ten. She had a record of 209-129 as a singles player.
Although, her final years marred by injuries, Kournikova has not played on the WTA tour since 2003, she still plays exhibition matches for charitable causes. In late 2004 she participated in three events organized by Elton John and by fellow tennis stars and good friends Serena Williams and Andy Roddick. She played for Tsunami relief January 2005 with John McEnroe, Andy Roddick and Chris Evert.

Anna was also a member of Newport Beachbreakers in the World Team Tennis (WTT) competition in July and November 2005, playing doubles only. In November 2005 she teamed up with Martina Hingis, reviving the "Spice girls of tennis", playing against Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur in the WTT finals for charity. In her 'Elle' column July 2005 Kournikova stated that if she were 100% fit she would like to come back and compete again.