Anna Kournikova

Anna Kournikova is a model and former women's professional tennis player. She finished her singles career without winning a Grand Slam Championship, but because of her beauty was one of the most popular players in tennis history.

Anna first started to play tennis when she was 5 years old and quickly became a member of Spartak Tennis Club. In 1989, she entered her first junior tournament, and soon after was scouted out and asked to Nick Bolletierri's tennis academy in Florida at the early age of 10.http://www.kournikova.com/about/bio

After being introduced to America, Anna's tennis skills started to get widely recognize all over the nation. Now, she does a lot of work with children and charities. She also designs tennis clothing for K-Swiss and still plays in matches from time to time.http://www.kournikova.com/about/bio

Kournikova was up and coming at the age of 15 in 1996. Her ability to move baseline-to-baseline and hit consist groundstrokes from either side enabled her to play well and be competitive. She was able to team up with Martina Hingis to win two doubles grand slam titles at the Australian Open in 1999 and 2002.http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0468045/bioBut singles tournament play proved more difficult. Her best finish at a grand slam tournament was a semifinals appearance at the 1997 Wimbledon championships.http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0468045/bioBecause of this, many like ESPN rate her as the most overrated athlete of the last quarter century.http://espn.go.com/page2/s/overrated/bracket/finalfour.html

While Kournikova struggled for success and attention on the court, she enjoyed a tremendous amount of attention and success off the court. Photographers couldn't seem to get enough of Kournikova, and searches for her photos on Google during her career are among the greatest in history.http://tennisconnected.com/home/2009/12/04/googles-top-2009-tennis-player-searches/She was romantically linked to Russian hockey players Pavel Bure and Sergei Fedorov, and later with singer Enrique Iglesias.http://www.celebrity-mania.com/news/view/00004523.html

Anna has frequently appeared in pictorials for men's magazines such as Maxim, FHM, and Stuff.http://www.whosdatedwho.com/what/publicity_view.asp?RD=000024901Although she still plays in charitable tournaments, her playing days appear to be over, but she continues to make a living in a second career as a model.http://www.listown.com/russian-model-anna-kournikova-7173In 2004, she appeared in a 6-page spread in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/swimsuit/modelfeatured/anna_kournikova/2004/athletes/index.htm