Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova (Russian: Анна Сергеевна Ку́рникова (listen (help·info)), Anna Sergeevna Kurnikova; born 7 June 1981) is a semi-retired Russian professional tennis player and model. Her celebrity status made her one of the best known tennis players worldwide. At the peak of her fame, fans looking for images of Kournikova made her name (or misspellings of it) one of the most common search strings on the internet search engine Google.
Although also successful in singles, reaching #8 in the world in 2000, Kournikova's specialty has been doubles, where she has at times been the world's number one-ranked player. With Martina Hingis as her partner, she won Grand Slam titles in Australia in 1999 and 2002. Kournikova's major-league tennis career has been curtailed for the past several years, and possibly ended, by serious back and spinal problems.
Kournikova was born in Moscow in the former Soviet Union to Alla and Sergei Kournikov; she and her mother later emigrated to the United States. Currently, she resides in Miami Beach, Florida, and plays in occasional exhibitions and in doubles for the St. Louis Aces of World Team Tennis.
Contents
Anna was born in Moscow, Russia (Soviet Union then) on June 7, 1981. Her father, Sergei Kournikov was 20 at the time.[2] Sergei, a former Greco-Roman wrestling champion, had earned a Ph.D and was a professor at the University of Physical Culture and Sport in Moscow. As of 2001, he was still a part-time martial arts instructor there.[2] Her mother Alla, a sturdily built blonde who was 18 when Anna was born, had been a 400-meter runner.[2]
Sergei said: "We were young and we liked the clean, physical life, so Anna was in a good environment for sport from the beginning."[2] The family name is spelled in Russian without an "o", so a direct translation would be "Kurnikova", and it is sometimes written that way. But it is pronounced "Kournikova", so the family chose that as their English spelling.[2]
Anna received her first tennis racquet as a Christmas gift in 1986 at age 5.[2] Anna says: "I played two times a week from age five. It was a children's program. And it was just for fun; my parents didn't know I was going to play professionally, they just wanted me to do something because I had lots of energy. It was only when I started playing well at seven that I went to a professional academy. I would go to school, and then my parents would take me to the club, and I'd spend the rest of the day there just having fun with the kids."[2]
ennis career
Early career
In 1986, Anna became a member of the prestigious Spartak Tennis Club, coached by Larissa Preobraschenskaja.[3] In 1989, at the tender age of eight, Anna began appearing in junior tournaments, and by the following year, was attracting attention from tennis scouts across the world. Anna signed a management deal at age ten and went to Bradenton, Florida to train at Nick Bollettieri's celebrated tennis academy.[3]
Following her arrival in the United States, Anna exploded onto the tennis scene, making her the internationally recognized tennis star she is today.[3] At the age of 14, she went on to win the European Championships and the Italian Open Junior tournament. Anna also beat out the competition to win the prestigious Junior Orange Bowl, becoming the youngest player ever to win the 18 and under division at that tournament. By the end of the year, Anna was crowned the ITF Junior World Champion U-18 and Junior European Champion U-18.[3]
1994-1996
In 1994, Anna Kournikova received a wild card into ITF tournament in Moscow qualifications, but she failed.[4]
Kournikova debuted in professional tennis at age 14 in the Fed Cup for Russia, the youngest player ever to participate and win.[3] In 1995, she turned pro, and won two ITF titles, in Midland, Michigan and Rockford, Illinois. At age 15, she made her grand slam debut, when she reached the fourth round of the 1996 U.S. Open, only to be stopped by then-top ranked player, Steffi Graf. After this tournament, her ranking jumped from No. 144 to debut in Top 100 at No. 69.[4]
Kournikova was a member of the Russian delegation to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1996, she was named WTA Newcomer of the Year[3], and she was ranked No. 57 in the end of the season.
[edit] 1997
At the Australian Open, Anna Kournikova lost in the first round to World No. 12 Amanda Coetzer, 6—2, 6—2. She also reached the second round of the Pacific Life Open, when she was defeated by World No.3 Anke Huber in three sets (3—6, 6—2, 6—2). She played the fourth round of the Miami Open, when she lost to Jana Novotná in straight sets (6—3, 6—4). Novotná was the third seed at this tournament.
She also lost to Coetzer in the second round of the Italian Open in three sets (6—2, 4—6, 6—1). Kournikova reached the quarterfinals of the German Open to Mary Joe Fernandez in two sets, 6—1, 6—4. She then played at the French Open. She lost in the third round to the first seed Martina Navratilova 6—1, 6—3.
In 1997, Anna Kournikova became the second woman in the open era to reach the semifinals (her first on WTA Tour) in her Wimbledon debut (Chris Evert in 1972 was first).[4] As a 16-year-old, she reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon, where she lost to the eventual champion, Martina Hingis by a score of 6–3, 6–2. En her route to the semifinals, she defeated the World No. 5 Iva Majoli, No. 10 Anke Huber and Barbara Rittner.
She then lost in the first round of the Los Angeles Open to Anke Huber, and in the second round of the US Open to the 11th seed Irina Spîrlea. Her last 1997 tournament was Filderstadt, when she lost to Amanda Coetzer in the second round.
Kournikova also played doubles. Her best results were the semifinals of the Italian Open (partnering Elena Likhovtseva) and the Los Angeles Open (partnering Ai Sugiyama).
On May 19, she broke into the top 50, when she was ranked No. 48. At the end of the season, she was ranked No. 32 in singles and No. 41 in doubles.
1998 was her breakthrough year, when she broke into the WTA's top 20 rankings for the first time, when she was ranked No. 16. She also scored impressive victories over Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, and Steffi Graf.
Kournikova played at the Medibank International in Sydney, when she lost to Lindsay Davenport in the second round. She then reached the third round of the Australian Open where she lost to Martina Hingis in three sets (6—4, 4—6, 6—4). She lost in the second round of the Paris Open to World No.5 Anke Huber.
Kournikova reached the semifinals in Hannover. She lost to Jana Novotná in two sets 6—3, 6—3. She again lost to Novotná in the quarterfinals in Linz, and to Conchita Martínez in the fourth round in Indian Wells. Kournikova reached her first WTA Tour final in Miami, where she lost to Venus Williams in three sets, even though she won the first set (2—6, 6—4, 6—1).
She then played at Amelia Island, when she reached the quarter finals (lost to Lindsay Davenport). She then lost in the quarter finals of the Italian Open to Martina Hingis. She played the semifinals of the Italian Open, when she lost to Conchita Martínez. During this tournament, she defeated Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and Martina Hingis.
Kournikova then played at the French Open. She lost to Jana Novotná in the fourth round. She then played in the semifinals at Eastbourne (lost to Sánchez Vicario). She then lost in the first, second, third and fourth rounds of the tournaments. Her last tournament was the WTA Championships, where she lost in the first round to Monica Seles.
In 1998, Kournikova reached her first doubles final, partnering with Larisa Neiland. That was the final of the Paris Open, where they lost to Sabine Appelmans and Miriam Oremans in three sets 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(3). They also lost to Nathalie Tauziat and Alexandra Fusai in the final in Linz. Partnering Monica Seles, she won the Tokyo title. They defeated Mary Joe Fernandez and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 6—4, 6—4. With Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, she lost to Lindsay Davenport and Natasha Zvereva in the finals at Filderstadt. At the end of the season, she was ranked #10 in doubles.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario