The Russian beauty is a former tennis player who is considered the most searched athlete on the internet. Even though she has never won any singles to her name, she is still the most influential and popular athlete in the world.

Anna Kournikova today still plays for generous causes in exhibition tennis matches and is the global ambassador for Population Services International.

So let’s look into how she began her career in tennis as a teenager who gained wide attention all over the world and her journey as an influential figure after her tennis career.

Anna Kournikova in Her Tennis Career

Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova was born on June 7, 1981, in Moscow, Russia, and hails from a family of sportsmen. Her father was a former wrestling champion and was a professor of physical culture and sport and her mother was a runner athlete.

Kournikova’s love for tennis grew as early as she was just a child and later joined the known training center Spartak Tennis Club at the age of 5 in 1986. She started appearing for junior tennis tournaments at the age of ten and gained attention from various tennis scouts across the world, then at the age of ten she signed a deal and went to Florida to be trained at Nick Bollettieri’s tennis academy.

Anna Kournikova’s Early Tennis Rise

In the US she won various junior tournaments like the European and Italian Open at the age of 14.

In 1995 she was rewarded with ITF Junior World Champion U18 for winning the Under 18 Junior Orange Bowl Tennis Tournament. In the same year, she qualified for the WTA Tournament in Moscow but lost in the second round in the singles, she reached the doubles final partnering Aleksandra Olsza but lost in the title match.

When she was 15 years old in 1996, she ranked in the top 100 and was named the WTA Newcomer of the Year. This year she debuted in the grand slam through the US open but lost to Steffi Graf.

In the year 1997, she entered the Australian Open and French Open. She lost the single first round to Amanda Coetzer in the Australian Open and in the doubles she partnered with Elena Likhovtseva and reached the semi-final only to lose to Mary Joe and Patricia Tarantini.

In the same year, she debuted at the Wimbledon Championship and became the second woman to reach the semi-final in her first debut. But she lost the match to Martina Hingis.

Kournikova’s Success in Doubles

In the year 1998 Kournikova ranked at no. 16 in the WTA top 20 ranking list giving her more credit for her success. This year she reached her first WTA Tour singles final at Miami Open but lost it to Venus William.

Anna Kournikova may not be able to secure any singles title but what makes her a successful tennis player is in doubles.

She was paired with Seles in the 1998 Tokyo tour championship where they defeated the pair of Mary Joe Fernandez and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the WTA doubles, which was her first win.

After this, she was ranked at no. 10 in doubles.

After this win, her doubles partnering with the top-ranked tennis player Martina Hingis was taken to another level. The pair shine brightly in the doubles, they paired in the 1999 Australian Open where they won the final against Lindsay Davenport. But in the French Open, they reached the final but lost to the Williams sisters.

In the 2002 Australian Open doubles the pair defeated Daniela Hantuchova and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario. Apart from these she and Martina won tournaments in Indian Wells, Rome, and the WTA double tour championship. In the year 1999 Kournikova was ranked world no.1 in doubles and awarded the WTA Awards For Doubles Team Of The Year with Hingis.

Kournikova’s Retirement and Her Rise as a Celebrity

In the year 2001, she suffered from various injuries including a stress fracture for which she had to withdraw from several big tournaments. Later that year she won the doubles titles in Sydney playing alongside Barbara Schett and winning the Kremlin Cup with Hingis as her partner. Later in 2003 she again had to withdraw from various matches due to sprained back and adductor injuries and finally announced her retirement in May 2003.

During this time, she may not be in a proper form on the tennis court but she became famous and gained celebrity status for her media publicity.

In the year 2000, she became the face of the Berlei sports bras and in the same year, she appeared in a guest role in the movie Me, Myself, and Irene. Later she gained more prominence as a model.

Cover pages with Anna Kournikova’s hot pics started appearing in various magazines like Men’s Magazines, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, FHM, and Maxim. She was listed as the Hottest Female Athlete on ESPN and 50 Most Beautiful People in People in 1998. In 2002 she was ranked first in100 Sexiest Women in the World in FHM.

Where is Anna Kournikova Now? What is She doing Now?

Anna Kournikova now is the mother of three children with her partner, the popular Spanish pop singer Enrique Iglesias. The couple has been in a relationship since 2001 when they first met for the shooting of Iglesias’s Escape music videos.

They have kept their relationship very private with various split rumors but the couple announced the birth of their twins, Nicholas and Lucy, in December 2017, and recently they welcomed their third child Mary in January 2020.

Now Kournikova’s hands are full with her children and family.

But apart from family Anna Kournikova is now still in the sports world. She plays for good causes to help raise funds for various societal issues like AIDS and HIV, child drug abuse, and helping orphanages all over the world. She is also the global ambassador of the Five & Alive program of Population Services International helping children below the 5 and their families to get the proper health facilities.

News of Anna Kournikova 2022

There is no new news about Kournikova in 2022, what we know is that she is 40 and will be turning 41 very soon in the coming month of June. And as we have mentioned she is living a quiet happy life with her beloved Enrique Iglesias and their three children in Miami Beach, Florida.

The last update we got from Kournikova is when she shared pictures of her children on her Instagram in December 2021. The couple keeps a low-key life about their family and personal matters so it’s hard to get what they are up to but we are sure they are enjoying a happy family life altogether