Anna Kournikova and her post-tennis career
Once upon a time, Russian tennis ace Anna Kournikova was only known for her tennis; characterized by her speed on the court, aggressive play from the baseline, and impeccable angles with great drop shots.
She was successful as a doubles player as well, teaming up with Martina Hingis more often than not, resulting in an impressive record of 200 wins to 71 failures, 16 Women's Tennis Association (WTA) titles and a career high ranking of world number 1. She
was considerably popular at the singles events too, gaining a ranking of world number 8. Nevertheless, Kournikova has won 2 International Tennis Federation (ITF) titles and her total career win-loss ratio is 209 wins to 129 loses in singles.
However, the 29-year-old Kournikova, who recently became a United States citizen, is no longer known for her game. Her professional career has been on hold for almost 7 years as of now, and may be definitely over due to serious spinal injury and back problems.
She still dedicates time to the sport as she participated in exhibition matches at the US Open along with Martina Hingis against Pat Cash and Mats Wilander. She also plays part time for the St Louis Aces, of World Team Tennis, as their headliner.
During her reign as a tennis phenomenon, Internet search threads are flooded with requests for images of her. Always considered to be an attractive woman, Kournikova is now most popular for her swimsuit model spreads in men’s magazines such as Maxim, Sports
Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and Playboy and her high-profile relationship with pop star Enrique Iglesias, whom she has been dating for the last eight years. She is also frequently alluded to as ‘just a pretty face that couldn’t make the cut’. Kournikova was
named one of People’s 50 Most Beautiful People in 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2003. In 2002, she was also ranked as the Hottest Female Athlete and Hottest Couple (with Enrique Iglesias) by ESPN.
Kournikova was not always a hyped up tennis player with looks to get her anywhere in life. She is one of Nick Bollettieri’s protégés, and was the youngest winner of the exalted Junior Orange Bowl tournament. Her 1997 Wimbledon run was supposed to signify
her future success. Unfortunately, her anticipated high-flying tennis career was never realized, and her new career as a swimsuit model came about. Many sports authorities consider this as undeserved; the logic behind this being, if she was unable to succeed
in her on-court career, any other area where she is met with success would be a fluke. However, they overlook the fact that the only reason Kournikova came to the attention of the public was due to her tennis career and the accomplishments she achieved during
that period.
Apart from her sporting prowess, Kournikova is not just a shallow icon. Her recent US citizenship was brought on by her work with the United Services Organization, or the USO, which provides moral support and encouragement to the US military. Just recently,
the former tennis star spent time with military schoolchildren in a bid to cheer them up.
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