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, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles. 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.[5] [edit] 1999 At the end of the season, Anna Kournikova was ranked #12 in singles and #1 in doubles.[5] Also at times during 1999, she was the most searched athlete in the world on Yahoo!, the premier search engine of the day.[6] On January 31, Anna Kournikova and Martina Hingis won a grand slam title in women's doubles. They defeated Lindsay Davenport and Natasha Zvereva at the finals of the Australian Open. Kournikova played the finals at Hilton Head, where she lost to Hingis. She also played the semifinals in Oklahoma City (lost to Amanda Coetzer), Amelia Island (lost to Ruxandra Dragomir) and Eastbourne (lost to Nathalie Tauziat). She was more successful in doubles. Partnering Martina Hingis, she won the titles in Indian Wells, the Rome, Eastbourne and the WTA Championships, and played the finals of the French Open and Stanford (partnering with Elena Likhovtseva). At the end of the year, Anna Kournikova and Martina Hingis were presented with the WTA Award for Doubles Team of the Year. She lost in the final of the mixed doubles at Wimbledon, partnering Jonas Björkman. [edit] 2000 In 2000, Anna Kournikova broke into the top 10, reaching No. 8 in singles.[5] She was also ranked #4 in doubles at the end of the season.[5] In singles she reached the finals of the Kremlin Cup, where she lost to Martina Hingis. She also reached eight semifinals and seven quarter finals.[4] She was again more successful in doubles. She played the finals of the mixed doubles at the US Open, partnering with Max Mirnyi. With Julie Halard-Decugis, she won the tournament in Gold Coast, Australia. Partnering with Barbara Schett, she reached the semifinals of the Australian Open. With Natasha Zvereva, she lost in the finals at Indian Wells. They also won at Hamburg. She lost in the finals at San Diego, partnering with Lindsay Davenport. With Martina Hingis, she won at Zürich, the Kremlin Cup, and at Philadelphia and the WTA Championships. [edit] 2001 This season was dominated by injury, including a left foot stress fracture which forced her withdrawal from twelve tournaments, including the French Open and Wimbledon.[4] She underwent surgery in April.[4] She reached her second career grand slam quarter finals, at the Australian Open. Kournikova then withdrew from several events due to continuing problems with her left foot and did not return until Leipzig. With Barbara Schett, she won the doubles title in Sydney. She then lost in the finals in Tokyo, partnering with Iroda Tulyaganova, and at San Diego, partnering with Martina Hingis. Hingis and Kournikova also won the Kremlin Cup. At the end of the 2001 season, she was ranked #74 in singles and #26 in doubles.[5] [edit] 2002 In this season, Anna Kournikova was quite successful. She reached the semifinals of Auckland, Tokyo, Acapulco and San Diego, and the finals of Shanghai. She lost to Anna Smashnova. This was Kournikova's last singles finals and the last chance to win a single title. With Martina Hingis, Anna Kournikova lost in the finals of Sydney, but they won their second grand slam title together, Australian Open in women's doubles. They also lost in the quarterfinals of U.S. Open. With Chanda Rubin, Anna Kournikova played the semifinals of Wimbledon, but they lost to Serena and Venus Williams. Partnering Janet Lee, she won the Shangai title. At the end of 2002 season, she was ranked #35 in singles and #11 in doubles.[5] [edit] 2003 In 2003, Anna Kournikova collected first grand slam match victory in two years at Australian Open. She defeated Henrieta Nagyová in the 1st round, and then lost to Justine Henin-Hardenne in the 2nd round. She withdrew from Tokyo due to sprained back suffered at Australian Open and did not return to Tour until Miami. Kournikova retired in the 1st round of Charleston due to left adductor strain. She reached the semifinals at ITF tournament in Sea Island, before withdrawing from match versus Maria Sharapova due to adductor injury. She lost in the 1st round of ITF tournament in Charlottesville. She did not compete for rest of season due to continuing back injury At the end of 2003 season and her professional career, she was ranked #305 in singles and #176 in doubles.[5] [edit] Career summary Kournikova's two Grand Slam doubles titles came in 1999 and 2002, both at the Australian Open in the Women's Doubles event with partner Martina Hingis, with whom she played frequently starting in 1999. Kournikova proved a successful doubles player on the professional circuit, winning 16 tournament doubles titles, including two Australian Opens and being a finalist in mixed doubles at the U.S. Open and at Wimbledon, and reaching the No.1 ranking in doubles in the Women's Tennis Association tour rankings. Her pro career doubles record was 200-71. However, her singles career plateaued after 1999. For the most part, she managed to retain her ranking between 10 and 15 (her career high singles ranking was No.8), but her expected finals breakthrough failed to occur; she only reached four finals out of 130 singles tournaments, never in a Grand Slam event, and never won one. Her singles record is 209-129. Her final playing years were marred by a string of injuries, especially back injuries, which caused her ranking to erode gradually. [edit] Present Kournikova has not played on the WTA Tour since 2003, but still plays exhibition matches for charitable causes. In late 2004, she participated in three events organized by Elton John and by fellow tennis players Serena Williams and Andy Roddick. In January 2005, she played in a doubles charity event for the Indian Ocean tsunami with John McEnroe, Roddick, and Chris Evert. In November 2005, she teamed up with Martina Hingis, playing against Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur in the WTT finals for charity. Kournikova is also a member of the St. Louis Aces in the World Team Tennis (WTT), playing doubles only. In September 2008, Kournikova showed up for the 2008 Nautica Malibu Triathlon held at Zuma Beach in Malibu.[7] The Race raised funds for children's Hospital Los Angeles. She won that race for women's K-Swiss team.[7] On September 27, 2008, Kournikova played exhibition matches in Charlotte, North Carolina; she played two mixed doubles matches.[8] She partnered Tim Wilkison and Karel Novacek.[8] Kournikova and Wilkinson defeated Jimmy Arias and Chanda Rubin, and then Kournikova and Novacek defeated Chanda Rubin and Tim Wilkison.[8] On October 12, 2008, Anna Kournikova played one exibitional match for the annual charity event, hosted by Billie Jean King and Sir Elton John, raised more than $400,000 for the Elton John AIDS Foundation and Atlanta AIDS Partnership Fund.[9] She played doubles with Andy Roddick (they were coached by Sir Elton John) versus Martina Navratilova and Jesse Levine (coached by Billie Jean King); Kournikova and Roddick won 5-4(3).[9] She is the current K-Swiss spokesperson.[10] In a feature for ELLE magazine's July 2005 issue, Kournikova stated that if she were 100% fit, she would like to come back and compete again. [edit] Playing style As a player, Kournikova was noted for her footspeed and aggressive baseline play, and excellent angles and dropshots; however, her relatively flat, high-risk groundstrokes tended to produce frequent errors, and her serve was sometimes unreliable in singles. Kournikova holds her racket in her right hand but uses both hands when she plays backhand shots.[1] She is a good player at the net.[11] She can hit forceful groundstrokes and also drop shots.[12] Her playing style fits the profile for a doubles player, and is complemented by her height[13]. She has been compared to such doubles specialists as Pam Shriver and Peter Fleming.[13] [edit] Personal life Kournikova's marital status has been an issue on several occasions. There were conflicting rumors about whether or not she was engaged to ice hockey player Pavel Bure. There were reports that she married NHL ice hockey star Sergei Fedorov in 2001. Kournikova's representatives have denied this, but Fedorov stated in 2003 that the couple had married and since divorced. Kournikova started dating pop star Enrique Iglesias in late 2001, (in whose video, "Escape", she appeared), and rumors that the couple had secretly married appeared in 2003 and again in 2005. Kournikova herself has consistently refused to directly confirm or deny rumors about the status of her personal relationships. But, in May 2007, Enrique Iglesias was (mistakenly, as he would clarify later) quoted in the New York Sun that he had no intention to marry Anna and settle down because they had split up. The singer would later deny these rumors of "divorce" or simply separation. In June 2008, Iglesias told the Daily Star that he had married Kournikova the previous year and that they are currently separated. [14] Enrique has stated in interviews after that that it was simply a joke[15], and they are still very much together. Anna Kournikova's favorite movie is Pretty Woman and television series Desperate Housewives.[16] She also loves the music of Enrique Iglesias, Elton John, Sade and Gwen Stefani; her favorite color is black.[16] [edit] Media publicity Most of Kournikova's fame has come from the publicity surrounding her personal life, as well as numerous modeling shoots. During Kournikova's debut at the 1996 U.S. Open at the age of 15, the world noticed her beauty, and soon pictures of her appeared in numerous magazines worldwide. In 2000, Kournikova became the new face for Berlei's shock absorber sports bras, and appeared in the highly successful "only the ball should bounce" billboard campaign. Photographs of her scantily-clad form have appeared in various men's magazines, including one in the much-publicized 2004 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, where she posed in bikinis and swimsuits, and in other popular men's publications such as FHM and Maxim. Kournikova was named one of People's 50 Most Beautiful People in 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2003 and was voted "hottest female athlete" and "hottest couple" (with Iglesias) on ESPN.com. In 2002 she also placed first in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women in the World in U.S. and UK editions. By contrast, ESPN—citing the degree of hype as compared to actual accomplishments as a singles player—ranked Kournikova 18th in its "25 Biggest Sports Flops of the Past 25 Years". [17] Kournikova was also ranked #1 in the ESPN Classic series "Who's number 1?" when the series featured sport's most overrated athletes. [edit] Awards 1996: WTA Newcomer of the Year 1999: WTA Doubles Team of the Year (with Martina Hingis) 2002: ESPN Hottest Female Athlete [edit] Grand Slam doubles finals (3) Kournikova with Martina Hingis in Sydney in 2002

Sex toys | Crazy XXX Videos | Nudist Pics | LoveKiller | HomeMadeFucked | MyPersonalFriends | Timekiller Erotic | add hardlink