How a sports star was made from Kournikova, and she became a mother of many children, a housewife and a millionaire
'21.08.2020'
Source: Championship
In honor of Anna Kournikova, the combination of an ace and a king (AK) is named in poker. “Looks pretty, but rarely wins,” poker players joke. But Anna herself is proud of her achievements, the main of which is her family, writes Championship.
Little Anya Kournikova grew up as a mobile, sociable child, unable to sit in one place, so her parents had no doubts that the girl should be given to sports. Moreover, both of them were athletes: mother Alla is an athlete, and father Sergei is a wrestler. From the age of five, Anya studied in the subscription group at Luzhniki, but then she was brought to Spartak on Shiryaevo Pole to the famous coach Larisa Dmitrievna Preobrazhenskaya.
The successes were not long in coming. When Kournikova was 10 years old, she won the prestigious Lemon Bowl in Italy. It was there that she was noticed by representatives of the Nick Bollettieri Academy, who invited the girl to come to Florida for a screening. And in 1992, Anna and her mother ended up in the United States, where a talented Russian tennis player was given a place at a prestigious tennis academy.
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It is curious that a little later, a pupil of the same courts on Shiryaevka, Marat Safin, who was one year older than Anna, went to the Bollettieri Academy for a viewing. But, unlike Kournikova, the eminent coach did not like Safin. Bollettieri said that nothing would come of him, and even Alla Kournikova's requests to take the boy had no effect.
Years later, Marat described the Bollettieri Academy in the following way: “This is pure commerce. They make money. They are very turned on themselves. " As a matter of fact, Nick Bollettieri himself did not hide the fact that he was looking for future stars around the world and he succeeded - dozens of champions came out of these walls: Agassi, Courier, Seles, Sharapova and others. And from Kournikova, they also made the same great champion. Nick himself devoted a lot of time to classes with a young Russian woman.
“It is important for me that there is a tactic, a game pattern. And Anya began to beat them on all fences according to the principle - the stronger the better. And she also began to scream like Monica Seles, who was her idol, ”recalled the first coach Kournikova Preobrazhenskaya.
Nick Bollettieri himself was very sorry that he could not deliver those shots to Kournikova that could help her win tournaments. At different times, in different interviews, representatives of the academy complained that Kournikova's mother Alla interfered in the training process, greatly influenced her daughter and did not allow her to take any action without her approval and consent. This applied to training, and participation in tournaments, and advertising contracts.
It is curious that Maria Sharapova, in her autobiography, said that due to the intrigues of Alla Kournikova she had to leave the academy for some time: “My father had problems with the Kournikovs, especially with Anna's mother. It seems to me that she was not thrilled that we appeared at the academy. Until that moment, Anna was a lovely Russian star. And suddenly she had a competitor. "
Everyone expected from Anna Kournikova in the professional tour the same success as other wonderful girls - Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati. At first, the Russian woman was doing pretty well - in the same 1996 she made her way through the qualifications to the main draw of the US Open and successfully debuted at the Grand Slam tournaments - she reached the fourth round, where she lost only to the legendary Steffi Graf, who eventually became the champion ...
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The next season, Anna reached the semifinals at Wimbledon, where the future champion, Martina Hingis, also blocked her way. These successes have attracted the attention of not only fans, tennis experts, but also advertisers to Kournikova. A young Russian beauty who also wins - that was a discovery. From that moment on, the dizzying rise of the Anna Kournikova brand began.
In honor of Anna Kournikova, the combination of an ace and a king (AK) is named in poker. “Looks pretty, but rarely wins,” poker players say.
To some extent, this is true, but we must not forget that it was Anna who became the first Russian tennis player to break into the top 10. In November 2000, she was able to climb to the 8th line of the ranking, for three years in a row she made her way to the WTA Final Championship, and in 2000 she was a semifinalist. And in doubles, the Russian woman was the first racket in the world, she won the Australian Open (1999, 2002) and the WTA Final Championship (1999, 2000) with Martina Hingis twice. All in all, Kournikova has 16 doubles titles, including the 2001 Kremlin Cup.
As for the titles of Kournikova in singles, Anna really never won a single tournament. There were many reasons for this. To begin with, the Russian woman was fantastically unlucky - she made it to the finals of major and prestigious tournaments four times, and in all cases lost. For example, Venus Williams defeated Kournikova in the 1998 Miami final, and Martina Hingis twice proved to be stronger than the Russian in the decisive match - in Charleston-1999 and the Kremlin Cup-2000.
In addition, Anna suffered endless injuries. Perhaps this was due to the fact that she started too early in the adult tour, and her body could not withstand the overload. And in February 2001, Kournikova suffered a stress fracture of her left foot and was forced to undergo surgery. The doctors of the German clinic, to whom the athlete turned for help, advised her to pause in her performances and not to rush to the court.
But she did not listen to these advice - she performed in a tournament in San Diego in August, after which she again felt pain in her leg and withdrew from all the remaining American tournaments, including the US Open. New problems began in Moscow at the 2002 Kremlin Cup. While playing a doubles match on the courts of Olimpiyskiy, Anna injured her leg. A thorough medical examination revealed a partial rupture of the ankle ligaments of the same left leg. After that, Kournikova was no longer able to show high results - the 2003 season was her last.
For 8 years of professional Anna Kournikova has earned $ 3 in prize money. However, she received much more at her own expense for various advertising contracts. According to Forbes, in the early 584s, a Russian woman earned about $ 662 million per year, and the British newspaper The Mirror in 2000 calculated that Anna had an income of $ 10 thousand a week. That is, Kournikova earned an average of $ 2001 per day, and $ 225 per hour.
Each lived minute brought Anna $ 22 and 32 cents regardless of what she was doing at that moment. Where did these numbers come from? A long-term contract with the then world's largest Internet portal TerraLycos ($ 10 million), a contract with the sports outfit Adidas ($ 3,15 million), an advertising contract with lingerie manufacturer Berlei ($ 2,1 million), watches advertising Omega ($ 1,4 million), a contract with tennis racket manufacturer Yonex ($ 1,4 million), an advertising contract with mobile phone manufacturers Pegaso ($ 1,4 million).
Sensational successes on the court and striking appearance could not but lead to the appearance of a whole army of Kournikova fans. In 1996, at one of the parties, Anna met the Detroit Red Wings hockey player Sergei Fedorov. They appear together in public, and reports appeared in the press every now and then that young people were either engaged, or even secretly got married. We talked about another tennis player's boyfriend - Pavel Bure. He played for the Florida Panthers and was Kournikova's neighbor on the Miami apartment complex.
However, in 2001, Anna was invited to take part in the filming of the video for the song Escape of the young but already famous singer Enrique Iglesias. The participants in the filming process claimed that a spark immediately ran between the young people, especially since, according to the script, there were love scenes with kisses.
This meeting predetermined the entire future fate of Kournikova - Anna and Enrique have been together for almost 20 years, although they never had any magnificent public weddings.
In December 2017, Anna and Enrique became the parents of twins Nicholas and Lucy, and in January 2020, the couple had a daughter, who was named by the Russian name Masha. In recent years, Anna devoted herself entirely to Enrique, and after the birth of children, she finally plunged into family life, becoming an exemplary housewife and mother of many children.
Svetlana Kuznetsova, for example, watched Kournikova do her own household chores and go to the local market to choose tomatoes. Enrique does not lag behind her and admits that he is happy to change diapers for his little daughter: “I hardly sleep, but I am having a great time! I mean, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I change diapers myself and can feed my daughter. But I still need help sometimes. "
Once, when Kournikova had already left professional tennis, but was still playing at demonstration competitions, including in the WTT League (World Team Tennis) as a guest star, the tennis player was asked to name the most important achievements for herself. And the answer was very worthy!
“I was born in the Soviet Union. We didn't have anything. I grew up in a one-room apartment where five people lived. Tennis gave me a different life, an opportunity for realization. I won the top five rackets in the world when they were at their peak - Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Lindsay Davenport, Aranchi Sanchez and Conchita Martinez. I beat Martina Hingis when she was in great shape. I have achieved a lot. It was very difficult. And I am happy. The most important thing is that I am now alive, healthy and there are wonderful people around me, ”Anna said.
