Anna Kournikova was born in 1981 in Moscow, Russia. She is under 5 feet in height and weights 113 lbs. Anna's talent for tennis was first discovered when she played at a weekly children's sports program, at the age of 5. She started to play and practice more often, despite the fact that her family was not financially well off. The budding tennis player trained and practiced while she was going to school.
In 1992, an 11-year-old Anna moved to Florida with her mother, to attend a Tennis Academy in Bradenton. The tennis facilities made it easier for Anna, who in Moscow had to move around changing gyms, tennis courts and schools often.
In 1995, Anna became a professional tennis player. In 1998 she was the first Russian female to be seeded at the US open since 1976, and in 1998 she reached the Top 10. In 1999 she won her first Grand Slam title at the 1999 Australian Open, winning the doubles title. She has never won a Grand Slam singles title.
Presently endorsed by Adidas, Yonex, Berlei (the famous sports bra), Omega, and Lycos (who has named Anna the most popular athlete on the Internet, moving Michael Jordan to the number 2 spot), Anna has certainly come a long way from the days when her parents could hardly afford to buy her a tennis racket. Anna's earnings for 1999 stood at $11 million for endorsements alone, and they have surely increased by now, making her the highest-paid female tennis player.
Although most of the talk surrounding Anna has to do with her on-again, off-again romances with hockey players Pavel Bure and Sergei Fedorov (who she is allegedly married to), the provocative 20-year-old still claims that her number one dedication in life remains the sport that made her famous: tennis.
