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Anna Kournikova

By SARA TEMPLETON

Anna Kournikova is, without a doubt, the biggest thing to happen to womens tennis in, well... ever.

The kind of publicity that Anna Kournikova has generated for women's tennis is astonishing, and many will be quick to agree that it's not her serve that fills stadia.

More an icon than just an athlete, Anna is now a huge success off the court as well, having signed up for what are allegedly very lucrative contracts.

Anna is now one of Omega watches' ambassadors, has a very popular annual calendar and numerous other sponsorship deals, such as with Adidas.

Kournikova has oft been criticised for her tennis talents, or lack thereof, and while her singles game may not be at its peak, currently ranked 50th in the world, she still has solid doubles skills (ranked 20th) and it would be fair to say that the 21-year old has plenty more tennis in her yet.

Currently living in the States (Miami, Florida), Anna was born in Russia on June 7th, 1981. At the tender age of just five, Anna was given a set of tennis racqeuts for Christmas, recalling: "I found my first racquets under the Christmas tree, but I found out later that my parents sold one of their TVs to get me those racquets."

Anna's father, Sergei, was also an athlete - a professional wrestler - and coached tennis part time, while her mother, Alla, studied science and economy in Moscow.

Neither parent was forceful in regards to Anna playing tennis, rather they just wanted her to stay active, to play a sport.

Soon after starting tennis in Moscow, her natural tennis talents came to the fore and she was invited to become a member of the famed Spartak Tennis Club.

Once there, she received coaching lessons from the spouse of Olga Morozova, another professional tennis player.

While Anna insists she had a fairly normal childhood, lots of shopping, spending time with friends and the like, by age eight she was already kicking butt in the junior leagues, and at 14 she was the youngest player to win a Fed Cup match, and was also ranked No.1 ITF Junior World Champion.

When she was 15-years old, Anna Kournikova decided to go pro, and she stunned crowds with her impressive shot placement at the 1996 U.S Open, where she made the fourth round.

Suffice to say, ever since her US debut, she's been a very popular tennis star, her ability to bring in crowds simply astounding.

While her game isn't perhaps quite so polished today - many critics suggesting this is due to her rock-star lifestyle - she will be remembered for popularising women's tennis.

And, even if Anna K's tennis career doesn't experience a turnaround, she's still one of the most popular female athletes in the world, and that's saying something...