Anna Kournikova was born June 7th, 1981 in Moscow. Her parents names are Allah and Sergei. She received her first tennis raquet at 5 years old when her parents sold their tv to buy her for Christmas.

At nine years old, Anna Kournikova was spotted playing in the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, and was offered the opportunity to train at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida. When Anna was only 13 years old she made it to the final in the Rolex Orange Bowl tournament. There, she unfortunately lost to 18 year old Spaniard Marion Ramon.

At 14, she represented Russia in a Fed cup match and became the youngest player ever to win a fed cup match.

She also won the European Championships and Italian Open Juniors. At the end of 1995, she was ITF Junior World Champion and ranked number 1 in the junior game. She turned pro in October 1995, and in 1997, she reached the semi-final of Wimbledon on her debut there.

After she won the rookie of the year award in 1996. In 1997, she improved very much to even make it to the semis in Wimbledon. She lost to world number one Martina Hingis at the French Open and at Wimbledon. This year, she made her first career WTA final in Key Biscane against Venus Williams in a tough 3 set match. She also won her first doubles title with Monica Seles in Tokyo.

In 1999, she won her first Grand Slam title with Martina Hingis at doubles in the Australian Open. Though a top ten singles player, Anna's only Grand Slam title to date came in the 1999 Australian open Ladies' Doubles with Hingis.

Presently endorsed by Adidas, Yonex, Berlei the famous sports bra, Omega, and Lycos. Anna has certainly come a long way from the days when her parents could hardly afford to buy her a tennis racket.