Anna Kournikova Professional Tennis Player

Anna Kournikova Professional Tennis Player

Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova also known as Anna Kournikova is an professional female tennis player, was born on 7 June 1981 in Moscow, Soviet Union, on June 7, 1981. Her father, Sergei Kournikov, was 20 at the time. Sergei, a former Greco-Roman wrestling champion, had earned a Ph.D. and was a professor at the University of Physical Culture and Sport in Moscow. As of 2001, he was still a part-time martial arts instructor there. Her mother Alla, who was 18 when Anna was born, had been a 400-meter runner.Anna Kournikova received her first tennis racquet as a New Year gift in 1986 at age 5. Anna says: “I played two times a week from age five. It was a children’s program. And it was just for fun; my parents didn’t know I was going to play professionally, they just wanted me to do something because I had lots of energy. It was only when I started playing well at seven that I went to a professional academy. I would go to school, and then my parents would take me to the club, and I’d spend the rest of the day there just having fun with the kids.” In 1986, Anna became a member of the prestigious Spartak Tennis Club, coached by Larissa Preobrazhenskaya. In 1989, at the age of eight, Anna began appearing in junior tournaments, and by the following year, was attracting attention from tennis scouts across the world. Anna signed a management deal at age ten and went to Bradenton, Florida to train at Nick Bollettieri’s celebrated tennis academy.