She went from a top 10 tennis player to The Biggest Loser — but not in the way you think.
We’re serving the details on Anna Kournikova.
Anna Kournikova was born in Moscow, Russia on June 7, 1981.
Her father, Sergei Kournikova, was a former Greco-Roman wrestling champion who held a
Ph.D. and later became a professor of sports and athletics.
Kournikova's mother, Alla, was a 400-meter runner in her youth.
Kournikova was 5 years old when she got her first tennis racket for Christmas.
She started playing regularly soon after.
According to SportsMates, Kournikova later explained to an interviewer,
”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.”
At age 7, Kournikova was enrolled at the prestigious Spartak Tennis Club, where renowned coach
Larissa Preobrazhenskaya trained her.
"I must win, I must play hard."
Three years into training at the Spartak Tennis Club, Anna Kournikova began playing and excelling
in junior tournaments.
Before long, the young tennis star started gaining attention from tennis scouts around the world.
Eventually, this resulted in her signing a management deal at age 10, which brought her
a lucrative opportunity to train at Nick Bollettieri's elite-level tennis academy.
According to CNN, Bollettieri's only thought upon seeing her play was, "holy mackerel."
"She was brilliant at the net.
She was a genius."
Moving to the U.S. would later pay off in her tennis career.
At age 14, Kournikova won the European Championships and the Italian Open junior tournaments.
In September 1995, Kournikova made her WTA debut when she received a wildcard place to
compete in the qualifiers for the Moscow Ladies Open.
Remarkably, she managed to progress to the main draw, but bowed out against third-seeded
Sabine Appelmans in the second round.
Later that year, Kournikova would go on to become the youngest player to win the Junior
Orange Bowl in Florida.
Such a meteoric rise culminated in her being crowned 1995's ITF Junior World Champion and
Junior European Champion.
Anna Kournikova enjoyed further junior-level success in 1996.
Later that year, she started being coached by Ed Nagel who helped prepare Kournikova
for the next stage of her development: Grand Slam tournaments.
Symbolizing the pinnacle of the sport, Grand Slams include the four biggest tennis competitions:
the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open.
Kournikova debuted at her first Grand Slam, the U.S. Open, at age 15.
After winning her first-round match against Czech-born Ludmila Richterova, Kournikova
spoke positively about the experience, telling The New York Times:
"It's already a good tournament for me.
I qualified and then I won my first match.
So I think that's great."
Such a confident attitude helped her progress past her second- and third-round opponents,
when she faced multiple Grand Slam champion and No.1 seed Steffi Graf.
Kournikova suffered a sobering 6-2, 6-1 defeat, but her successful debut catapulted her ranking
from number 144 to 69.
Such success was duly recognized at the sport's end-of-year awards, where she was voted WTA
newcomer of the year for 1996.
Anna Kournikova continued to improve in the 1997 season.
She started making inroads into the doubles game as she finished the year ranked 32nd
in singles and 41st in doubles.
Kournikova's most notable success story that year was reaching the Wimbledon semifinal
in her debut outing.
However, she lost to the eventual champion and fellow rising star Martina Hingis.
The following season, in 1998, Kournikova broke into the WTA top 20 rankings for the
first time and was seeded 16th for that year's Australian Open.
This was followed up by reaching her first WTA singles final at the Miami Open, where
she lost in three sets to now-legendary player Venus Williams.
This success was matched and even surpassed in the doubles discipline, where she partnered
with Monica Seles to win her first WTA doubles title in Tokyo.
Kournikova finished the year ranked 10th.
Going into the 1999 season, Anna Kournikova was still determined to excel in the singles
discipline — but this year would showcase her outstanding abilities in the doubles game.
At the 1999 Australian Open, she once again partnered up with fierce rival Martina Hingis,
and together they won the tournament.
This marked Kournikova's first Grand Slam title and the first with Hingis, who dubbed
the pair "the Spice Girls of tennis.”
Kournikova commented on this blossoming partnership by telling the Associated Press,
”It feels great.
I was really lucky to play with Martina and it's a great tradition."
This superb start to the season was followed by more success, as Kournikova and Hingis
won titles at Indian Wells, Rome, Eastbourne, and the year-ending WTA Finals.
This consistency resulted in Kournikova climbing to the No. 1 ranking in doubles, which was
her finishing position that season.
As a result, she and Hingis were presented with the WTA award for doubles team of the year.
As a young, rising tennis star, Anna Kournikova began courting the attention of commercial
partners who were keen to sign her up for lucrative sponsorship deals.
While her exploits in the game earned her just over $3.5 million in prize money by the
completion of her career, this sum was easily surpassed by her early sponsorship deals.
Deals with brands such as Berlei lingerie and sportswear brand Adidas reportedly earned
Kournikova $6 million in 2000, on top of her $748,000 in prize money that season.
Added to this were deals with Omega watches and K-Swiss shoe wear, which boosted her commercial
earnings to a reported $10 million per year.
Tournament organizers capitalized on her commercial success by scheduling her matches on show
courts, even though her ranking would normally not warrant this.
This was remarked upon by tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg, who told CNN,
”I think a lot of other players were jealous of her, perhaps deservingly so.
She got a lot more attention and a lot more endorsement money than a lot of players who
were better than her."
Today, Celebrity Net Worth estimates Kournikova's total net worth at $50 million.
As a highly marketable athlete, Anna Kournikova translated her success to music, agreeing
to play the love interest in Enrique Iglesias' music video for "Escape."
"Uh, she's totally cool.
She's the coolest.
She's, she's great."
The love affair did not stop there.
After the video was filmed, Iglesias and Kournikova began dating.
The pair have kept their personal life private — and despite Kournikova listing her Instagram
name as Anna Kournikova Iglesias, it is unclear if the couple is actually married.
We do know that they are parents to fraternal twins, Nicholas and Lucy, born in December
2017, and a third child, Mary, who was born in January 2020.
In recent years, Kournikova has mostly kept a low profile away from the spotlight.
However, she did pose for the cover of Cosmopolitan Russia's 25th-anniversary edition in 2019,
where she also gave her first interview since having children.
Today, Kournikova has built up a strong following on Instagram, and regularly shares posts of
her spending time with her family.
Anna Kournikova's 2001 season started positively, as she reached her second Grand Slam quarter-final
at the Australian Open.
However, this was soon reversed by a stress fracture in her left foot that required surgery.
The injury forced Kournikova to withdraw from a dozen tournaments, including the French
Open and Wimbledon.
2002 saw a resurgence in fitness and form, as Kournikova competed in the semifinals of
Auckland, Tokyo, Acapulco, and San Diego, as well as the finals of the China Open.
But again, her greatest success was in doubles, with her and Martina Hingis winning the Australian
Open title.
Kournikova experienced more injuries in 2003, as a sprained back and an adductor strain
caused her to miss much of the season.
It was the back injury that ultimately forced Kournikova to retire.
Anna Kournikova has not played competitively since retiring at the end of 2003, but she
has participated in exhibition matches for charitable causes.
In late 2004, she joined Elton John and fellow tennis player Andre Agassi in a fundraising
event for AIDS charities.
She reunited with Elton in 2008 in an exhibition event, raising funds for Elton's AIDS Foundation
and the Atlanta AIDS Partnership Fund.
The following year, Kournikova teamed up with American tennis great Jim Courier and took
on fellow American greats John McEnroe and Tracy Austin at the ”Legendary Night”
at New York's Turning Stone Event Center.
In 2010, Anna Kournikova appeared on NBC's weight-loss reality TV show The Biggest Loser,
coaching contestants in tennis workout challenges.
"Tennis is something that your whole body gets a huge workout.
You're constantly on your feet."
After this initial guest appearance, Kournikova joined the program as a regular the next season.
According to Digital Spy, Kournikova was quoted as saying at the time,
"This is an amazing opportunity for me to join 'The Biggest Loser' family.”
Unfortunately for Kournikova, this opportunity only lasted one season.
Her contract wasn't renewed for Season 13, as she was allegedly described as a "nightmare”
to work with and as unsympathetic to losing contestants.
Kournikova said in a statement at the time:
"I enjoyed my time on 'The Biggest Loser' ranch.
Although I will not be returning as a full-time trainer on Season 13, I will always be a part
of 'The Biggest Loser' family, and my commitment to bettering lives through health and fitness
will continue."
Although Anna Kournikova may not have been as successful as some of her peers, various
Russian tennis players have spoken of Kournikova's positive influence on their careers.
For instance, Grand Slam singles champion Svetlana Kuznetsova holds Kournikova in high regard.
Kuznetsova told the WTA in 2017:
"For me, she brought really big popularity to Russian tennis, women's tennis.
Everyone after her was just after her.
For me, she was a big, huge push."
She even dismissed Kournikova's critics who cite her career as a failure, adding,
"I always defend her when they say 'Oh, she never won a tournament.'
So what?
She was a top 10 player.
It's not just about winning tournaments.
I think she was great."