Anna Kournikova: child prodigy, doubles champion ... Famous Loser
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- čas přidán 29. 08. 2022
- People tend to remember Anna Kournikova as overhyped, and it's not entirely off-base. Kournikova, thanks in large part to her marketable sex-symbol status, became way more famous than some much more accomplished athletes. But even if that simple label takes root in reality, it flattens Kournikova's path to receiving it. It neglects how Kournikova hit the tour as a child prodigy, how her image received attention long before she could control it, and how her career included both genuine success and premature disruption. Anna Kournikova might have been overhyped, but she was a lot of other things, too.
Written and produced by Seth Rosenthal
Directed and edited by Jiazhen Zhang
Motion graphics by Michael Das
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This was well done. I’m glad you mentioned the doubles success. People forget that at one point she was ranked among the best in the world. Also losing to Williams sisters isn’t a detraction.
That’s exactly what I remember her as now. She was a doubles specialist that couldn’t quite achieve the same success in singles.
@@HypocritesExposd Pam Shriver without the career longevity.
(Pam didn’t marry a pop star, but she did marry James Bond. That’s a push.)
I wish I could claim to be the 8th in the world at something
Wasn't she _the_ best doubles player for a while?
Getting your ass kicked by GOATs is never a detraction lol.
I'm surprised that it wasn't mentioned in the video that despite not winning a title, she was the answer to the trivia question: who is the only women's tennis player to ever beat four top ten players in consecutive matches?
She lost the final of that tournament to Venus Williams.
Thanks for this. Never realized she was ranked top 10 or won doubles championships. The way she was talked about in the early-mid 2000s had given me the impression she was a mid-level player who never accomplished anything.
Think about it. You don't get a lot of television exposure if you're always eliminated in the first or second round.
@@big8dog887 counterpoint: the cowboys
@@yikes6969
We're talking about tennis, but, still, clever comment, I laughed.
@@yikes6969 the cowboys actually prove the above example bc they were really good once in the 90s and then became a soap opera.
She didn’t accomplish anything the chick I’d just pretty stop it she was never going to be Serena in fact the only reason she got recognized is because Serena always beat her azz stop out. If she want yt you would never do content on her don’t see sloane on her and she’s now way be then Ana ever was keep pushing that yt agenda.
Loving all the obscure late 90s-early 2000s nostalgia this series is bringing on. Really bringing back what it felt like to be there from a pop culture standpoint
If people like Paris Hilton and Kim K get famous for doing absolutely nothing I don't see why this lady can't be famous. At least she had talent at something unlike those famous for being famous women.
Fame and celebrity is ridiculous as a concept, not just when it's given to those you deem undeserving
To be fair, it's hard to win titles during an era with the Williams sisters, Hingis, and Davenport all in their prime. I never held that against her. It's clear she saw an opportunity and made the most of it. She had a small window and used it to her advantage.
It's ironic. Females who got attention because they can hit a ball well were envious of a woman who got attention because she was pretty.
Yeah, that's like faulting NBA players for not winning a title during the Bulls Dynasty.
100%
@@hulk6785 or faulting any male tennis players in the last 20 years for not winning a grand slam. Since (and including) Federer’s first Wimbledon championship, him, Nadal, and Djokovic have won 63/80 slams! The last 25 years of Tennis (Men’s and Women’s) have been something special to witness.
Yeah she wasn't good enough even though her celebrity (for obvious reasons) made it seem otherwise.
Honestly, she was one of the Top 20 in the world for a long time. That’s really dang hard to do.
Unfortunately top 20 players get lost to history
But the NOOOO titles is nuts
Honestly, she achieved a lot for someone that retired at 22
THIS. this girl was consistently ranked in the single digits. people think that 8th in the world means she's some scrub.
Ya always blows my mind when people have any success as 20 somethings in pro sports
Didn’t realize she retired at 22
The youngins got busy in this era
They were so good right away
I sincerly love this new series, keep it up guys!
Even during the intro portion, when you guys highlight that she stood out in the Forbes list for being ranked lower than the others, I was mentally screaming "SHE'S #12 IN THE WORLD!" This basically could have been an episode of Untitled, because it really is shocking that she never won a title. She was a spectacular tennis player, who just happened to come of age at the same time as some of the sport's greats. I'm glad we got the chance to see her in that French Open doubles final, sharing the court with Martina Hingis and the Williams sisters. The big takeaway from that should be that she wasn't out of place on that court. She belonged there.
Great video
i mean in retrospect the talent she was matched against was also ABSURD, like the williams sisters alone are both generational talents
"This basically could have been an episode of Untitled" - do you mean Untold?
@@keikei3357 No, "Untitled" is a Secret Base series on great players/teams that didn't win any titles.
Yeah, dismissing Anna because she didn't win a singles title is like dismissing an NFL QB who didn't win a Super Bowl or another Super Bowl because they happened to play in the same era as Tom Brady.
I know you mean single majors, I remember her winning a few doubles before the Williams sisters joined the tour.
Growing up near Detroit in the 1990s, I remember Anna and Sergei Fedorov were a power couple and went to all the Stanley cup parades together. It’s like everybody collectively ignore the fact she was 16 at the time…
I remember thinking it was pretty creepy at the time. A few years later, one of the lad mags (I don't think it was Maxim, but I can't remember the one) introduced Federov as someone who got to have sex with a teenage Anna Kournikova. As gorgeous as she was (and probably is), she was 22 at the time of the article, and hearing a beat writer talk wistfully about jailbait was disturbing to say the least.
John McEnroe literally called it out on the air one time when Anna and Sergei where sitting in the stands at a match. He said something to the effect of "This isn't Russia, Sergei better watch himself in New York." Because they were telling everyone "They were just friends."
@@wvu05 well, maxim was pretty cringe
Wow this was all going down 20+ year afore now! If you had asked me five minutes ago if I remember Anna’s name I would have said “yeah, she was really famous about four or five years ago right?”. Where the heck have I been the last two decades?!
Home girl played the game to perfection and won, she’s worth tens of millions decades after her peak popularity and she’s the blueprint for the Kim Kardashians and others who were famous for being famous.
She knew her level in tennis 🎾…but she was smart so she capitalised on her looks…genius
Kim is famous for not being famous imo.
Unlike the talentless Kardashians except for sex. Anna was an elite athlete as one can get!
Bit harsh. She had an insane level of talent and was a top ten tennis player while Kim K and people like Paris Hilton are literally just famous for being rich
@@ringomarks1972 Don't forget their "home movie's".
So. An Olympian, top 10 in singles, Tour Finals SF in singles, 2 Grand Slam Doubles, 2 Tour Finals Doubles Titles, 12 other Doubles titles.
For anyone else, this would be a perfectly respectable career. I can't help but feel that she's not a case of "only famous cos she's hot" but rather "we ignore her achievements cos she's hot"
And all of that before she was 22! Imagine what she could've done had she not struggled so much with injuries
That's not really what happened. The amount of coverage dedicated to her was outsized, while they were actively ignoring the performance of other players who were winning. It was so prevalent that when Maria Sharapova came onto the scene and they started calling her "Kourniklona", Maria fired back with "I'm not the next Kournikova, I want to win matches".
The top woman on that Forbes list mentioned in the video is Martina Hingis, who carried Kournikova to her 2 GS Doubles titles. We know this because those were the only 2 GS doubles titles that Anna ever won. Hingis finished with 13, including a calendar year doubles GS. Hingis won GS titles with 8 different partners.
Tennis fans don't ignore her achievements because she's hot. They ignore her achievements because they're solidly mid-tier for a top tennis pro. As for the disdain and shade, yeah, that's definitely thrown at her because of her attractiveness.
That’s basically what the OP is saying… a perfectly respectable career or in your words “solidly mid-tier”. Sure the coverage didn’t match the success relatively, but don’t be mad at Anna, who couldn’t control the media’s coverage. Be mad at the media for ignoring better, more deserving players on the tour
We as sports fans have a bad habit of only respecting the best of the best in a sport without realizing Anna had a better career than plenty who never even made it to professional tennis
@@seanscott2677 It was the "we ignore her achievements because she's hot" part that I soundly disagree with. He achievements are known, and not ignored.
Jana Novotna won a Grand Slam, 12 doubles GS titles (a career GS), 4 mixed doubles GS titles, and the first thing anyone will mention about her is that she was a point away from 5-1 at Wimbledon before she collapsed and gave Steffi Graf the title, and then cried on the Duchess of Kent's shoulder at the trophy ceremony. She's the de facto reference point for when someone chokes in a women's final. That's what it looks like when you have your achievements ignored.
Aaron Krickstein is the current men's record holder for youngest man to crack the top 10, the youngest man to win a singles title, and is tied for the record for most victories after being down 2 sets. He won 9 titles, and went to 2 GS semis. The only thing anyone ever mentions about him is that 1991 loss to Connors. That's what it looks like when you have your achievements ignored.
Neither of these players is getting a Secret Base episode dedicated to their careers, which are objectively better than Anna's. So, once again, "ignored" is not what is happening with Anna's career accomplishments. She's getting an unnecessary level of disdain, but she's not getting ignored.
Ok. Name another medal-less olympian, top 12 ladies singles with ZERO TITLE, ladies doubles grand slam champ (being carried by hingis) other than her. You know what? Don't bother it was rhetorical, ik you can't name another. she is good but her fans and simp like you will never accept the fact that she is overrated
She was really good. You don't get to the top ten in the rankings by being a slouch. She just happened to play at the same time as the Williamses, Hingis, Davenport, Clijsters, and some others. All insanely good.
let's everybody just acknowledge how Seth hands-down makes the best videos and is a superb storyteller. Thank you Seth!
Team Clara til i die
@@willbuikema1099 you don't have to die, man! you can stan in a reasonable way.
Rumbling Jon Bois noises. Seth does make more content, but don't awaken the Beeftank.
@@willbuikema1099 that sounds like BEEEEEF!
Jon Bois is pretty good.
This is the best sports channel on YT. Thank you, all of you, for the commitment and detail you put into every video. Even the simpler series have an unprecedented amount of thought and research put into them. I appreciate all of you.
The absolute Best
1) Secret Base
2) Pat Macafee
3) Everything else
Man you guys keep making stuff that makes me go back in time and reminisce, I swear to God it's like I take a trip down memory lane every time I watch SB nation nka Secret Base
I remember the vitriol at the time from some of her competitors in thinking she was using tennis as a sideshow for her modeling career. Thing was, I never remember Anna flaunting her looks and popularity in an egregious way that other "celebrities" did at the time. I thought she went about it in as quiet of a way as one could expect. Did it impact her tennis? Sure, but I think she also struck the balance that she wanted, and it's hard to genuinely fault her for that.
209-129 isn't a bad record playing against the top 150 singles players in the world.
8:28-8:35 And it was rightfully deserved. How do you write an article describing a tennis teen prodigy as "nymphytte" and "Lolita" and not think to yourself, "Hmm, maybe this is not an angle I should take," He's lucky he got the backlash then because if it was in today's time, boy oh boy!
If you don't know about Bud Collins, well, that was right up his alley. They started phasing him out of coverage of the tournaments in the 2000s, and his coworkers were still walking on eggshells because he was gonna say something stupid. The guy managed to get himself booted from NBC's coverage team in 2007 even before "cancelling" became a thing.
@@imightbebiased9311 Damn, so this wasn't an isolated incident and it figures that he had a reputation like that.
I dunno. The point of "lolita" is that she is underage. That's not me saying it, that's the story of the book...
@@maxmeier532 Yeah, I understand.
You can be a good tennis player and beautiful and if you are I am more likely to watch you play. And yes I do enjoy the sensuous female body and that adds to my enjoyment of the match. I also watch because of your joyfulness and personality whether male or female.
Good, fair video. A journalist once said when she was still in the top 10, "She's better at her job than you are at yours!", and he was right. And even the "disproportionate endorsement deals" accusation can be easily answered: endorsement deals go to people who can better sell a product. Sure, wins help but they're not all and they never were. It would have been unfair if Kournikova had not profited her fame when so many other people did.
First poster on my high school wall.
Also rooted like hell for her, and her doubles career was legit.
love this series so much im only 23 i didn’t know who this was or much about freddy adu keep up the good work y’all!!!
Even when I have no interest in the sport, I gotta watch these videos. They're always so good.
I’m in my twenties and this is the first time I’ve heard of her. when I heard stress fracture I already knew. Injuries that pile on when your young due to an unrelenting career? It bites you in the butt down the road. You’ve got to know when to rest and to take a break, she should have done smaller tournaments. I do feel bad for her and I hope she’s doing okay now.
She's had 3.5M in career prize earnings alone without endorsements and is married to Enrique Iglesias with 3 kids. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say she's probably doing okay for herself lol.
As a tennis fan from the early 2000s when Roger Federer was just getting to be well known, Anna Kournikova was probably the 3rd most well known female tennis player outside of the Williams sisters. She was ridiculously well known and plastered everywhere in tennis. Later on her crown got taken by Maria Sharapova though, who was basically another super hot tennis player except she actually won. I think Sharapova became for a while the highest paid female athlete at her peak.
@@NYCharlie718 bruh this is the first time I’ve heard of her lol 😂 but we’ll im glad she’s doing okay. But the “what if” is the thing in question, even tho it may be a long time since she played I’m sure it still comes to mind time and time again. I know the media will never forget.
Back then she was on the cover of every magazine.
@@el-solo8449 you must be in your early 20s to have never heard of her tho..
@@IIDEADBIRDII yes that’s what I said
Wow! l never realized, or never would have guessed she never won a grand slam championship... That actually blows my mind! 🤯
@don't be surprised Go away, bot.
she won 2 doubles slams. Still grand slam titles.
@don't be surprised Chode...
Right. She was the poster girl of "Hot female athlete who's only known for her looks and not her actual ability." Stuff like this is why I love this channel, you can learn a lot about sports you never really knew.
Forget about her not winning a grand slam championship, she didn’t win a singles tournament while on tour and that’s the biggest reason for all the criticism about her.
Fantastic work here. I remember reading that Globe article as a teen and being completely creeped out by it.
there was a LOT of creepy stuff written about Kournikova. It made me uneasy back then. Occasionally the creepiness was brought up and people thought about it for a second and then went back to being creepy. Thats how thing worked back then.
I was watching Serena play last night and was like " I wonder what happened to Anna Kournikova and Maria Sharapova?"
Wtf Secret Base, get out of my head
Serena happen to them 😂😂😂 she was too good
Sharapova won several slams, though…
@@grahamstrouse1165 Her and Serena played 22 times and she lost 20 out of them so there's that.....
@@lman1006 Apart from a handful of players who played Serena only once and won, the *only* player with a career winning record against Serena is Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario (4-3). Every other player has lost more than she won against Serena.
Losing to Serena isn't just "normal", it's a universal experience for top players.
@@RichardGadsden So then you're making my point, thankyou
All the videos in this series have been outstanding--keep it up Secret Base!
Imagine being top 10 in the world imagine being the best doubles player in the world, and making the Wimbledon semifinals, and being seen as overrated.
Great video.
As a 30something male I knew who she was but never knew her story. Very well done. I’ve pretty much watched everything you guys have done and love the new series. KEEP IT UP!!!!
Subbed. The Freddy Adu, This, etc. Great reminders and context that I forgot about these notable events. Super helpful.
Great video. I see some parallels between Kournikova's career and that of Genie Bouchard. Both had great promise but didn't fulfill it due to injury and stardom.
I do wonder what would have happened if she was rising through the ranks in today's world. She would certainly be an IG influencer/star!
We may well be seeing a fairly similar Bouchard video in a few years if this series keeps going for long enough.
I play a lot of poker, and in Texas hold'em, for many years, the starting cards A K were nicknamed the Anna Kournikova, because it "Looks Good, Rarely Wins".
It's actually quite a shame, clearly she had her strengths based on her doubles record, so if she hadn't been forced to retire at such a young age, surely a few singles wins were on the table if she could just hone her long game skills. You mention WHO her opponents were, after all. Very few COULD beat them. If given enough chances, who knows?
Plus you can't really fault a young prodigy for going for the prestige matches over smaller wins.
People were just extremely jealous of her looks. She was a great tennis player. You hit the nail on the head. She had to face some of the greatest women's tennis players of all time. People forget how good Martina Hingis was. The 90s was the only point in time that I was actually into women's tennis
Can you do a prism video on Danica Patrick next? And a collapse video on the Russell Wilson Seahawks teams?
Danica would be a great candidate for a Prism episode. Because of her failure in NASCAR & her celebrity status, people tend to forget that she was a really solid, even really good at times, IndyCar driver (I think she still holds the record for consecutive IndyCar races without a DNF, with 50). She was competing for wins & top-5 regularly in 2008 & 2009 & was always a threat at Indianapolis. And also being a pioneer & opening the door towards regularly having 3-4 women on the grid in that series, for good (2010-2013 Simona de Silvestro) or for bad (Milka Duno).
Then, the fame & money drove her to NASCAR, which was a bad fit for her... then she was rushed to the Cup Series... throw in a bit of bad luck & you have a NASCAR bust, and a huge "what if" for IndyCar.
Always love a new video from Secret Base. Learned a lot here. I was 10 when she retired and 14 or so when I heard of her. Always thought she was a legend lol.
Ohhh finally a video about a subject I'm familiar with!! I love this channel whether or not I know anything about the videos beforehand though!
People really underrate how good you have to be to achieve the things she did like cracking the top ten and having all that doubles success.
Since I know Anna actually had back problems I feel bad for making this reference but, "I broke my back, it's broken, spinal" - Mike Tyson
Thank you telling true story of Anna Kournikova. I don’t think most people realize she got injured-that’s the real reason why she dipped into the entertainment game. Great video 😆😆!!
Hingis struggled too but won 64 WTA titles. What a concentration of tennis talent we have in our small country. Schnyder was strong too, but didn't get any of that fame.
You are a master storyteller, Seth- exceptional work, as always. Prism just gets better and better.
To be a champion in any individual sport is nearly impossible. 1 in a billion. If she wanted to just be beautiful, she could have married a rich guy and been a mom. Instead she worked her but off and made the WTA without her looks. All the fame and endorsements come because she got there with talent and skill. When she retired you never heard about her again. She seems to have a great family.
She’s the dream girl for all men. Self sufficient, athletic, tall, blonde, and beautiful
I’m going to guess that everyone who hates on her as an athlete was never ranked 8th in the world in ANYTHING athletic.
The sheer amount of sexualisation that this then teenage girl endured during her tennis years can best be described with that Simmons quote. It's insane what the media could and still can do; her very early retirement is not just injuries but the pressure as well. No human should have to experience that
She flaunted her body around constantly and was happy to get the attention. U can't blame the media for everything
You obviously never watched her practice. She wore barely anything with camel toe on display
She clearly played into it and encouraged it. She was no victim.
I remember watching Kournikova at a lot of major tournaments when I was young - particularly the Australian Open - and she was always incredibly skilled, but her propensity for double faulting and committing unforced errors absolutely obliterated her chances of winning. I think the pressure to prove that she was more than just the proverbial pretty face really affected her game.
Happy to see a little of the spotlight given to Martina Hingis, though. One of my favourite tennis players of all time, and someone who is criminally underrated by modern tennis fans.
Anna Kournikova was the rare athlete to suffer essentially a career ending injury at a young age, but still make a ton of money from her life as an athlete. I get why her peers weren’t thrilled with her, but she used her marketing ability to make a ton of money and had a better career than 99% of the world’s tennis players. There’s something to celebrate in that
9:29, Man, this sentence here is just pure literary art. I am amazed at this beautiful string of words.
August 31st, 2022, 5:30AM, Wednesday
Finally, some tennis on Secret Base!
they did a whole beef between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova
Kounikova probably would have done a bit better on the court if she didn't get quite as famous as early as she did. Injuries certainly played a role, but her life off the court and media talking about her 24/7 took away from her potential while motivating people like Hingis, Davenport and the Williams sisters to work even harder. Anna was a world class player though, either way.
A Prism episode about Danica Patrick would be awesome
Can't wait for you to tackle the story of Jennifer Capriati's roller-coaster career from child prodigy, to being ranked #101 before reaching the heights of winning two Grand Slam titles and snatching the #1 rank from Hingis.
Imagine being a ranked tennis player and being called a loser.
Not just ranked, but top ten in the world
The fact I and so many commenters below did not realize how successful she actually was shows how deep the sexism goes.
Y'all have been crushing it keep up the great work.
Insightful and fair storytelling, great job 👏
I really like how this series gives you two sides of coin in every single world athletes (failed, mediocre or maybe niche success) and we got a good wisdom on every single of it.
Secret Base, as one of any asian fans in this media, really hope looking on Linsanity or Some Asian Athletes that famous in US/World spotlight.
I could be wrong but I think there's an episode of The Best on Linsanity. I remember being one of his haters at the time ("omg he had like three good games calm the hell down people") but in hindsight that really was a magical era and we were all lucky to witness such a huge outpouring of love for the underdog.
Imagine having a 7yr. career from only the age of 15 - 22, becoming a constant top 10 ranked player while battling injuries. She achieved what most players dream of becoming before reaching her physical prime. that could not and should not have been counted a failure of a career. She will never be considered an ATG of Tennis, but you don't have to be to be called successful in your field. Also battling Hingis, Davenport, and the Williams sisters that was a hell of a competitive era.
Настолько потрясающая редкая красивая внешность,да не идеальная,что делает ее более идеальной,с присущеей ей изюминкой!!! Такие женщины заметны в обществе. Анна очень умная и мудрая женщина,достигнув успехов,создала семью,где все замечательно! Верю,что все у них будет прекрасно!!!
I love how much sb nation has been branching out from the main big 4 sports and is covering topics within tennis. Request: can y’all do a video on one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket, Vivian Richards?
This is how "evil and devious" media can sometimes become. To be ranked #12 in the world *is an achievement in itself*, that means at one point in her career, there were *only professional 11 players in THE WORLD who were playing better tennis than her.* Some pro tennis players can't even break the "Top 50" or "Top 100". So what's the shame in being the #12 professional tennis player IN THE WORLD???
In retrospect, it's incredible the heat Kournikova got considering how many people are far more famous for nearly nothing. She was a world-class athlete. She was the number 1 doubles rank in the world. She had to endure some creepy stuff, but if she wants to be a model and great at a sport, why should I get upset?
She won 2 doubles grand slam that's a big accomplishment and it's a very different game . Many players dont do well in both
That maxim cover was iconic
Any male in his 30’s is 100% clicking this video
Yup 🍻
29 going on 30 yessir
How dare you...
As a 34 year old male...I concur
Nah! I'm not into female Ork with flat chest!
She was and still is absolutely stunning.
I think highlighting the fact that Anna faced eventual champion STEFFI GRAF in the fourth round speaks pretty highly of her potential, too. Ppl forget about the women of that era, too easily.
Kournikova could have been a great player but simply she didnt want to to join the power era that started in the early 2000s. Williams sisters, Davenport, Mary Pierce, Mauresmo, Clisters etc. That would have required bulking up and putting on muscle that would have been detrimental to her modelling career. She might have been the first top tennis player to put modelling ahead of her tennis but she definitely wasn't the last.
The power era is also why we saw Hingis fall off so quickly after dominating in the late 90s. Hingis, like Kournikova couldnt or wouldnt adapt to the power hitting era and started to suffer injuries. Though all top female tennis players suffered from similar injuries. For the past 20 odd years thats just the price every top female tennis player pays for success.
And as the video notes she was successful in doubles where the power game just isn't as important.
But the fact is very very tennis players ever reach the top 10 or make the finals of major WTA tournaments like Miami or making semi and quarter-finals of grand slams.
More on Anna Kournikova...
First coach in Russia was Larisa Preobrazhenskaya; went to Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida for tennis training in February 1992 and stayed until moving to Miami in 1997...Began playing tennis at age five with friends in a weekly childrenÆs sports program...MotherÆs name is Alla; fatherÆs name is Sergei..Graduated from a Russian high school in 1997, and started Physical Culture Russian Academy in September 1997...In 2000, made a $10,000 donation to junior tennis in Russia and financially assisted the upgrade of her first tennis club, Spartak...Likes to dance, read and listen to music...Favorite tournaments are Roland Garros and Wimbledon...Other sports interests include NBA basketball, ice hockey and Major League Baseball...Favorite color is black...Loves animals, art, fashion, the ocean and beaches.
Career Highlights
SINGLES Winner: 1996 - ITF/Midland-USA, ITF/Rockford-USA. Finalist (4): 2002 - Shanghai; 2000 - Moscow; 1999 - Hilton Head; 1998 - Miami. DOUBLES Winner (16): 2002 - Australian Open (w/Hingis), Shanghai (w/J.Lee); 2001 - Sydney (w/Schett), Moscow (w/Hingis); 2000 - Season-Ending Championships, Filderstadt, Zurich, Philadelphia (all w/Hingis), Gold Coast (w/Halard-Decugis), Hamburg (w/Zvereva); 1999 - Australian Open, Season-Ending Championships, Indian Wells, Rome, Eastbourne (all w/Hingis); 1998 - Tokyo [Princess Cup] (w/Seles). MIXED DOUBLES Finalist (2): 2000 - US Open (w/Mirnyi); 1999 - Wimbledon (w/Bjorkman). ADDITIONAL Russian Fed Cup Team 1996-97, 2000. Russian Olympic Team 1996.
Career in Review
1994 - Received WC into ITF/Moscow-RUS qualifying as a 14-year-old 1995 - Unranked, made Tour debut at Moscow as a qualifier and reached 24 (l. to No. 3 seed Appelmans); debuted on season-ending rankings at No. 281 1996 - Ended season ranked No. 57, a 224-spot improvement in 12 months; won first professional singles titles at ITF/Midland-USA as a qualifier (dropping one set in eight matches), then at ITF/Rockford-USA; made Grand Slam debut at US Open (only second Tour main draw), d. world No. 14 Paulus in 3r before falling to world No. 1 Graf in 4r; afterwards (September 9), ranking jumped from No. 144 to debut in Top 100 at No. 69; represented Russia at Atlanta Olympics (l. 1r to Courtois) and at age 14, became youngest player to compete and win in Fed Cup competition, helping Russia to d. Sweden 3-0 in 1r 1997 - Became second woman in Open Era to reach SF (her first on Tour) in her Wimbledon debut (Evert in 1972 was first, Stevenson in 1999 was third); d. world No. 5 Majoli and No. 10 A. Huber en route, saved 1 mp in 2r win over Rittner; earlier at Berlin, scored first Top 10 win over world No. 6 Sanchez-Vicario in 3r to reach first Tour QF, l. to eventual champion MJ Fernandez and breaking into Top 50 (May 19) at No. 48; l. to world No. 1 Hingis in 3r of Roland Garros; withdrew from Philadelphia with a foot injury 1998 - Broke into Top 20 on March 30 at No. 16 after reaching career-first Tour singles final at Miami; d. No. 4 Seles, No. 9 Martinez, No. 2 Davenport and No. 8 Sanchez-Vicario in consecutive days (joining Evert-1977 VS Championships, Navratilova-1978 VS Championships and 1979 Wimbledon, Goolagong-Cawley-1980 Wimbledon, Pierce-1995 Australian Open, Davenport-1996 Olympics and Novotna-1997 Championships as players to have beaten four Top 10 players in same tournament); fell to V. Williams in 3s; at Berlin, d. No. 5 Sanchez-Vicario and No. 1 Hingis (HingisÆ first loss to someone younger than her) en route to SF; reached 4r at Roland Garros and US Open; at Eastbourne, in QF, handed No. 2 seed Graf only her third grasscourt loss of 1990s, and scored unique achievement of beating last five players to have held No. 1 ranking since 1987 in the space of three months; during match with Graf, fell on her right thumb which forced her withdrawal from SF and Wimbledon (returned in late August at Canadian Open); broke into Top 10 for first time on June 22 at No. 10; with loss to No. 24 Farina Elia at Moscow, l. to a lower-ranked player for first time in 34 career losses, an Open Era record and first loss to someone outside Top 15 in two years 1999 - Ended season as worldÆs No. 1 doubles player; reached one singles final (Hilton Head), three SF, three QF and won her first Grand Slam doubles title w/first-time partner Hingis at Australian Open; reached 4r in singles at all four Grand Slams; Hilton Head final vs. Hingis was the youngest in 27-year history with a combined age of 36 years, five months; at Amelia Island, d. No. 2 Davenport and No. 10 Schnyder for her first Top 10 wins since 1998 Berlin; suffered stress fracture in right foot while practicing for Canadian Open in early August and was off the Tour for nearly three months, returning in Linz the last week of October 2000 - Finished inside Top 15 for third consecutive year and first time in Top 10 at No. 8; reached one singles final (Moscow), eight SF and seven QF; won season-ending Championships doubles title for second successive year (w/Hingis); tore a ligament in left ankle in Berlin 2r in May, forcing her withdrawal from Rome 2001 - Season dominated by injury including a left foot stress fracture which forced her withdrawal from 12 tournaments, incl. Roland Garros and Wimbledon; underwent surgery in April; prior to injury, reached second career Grand Slam QF at Australian Open, Tokyo [Pan Pacific] SF (l. to Seles in 3s) and Paris Indoors QF (l. to Mauresmo in 3s); returned to the Tour at San Diego, l. 1r to Pratt in 3s (reached doubles final w/Hingis); withdrew from several events due to continuing problems with her left foot and did not return until Leipzig (l. to Myskina in 2r), incurring her first career loss to a fellow Russian in a Tour event; won Moscow doubles title (w/Hingis), their 10th title together; won first matches since returning from injury at Luxembourg to reach QF (l. to eventual champion Clijsters) 2002 - Won Australian Open doubles w/Hingis, their second Grand Slam together; began singles season at Auckland, reaching SF (l. to eventual champion Smashnova); as a WC, reached Tokyo [Pan Pacific] SF, her first Tier I SF appearance since 2001 Tokyo [Pan Pacific] (l. to Seles in 3s); reached Acapulco SF (l. to eventual champion Srebotnik in 3s); Wimbledon doubles semifinalist (w/Rubin), representing the only team to win a set from eventual champions Williams/Williams; at Stanford halted five-match losing-streak and reached QF, l. to eventual champion V. Williams, marking third time in three appearances at the tournament to lose to her; reached third SF of season at San Diego (l. to Dokic 67(6) 76(2) 60 after holding 2 mp); at Shanghai, reached first singles final in nearly two years (2000 Moscow), l. to No. 1 seed Smashnova, having beaten her twice in US Open lead-up; won Shanghai doubles title w/first-time partner J. Lee; sprained right ankle at Moscow, forcing her to withdraw for rest of season 2003 - Collected first Grand Slam match victory in two years at Australian Open, d. Nagyova 1r (l. to Henin-Hardenne in 2r); withdrew from Tokyo [Pan Pacific] due to sprained back suffered at Australian Open and did not return to Tour until Miami; retired in 1r of Charleston due to left adductor strain; reached SF at ITF/Sea Island-USA before withdrawing from match vs. Sharapova due to adductor injury; upset in 1r ITF/Charlottesville-USA; did not compete for rest of season due to continuing back injury
www.wtatennis.com/players/110375/anna-kournikova#bio
It's awesome for her that she was able to capitalize on her looks and her relative prowess at the sport. But the criticism should've been more on the endorsements and media companies than her about why do they care more about her looks, than say Venus's skill.
Also yikes those early articles about her
my sports crush as a kid back in the 90s 😍
I don't get why Tennis Doubles titles don't hold prestige. Paola Suarez was one of the best doubles players in the world, winning several doubles titles at grand slams. She was ranked the number 1 doubles player for 87 weeks. At singles, she was just an average player, at doubles she was a constant dominating force. Nobody in Argentina, her home country, considers her career as a failure.
She was the first tenniswoman that really played on being a beautiful woman. And she was more successful because she was a model then because she was a tenniswoman.
In many respect she was Instagram famous / Kardashian’s way before the Kardashians
I went to summer tennis camp about 20 years ago, and we went to see Kournikova (amongst others) play. During an intermission, they had fans come onto the court in an attempt to ‘ace’ the players. Everybody failed at this, except for somebody who managed to ace Kournikova! I don’t think I would ever forget that lol.
Top 10 player in the world by age 19. Top doubles player in the world at age 18. And did it when the Williams duo and Hingis were on their way up. In no rational way can that be deemed a flop, but we'll find that media blowhards spewing hot air is a timeless tradition. Oh, and she handled her fame with a wonderfully balanced mix of self-powerment and humility. All the hate about that aspect just comes down to people's own perceived shortcomings being projected towards Anna.
And let's note that she did this without incident, despite: 1) leaving her home to be vigorously trained in a sport well before she was a teen, 2) being legitimately objectified as a minor, and 3) going full-time celeb/model before her prefrontal cortex finished development. For her to keep her head given that context is a major success story in its own. God bless her.
Even if she wasn't a number 1 tennis player, she was still a professional tennis player, and was ranked higher than many, she just happened to be hot. Why is the loser title not given to the millions of those who never made the pros?
Yes more tennis content please! Would love a Prism about Kyrgios at some point
Or a beef history with him and Nadal, Djokovic, and/or the entire tennis community
2:48 - Aaliyah , it’s sad to think how bright her star would have gotten if it wasn’t extinguished far too soon. A poster of her had top billing on a wall of my high school bedroom. I can still picture it today, along with all the cut out pages from the VERY special SI swimsuit edition where all the models had body painted swimsuits that year, and Robert Parish, Nolan Ryan, and Kordell Stewart Starting lineup figures.
Secret Base may be the best kept secret on CZcams
Really well done. Glad to see a more complete and balanced story of a great career.
I had an Anna Kournikova calendar when I was 13 lol
she has aged so well and is still gorgeous as ever
It's weird how sometimes in life it's like people want to put you in one box, you either are as sex symbol, or a sports personality, and when you try to be both, people don't like it.
I just remember her vaguely. Though all my friends that play tennis did not like her. Never understood why. Thanks for the context. Good video
In all sports, at all levels,
there are the few who are just on a different level.
It's generally much more prominent and/or visible in individual sports, where there is less variables, more spotlight.
To even be competitive at such a level, consistently, for the length of time given her age shows her undeniable ability.
No doubt she would of won 1, had she had a full career.
Would love one of these on Nick Kyrgios! Overhated and deserves a different perspective on him shared
Secret Base keeps making the best sports documentaries.
Anna Kournikova's Smash Court Tennis for PS - Never Forgotten!
She was the Danica patrick of her field.
She deserves a video too
I was just thinking about her the other day, someone was talking about overhyped athletes , I was going to mention Anna, but I looked up her stats, and didn’t realize she was ranked so high at one point. Def not a scrub.
I would add to this video, that she brought tennis to people who didn't like tennis until they saw her. I watched back in McEnroe / Connors days, then fell off. She showed up and reminded me that I loved tennis. (Plus going from a 15" TV to much larger TVs didn't hurt either.) Well timed video, by the way, US Open is on right now!
@Secret Base. You should do a Brian Lara v Sachin Tendulkar cricket focused episode. You would find the research and views compelling.
Retiring at 22!!! Damn I wish I could have retired 20 years ago.
How about one on Alvin Robertson?
Amazing NBA defender, still holds the single-season steals record...
And no one remembers him.
Wasn’t really feeling Prism at first, but this episode and the Freddy Adu episode are brilliant. Can’t wait for more!
Is there a playback issue with the VO recording? Why is he talking so slow? Had to increase the speed of the video to 1.25 to understand him
even though she loses a match,she still smiles..... that's the way i see it !!!
Collapse: how the Buffalo bills failure to win 1 of at least 4 straight Super Bowls led to two decades of failure
Rewinder: the miracle of Istanbul
Collapse: how Arsenal went from the kings of London to middle of the pack
Collapse: how the Montreal canadiens failed to reach sniffing distance of Lord Stanley for 28 years
Untitled: Ted Williams
Untitled: Don Nelson as a coach
Rewinder: Brandon graham’s strip sack on Tom Brady
Collapse: how Lance Armstrong’s inspiring story of cancer survival turned into moot and ruined his career
Beef history: Mike ditka vs buddy ryan
Rewinder: 1994 Stanley cup finals game 7
Collapse: how the Vancouver canucks let a riot give the team a bad image after the Stanley cup loss
Collapse: how the New York Islanders of the 80s went from dynasty to the basement
Untitled: pavel Bure
Beef history: John roseboro vs Juan marichal, a beef that ended in an unlikely, lifelong friendship
The Lance Armstrong one would be good, especially if Clara narrated it.
The habs one is not exactly true since they made the final last year and have had decent playoff runs, but you could do a collapse episode on how they went from finals appearance to last in the league one season after another.
Miracle of Istanbul as a rewinder from the final penalty would be amazing. It would have to have the key points in the game, including the last minute dudek save in extra time. I’m not even a Liverpool fan, it was just unbelievable.
The Lance Armstrong - Greg LeMond beef was also kind of a Lance Armstrong collapse.
Someday they’ll do a Miracle of Istanbul rewinder, and if they don’t name-drop you, we riot
Can we talk about the magazine headlines on the lower left in the final shot