Anna Kournikova’s tennis career ended at 22 due to injuries, but she still created an empire worth $50 million

During the time tennis was still considered a male dominated sport, a young girl with incredible talent started winning this sport’s courts and people’s hearts.

Anna Kournikova, born in Moscow on June 7, 1981, fell in love with tennis when she was still just a little girl. It was around the age of five when she first held a tennis racket in her hand and felt that was it.

As years went by, the entire world learned of this blonde prodigy who won every single junior tournament there was to be won. Not only that, but Anna became the prime interest of a number of sport companies who wanted a piece of her and were eager to be part of her successful story.

In the book Chicken Soup for the Soul: Extraordinary Teens: Personal Stories and Advice from Today’s Most Inspiring Youth, Anna wrote: “I played well and I enjoyed the sport so my parents challenged me some more. Two years later, I began taking lessons at a professional tennis club where a lot of the current Russian tennis players were trained.

“Sure enough, tennis quickly became my life, my outlet, my circle of friends and my community. My coach was basically my second mother,” she continued.

“Everything in my life was about tennis and training. Somehow I knew, even though I was just a kid, that I didn’t really have many other options. At the time, life in Russia was tough – there weren’t that many opportunities there like there are in the Untied States.”

The word of Anna’s talent spread all the way to the most prominent tennis coaches on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. IMG Tennis, a global tennis management company, were among the first who reached Anna’s family and offered them to move to their Lord Tennis Academy. At the time, Anna was 10, and by the age of 13, IMG helped her become a millionaire.

The truth was that Anna was more than just a talented tennis player. She was a beautiful young lady whose appearance stunned everyone, and according to many, that wow factor was a huge plus.

“Even before her results started, even when she was a junior, people talked about her at IMG – which is creepy and gross, but it still happens to this day; ‘Oh my God, you should see this 12-year-old, she’s beautiful,’” New York Times tennis writer Ben Rothenburg said on the No Challenges Remaining podcast.