Kournikova Hits Former President Bush in Back With Tennis Ball

I shouldn't, I know - but I can't stop laughing at this one.

From Tennis Week: Evert's Event Entertains Crowd

But it was Kournikova who surely was hoping for a stiff drink on the final day of play at the Evert Pro Celebrity Classic. After Evert pulled former President Bush up to a 3-1 lead over Lindsay Davenport and Jon Lovitz, she announced that a special surprise substitution would be made. Evert would "rest" as Anna Kournikova came in to play with the former Commander-in-Chief. Well, that was an exciting twist of dynamics for an already marquee match up. But in only her second point on court, Kournikova beaned the 41st President of the United States right in the backside with her first serve. 

Kournikova and Hingis, Together Again?

This seals it, my Hingis Hatred can finally be put to rest. I'm really starting to love the girl. Apparently Kournikova suggested renewing their doubles partnership after the two played an exhibition in December and Hingis basically smacked a bitch down: "She was okay," said the Swiss. "But she would have to train. I don't want to go out there and lose first round."

Hingis, speaking truth to peroxide. (C'mon, Anna fans! It's all in good fun.)

I saw Hingis and Kournikova play an exhibition doubles match in NYC a few years back, in Madison Square Garden (2001, I think?), and well, that was a lot of ego out there. Of course, It Would be Great For Tennis if Anna returned, and I honestly think it would be fun to see them out there again, complete with their old Queen Bee MO.

Read 'Hingis Urges Kournikova to Think Hard about a Comeback'

Anna Kournikova Reads, Talks to Sports Illustrated Fully Dressed

Is she still the same woman who famously once said, "I'm like an expensive menu... you can look but you can't afford!" You decide.

"I read like crazy," she says, becoming visibly excited. "Magazines, short stories, books -- especially when I'm on an airplane or the treadmill or the exercise bike. Lately I've been into summer chick-lit, lighthearted stuff. And I'm into all kinds of magazines, from Vogue to O to Good Housekeeping."

Read "Older, Wiser Anna"

Kournikova Still in the Spotlight

When will it stop?  (just joking, Anna fans...) There's been gossip about her weight loss recently as well as coverage of her World Team Tennis participation. I always forget that Kournikova (News/Posts) never won a singles title. Has anything even approaching this level of off topic adulation happened with any other athlete? Doubtful.

Read 'Tawdry tabloids, and a little tennis, too.'

Kournikova Q & A

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Kournikova: 'I don't regret a thing that happened'

Q: Has the [tabloid] media ever gotten anything right about you?

A: Some things. And sometimes their criticism was right, too. I'm not perfect. I'm sure I've made mistakes...

Kournikova Criticized for Being Too Thin

From The Daily Record: From Grand Slam to...Grand Slim

FORMER tennis star Anna Kournikova stunned onlookers at a celebrity party with her new super-slender look.

The super-fit athlete who once put the bounce into world tennis with her curves looks to be following Hollywood's "lollipop lady" trend.

Kournikova, Austin, Bryans Play Memphis Doubles Exhibition

"Can we turn that thing off?''

-- Former U.S. Open champion Tracy Austin, referring to the radar device measuring the speed of her serves (about 70-plus mph) during her mixed doubles exhibition match Monday night featuring Anna Kournikova and the Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, who serve in the 120s.  (from The Commercial Appeal)

Three thoughts:

1) At this rate, the Bryan twins may now spend more time promoting doubles than playing it. 

2) Does Anna Kournikova ever go off script?  She says almost exactly the same thing in every interview she does.  Or perhaps I should blame the journalists for always asking the same obvious questions. 

3) How hard did the players have to work to make this match come out 7-6, 7-6?  Now that's full entertainment for your exhibition dollar.

From The Commercial Appeal: Anna's altruism

In the mixed doubles exhibition match Monday before the night session, Anna Kournikova and Bob Bryan defeated Tracy Austin and Mike Bryan, Bob's twin, 7-6, 7-6.

Proceeds from the exhibition, which required a separate ticket for admission, will benefit one of three organizations: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center and the Katrina Relief Fund.

Sharapova, Kournikova Make World's Most Desirable Women List

From the Moscow News: Sharapova Named One of World's Most Desirable Women

Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova has been called one of world’s most desirable women according to the annual Top 99 Most Desirable Women list issued by the AskMen website...

Kournikova Sure Makes Interesting News These Days

From Contact Music: Enrique Iglesias performed for Gadaffi's sons

Latino singer ENRIQUE IGLESIAS performed at the New Year's Eve (31DEC05) party thrown by the sons of Libyan leader Colonel MUAMMAR GADDAFI on the Caribbean island of St Barts.

The HERO heart-throb reportedly agreed to sing for guests of SAADI and MUTASSIM at the Nikki Beach club, after his girlfriend ANNA KOURNIKOVA befriended the brothers at the Venice Film Festival in September (05).

A representative for Iglesias confirms to the New York Daily News he performed "at a private function".

But Iglesias, who was reportedly paid a six-figure sum for his appearance, was reluctant to socialise after his set.

An insider at the event tells the newspaper, "Enrique wouldn't come out of his VIP area."

Kournikova Says She Could Return

I don't know if Anna Kournikova continues to talk about the possibility of a comeback because she thinks it adds to her legitimacy as an athlete rather than just a model these days (and therefore her marketability), or if she really hasn't let go yet.

From the AP: Kournikova says comeback 'not out of the question'

Anna Kournikova left open the possibility of a return to professional tennis.

The 24-year-old Russian, who hasn't played professionally since 2003 because of back problems, said she doesn't have any plans to return to the WTA Tour any time soon, but added that "the possibility is not completely out of the question."

Kournikova made the comments in Brazil ahead of Saturday night's match against Martina Hingis on a court set up on Rio de Janeiro's famed Copacabana beach.

Federov Talks About His Relationship With Kournikova

From ESPN: Q&A With Sergei Federov

Q: What's the best thing about the relationship you had with Anna Kournikova?

A: The best thing was that we were both Russian. There was no romance for a long time. She was just a kid when we met the first time [she was 15]. Our families got along. We had a lot in common, we lived similar lives, we understood each other. So our friendship developed 'cause we were in the same position professionally and socially.

Q: How did the relationship with Anna progress to being more than friends?

A: It was a turning point. We spent quite a few days together. Anna expressed that kind of [romantic] interest, I was kind of surprised because I was a little bit older and wilder than her and I was going in a different direction. But I looked at the situation and said she was a great person, so why not? So, then we started dating. It was tough because her schedule had her based all over the world and I played games in so many different cities.

Kournikova and Iglesias Take in a Basketball Game

From Hello Magazine: Enrique Shows His Sweet Side With Anna

It's safe to say that at his age, Latin popstar Enrique Iglesias can feed himself. But at a basketball game this week the dark-haired dreamboat seemed to think it would more fun if his girlfriend, Anna Kournikova, helped him out.

The hot couple, who've been dating for some three years, were in Florida watching the Indiana Pacers take on the state's Miami Heat. And with their courtside smooching, they were raising temperatures all on their own. When tennis babe Anna wasn't feeding him morsels of candy floss, the pair were exchanging affectionate looks and kisses.

You've got to love that gossip magazine lingo.

Bure Wins Kournikova Libel Case

From The Moscow News: Russian Hockey Star Bure Wins Kournikova Libel Suit

A Moscow court upheld a claim filed by Pavel Bure against a Russian magazine that claimed former tennis star Anna Kournikova lost her virginity to him. The magazine was ordered to pay Bure 300,000 rubles ($10,500) in damages...

In late December of last year, Arbat Prestizh Telegid published an article in its New Year edition entitled “Russian Rocket in Free Fly” where it alleged that Bure “constantly brags about his manly exploits… and told everyone that he deflowered Anna Kournikova,” the Izvestia daily reports, citing the lawsuit...

“I think that the magazine was spreading information that was not true, that smeared my reputation and thus caused moral suffering,” the newspaper quoted Bure as saying in the lawsuit. Bure was so upset by the allegations that he filed the lawsuit immediately with Moscow’s Tagansky Court, without contacting the magazine first. He demanded 300 million rubles in moral damages.

The hockey player’s lawyer, Dmitri Ragulin, told Izvestia that his client never gave an interview to the publication. Meanwhile, Arbat Prestizh Telegid editor Olga Lobanova told the newspaper that her publication got the information from the Internet.

Bure’s lawyer Dmitry Ragulin told the agency his client welcomed the ruling, adding that the compensation he was now entitled to will be used for charity purposes.

Hmm..."We got the story from the internet" doesn't seem to be the best legal defense for a magazine.

Kournikova in Fender-Bender

This is so Miami: uninsured maid hits big star.  And in this case the star was Anna Kournikova.  From the New York Post: Anna's Grand Slam

Tennis hottie Anna Kournikova lost her cool yesterday after having a fender bender with an uninsured Miami maid.

The blond beauty was driving a black Cadillac Escalade when it collided with a humble red sedan at around 11 a.m.

The driver, a middle-aged cleaning woman, carried no insurance, according to a Post spy. She looked on glumly while the riled-up Russian talked angrily to cops and paced in an agitated fashion.

Kournikova and the Boys and Girls Club

A complimentary article about Anna Kournikova that mentions something besides her looks (although somehow the entire first half of the article is about that): There's more to Kournikova than meets the eye

Aschermann, a burly, high-energy Boys & Girls Club official, is the one that brought Kournikova onboard two years ago. She contacted him about committing herself to volunteer work after leaving professional tennis...

Aschermann was curious when Kournikova phoned him to discuss a deal, so he immediately invited her to one of the clubs in Miami.

“On purpose, I picked an all-Latino and all-African American club,” he told the fund-raising gathering.

Kournikova was supposed to be there for 20 minutes; she stayed for three hours.

And she wasn’t showing kids how to string tennis rackets, either. She sang and danced with the children.

Kournikova, McEnroe Exhibition

From the Ottawa Sun: Aces high: Legends a Capital hit

In a nice gesture, McEnroe auctioned off a racquet he cracked during the match with the money going to hurricane relief. He got $2,300 for it (Kournikova joined the bidding) and then McEnroe matched the winning bid with his own donation.

"C'mon, is this the cheap side?" he chastised some court-side spectators. "This is the racket I used to beat (Bjorn) Borg at Wimbledon," he said during one lull in the bidding. "Okay, maybe that's stretching it a bit." ...

"I've never been able to play well against (Novotna). I lost three straight times in singles," said Kournikova when interviewed after the match for the crowd.

"I don't like her game, too many slices for me," she said with a laugh...

Kournikova Delivers for Amazon

Amazon.com has a video of Anna Kournikova delivering a package of adidas sneakers to a doctor as part of their 10th anniversary promotion.  She appears to be an old pro at this sort of thing.  And I don't know how many times they filmed, but the doctor was totally unflustered.

Anna Kournikova Article

Mostly about the exhibition match, but at the end we find out that Anna Kournikova is not yet officially retired. 

From the Independent Tribune: Anna-mania takes over at Racefest

Kournikova says she’s not retired, and hasn’t ruled out a return at some point, if she can regain her health.

"About three years ago I had surgery on my foot and tried to get back from that and it took me about a year to realize I was having a lot of problems with my back due to my foot surgery," she said.

"My foot started effecting my back and everything. It was just a big struggle playing injured all the time. So I decided to take some time off. It’s been a while now, but I don’t want to come back unless I’m a million percent healthy and sure that I’m going to do it all the way."

"I really don’t know what’s going to happen right now. Trust me, I would have already told everybody if I knew the answer. I still hope I could play. Hopefully something will come pretty soon, because trust me I’m anxious to know one way or another."

Kournikova's New Gig

The rest of the tennis world is busy at the French Open, but former tennis player Anna Kournikova made the news today for her new gig as a fitness columnist for Elle magazine.  You can check out her words of wisdom in her first column here. 

Anna Kournikova and NASCAR

Needless to say, Anna Kournikova won't be appearing at the French Open next week.  Instead she will be appearing at the CarQuest 300 Busch Series race on May 28 where she will reportedly  play an exhibition match against NASCAR drivers. 

Anna Kournikova Appears on The View

Anna Kournikova appeared on ABC's daytime talk show The View today as a guest host.  She was modestly dressed, for her, in white pants and a stylish but not too revealing black tank top as she chatted amiably with the other hosts.  She talked about having to get used to keeping in shape now that she no longer plays tennis professionally and when she was asked where she got the body she has now she joked, "I found it on ebay."

She confessed that she doesn't understand the fascination with her personal life and explained that the reason she doesn't respond to every rumor about her that appears in the press is that she doesn't want to get into a neverending rumor-denial cycle with them.  But after a bit of pushing by the other hosts, she did admit that she and Enrique Iglesias are not married.