The first time the famous
tennis coach Nick Bollettieri decade saw Anna Kournikova, he was amazed.
"This little girl ran, jumped into my basket of balls and said that she
had come for a lesson," - recalled the legendary coach who has trained
tennis athletes such popular as Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Monica Seles.
"And I thought, who the hell is this girl?" - Said Bollettieri,
recalling the image of a confident little girl with blond hair.
"But I did not yell
at her and chased her, because it was incredible for me to see such courage in
the girl who came in and just said to me: "I'm here, I'm ready to
work." However, another interesting question is whether the future holds a
well-known athlete in the world to the attention of the media, that she
confined to her almost instantly?
Last over a decade later,
when Kournikova was 22 years old, and she left the WTA Tour due to a serious
back injury. She got to this psition up to eighth place in the world rankings,
she won twice Grand Slam doubles with Martina Hingis, and reached the
semifinals at Wimbledon at the age of 16. However, the most important title of
the winner in singles always eluded her. And on this occasion was followed by
numerous comedians jokes, funny advertising, and so on - Anna even failures is
possible to attract the attention of the public.
Аnother victory
However, in addition to
sport achievements, many simply forget that Anna has achieved much in other areas.
She won the sponsorship contracts that brought her millions of dollars, as well
as the love of millions of people all around the world - even those who are not
fond of tennis. She even managed to "win" the Internet, when she
became the most popular athlete in the network, since she is searched in
"Google" much more than anyone else.
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| Brand Kournikov - Anna's father |
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And in 2001 there was a
computer virus, which offered users to follow the link and see the photos of some
naked stars. This virus has become so popular that it is even mentioned in the
famous comedy series "Friends." Thus, Kournikova's tennis has grown up
and left it behind.
"Builders watched tennis, businessmen
looked tennis, all of the most serious people addicted to watching the
sport," - remarked Ken Merritt, who coached Kournikova, alluding to the
fact that she just could not stay away from success. She has attracted public
attention to women's tennis.
"Women's tennis has
received a huge amount of TV contracts due to the appearance of Anna in itself.
There are many things that she has done for tennis, except for direct participation
in the games. " World demand for "Brand Kournikov" that it was
impossible to meet, but in the nineties just started to develop the Internet,
which has allowed Anna to go much further than just the covers of magazines.
"Tennis players are often objectified and seen as sex symbols and much
more than just athletes - but in this case it crossed the line, - said David
Skilling, a consultant in PR and marketing for professional athletes. - And
it's not the fault of Anne - but the fault of the press, which has chosen the
most suitable facility and untwist it. " Tournament organizers immediately
began to earn her, holding her at places where another competitor with its
rating would not even dream to be.
Many athletes were jealous of her, and
deservedly so. She received a lot of more attention and a lot of more money
than a lot of athletes who were better than her. Opponents also had to cope
with an army of loyal fans of Kournikova and Bollettieri said that she was not
opposed, they are constantly encouraging and provoking new praise. Even when
Anna was at a major tournament and trained before her fight, and the stadium
held a less important match, all the men preferred not to watch the game, but
how Kournikova trains.
Marketing monster
The attention of the
public and the press have been incredibly profitable for Anna, but Skillig
believes that the hype and became one of the reasons because of which Kournikova
was never able to win a single trophy in singles. Skillig admitted that if
Kournikova was now his client, it would have minimized her contacts with the
media, would have forced her to focus more on the game and tried to muffle her
image as a sex symbol.
"All of this turned out to be a kind of
marketing hype monster that eventually engulfed himself - said Skillig. - There
are too much and too quickly, it all turned out to be extremely unstable.
" A professional athlete is actually there as quite a small window in
which you can be at the top, showing off the best performance. And if all
around you as much distractions, it's sure to affect your athletic component.
Good managers
That is why an athlete needs good managers,
too. Who are able to properly allocate time between his ward sports, training,
media, contracts, as well as physical and mental development. Bollettieri said
if you did not have anything from this, it could hurt you. But it's easy to say
that in front of you there is no multi-million dollar contracts that beckon
here and now.
And this temptation is
not just for young athletes, but also to their parents. "Many parents hear
that their child offer two, three, four or even five million dollars and
immediately agree - said Boleteri. - Especially if the baby looks good, and
Anna Kournikova was just incredibly beautiful.
She just had to look at
the person, and someone's husband was ready to give up his wife. "
Can we say that after
more than ten years after the end of her sports career appearance and media
Kournikova overshadowed her career? If Kournikova won at least one trophy in single,
she would have cemented her place among the most successful athletes. Perhaps
she should lower the bar and take a part in the less prestigious tournament.
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| Anna Kournikova as a small |
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However, Kournikova did not try to somehow
organize her tournaments, she just took a part in the biggest tournaments, she played
against the strongest opponents, but she did not have the same level that was
necessary to win such a tournament.
