SHANGHAI, China -- Anna Kournikova rallied from a big second-set deficit to defeat Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 7-5 on Saturday and reach the finals of the Shanghai Open. Kournikova, who has never won a singles title on the WTA Tour, reached her fourth-ever finals and first in two years. She will face top seed Anna Smashnova of Israel on Sunday. http://msn.espn.go.com/tennis/news/2002/0914/1431718.html If she wins tomorrow she will be considerd the greatest female athlete of all time.
The apocalypse is upon us. Hell will experience some severe snow storms and we should all protect ourselves from airborne pigs.
It was not to be. Kournikova bows to top-seeded Smashnova SHANGHAI, China -- Anna Kournikova is still seeking her first WTA singles title. Anna Smashnova dashed Kournikova's hopes with a 6-2, 6-3 victory in the final of the Shanghai Open on Sunday. The 21-year-old Russian, better known for her glamour and lucrative commercial endorsements, has lost all four finals she has played in her career. http://msn.espn.go.com/tennis/news/2002/0915/1432030.html
Really, she is pretty mediocre. She'd be nowhere if she was a minger. Moderate talent, large ego, no titles.
Not really. The ranking system may have changed (I don't know- I quit paying attention after the last Golden Era of Borg, Lendl, Connors, McEnroe, Navratilova, Evert and Graf) but it used to be based on a player's performance over the past 52 weeks. She'd "only" have needed to make regular quarterfinals and a few semis over that period to be a top tenner. There was a brief period in the women's game when the Williams sisters and Davenport hadn't yet reached their peaks, Navratilova had just retired, Seles had dropped out of sight following her stabbing incident, Graf was aging and Capriati was in rehab or whatever. That was Anna's chance, but Hingis turned out to be the one who took advantage of the lack of talent and won while no one else seemed to want to. It really would be nice if she could win just one tournament, tho. I must say I can't remember any player, male or female, who had that ranking and never won anywhere, ever. Doc, what's a minger?
FWIW, she has won 15 doubles titles including 2 Grand Slams. She just can't seem to manage to get that first singles title, though.
I knew she'd won some doubles titles, but I didn't know any of them were majors. I really meant singles. Admittedly, I wasn't clear on that post.
She's at 16 doubles titles now, got one today. It helps that her partner for a lot of those was Miss Martina Hingis.
Kournikova/Hingis combination seems to work because each makes up for the other's shortcoming. Hingis has that killer shot that AnnaK lacks but doesn't have the size to compete with today's top players.
I think Martina's about an inch shorter and five pounds heavier, so it's not that stark. Then again I know little to nothing about tennis, so maybe it is. Stark, that is.
Oh yeah, that reminds me. Anna entered the top ten and Martina won most of her Grand Slam titles when they were first doubles partners. Which led to the theory, well my theory anyway, that the two were lovers and it was their break-up that precipitated their mutual declines. Of course I have nothing to back this up, I may just be dreaming. But it's a beautiful dream.
Unless Martina gained weight, they're about the same size, Martina's 5'6" though. So I don't think Anna's size helps with Martina much. Martina isn't as much of a power-oriented player as the rest, but she has a touch and has placement that (back in the day) were unstoppable. Back in my day I played some huge girls with all this power but because I had a better overall court-sense and placement skills, I'd win. I'm just trying to stick up for the smaller girls here. I blame Hingis' decline on her fall-out with her Mumma. Mostly.
Martina needs a new coach. Her relationship with her mother has been strained @ times & I think she could use someone with a different perspective.
I think it's total bs that Anna might lose some of her endorsement deals because of her lack of good results in the recent past. I mean like they hired her for her great tennis skills in the first place.
She can play tennis too? Is there no end to the girl's talents? ps Minger - an ugly person. To rhyme with winger, not whinger.
Yeah, Anna's good looks makes up for Martina's ugliness. Oops, I think we had this debate already once before! I think it's safe to say that Anna is aging, and will continue to age, much better than Hingis.