Their financial situation in russia in the early 80´s forced the Kournikova´s to sell their televsion to buy Anna a tennis racket. Hardly to imagine when you look on Anna´s current earnings with sponsors and price money.

Her first experiences she made in the Tennis Club Soklniki Park and she was practising afterwards in the Spartak Club. She was coached by the husband of Olga Morozova (Morozova was a professional russian tennis-player).

Anna turned 9 and moved to Nick Bolletieri´s Tennis Academy, in Bradenton, February 1992, after IMG, a management agency, saw her playing in a childrens practising at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. Reasons why she moved there with her mother were better training facilities. As Anna said, in Moscow it was difficult for work-outs and training, she also had to shuttle around from tennis-courts, gyms and school.

Though she is most of her time in the States now, she still doesn´t deny her origin. But people in Russia are not so fond of her, a radio interview in Russia for example forced this opinion where Anna said she feels more American now. Rumours about an american citizenship coulnd´t be confirmed yet.. Despite that Anna likes Russian culture and the different history.

Anna was very sucessful on the junior tour. She reached the Orange Bowl finals, one of the most important junior tournaments, when she was 13. She lost the final, but with a win she could have been the youngest player ever winning this tournament. But she was winning this tournament one year later (1995) and became number one in junior ranking. She won the Eddie Herr Torunament in 1994, the Italian Junior Championships in 1995.

A first rivalry started in 1994 at the US Open Junior Championships. She had to face Martina Hingis and lost to her with 6-0, 6-0.
According to her own words, she never had any other professional ambitions than playing tennis. All the hype about her looks, her fans all over the world and all the glamour are not distracting her from what her primary dedication is: Tennis.