Anna Kournikova was born in Moscow, Soviet Union, on June 7, 1981. Her father, Sergei Kournikov, was 19 at the time.^[6] Sergei, a former Greco-Roman wrestling champion, had earned a Ph.D. and was a professor at the University of Physical Culture and Sport in Moscow. As of 2001, he was still a part-time martial arts instructor there.^[7] Her mother Alla, who was 18 when Kournikova was born, had been a 400-meter runner.^[7]

Sergei Kournikov has said, “We were young and we liked the clean, physical life, so Anna was in a good environment for sport from the beginning.”^[7] The family name is spelled in Russian without an “o”, so a direct transliteration would be “Kurnikov”, and it is sometimes written that way. But it is pronounced “Kournikov”, so the family chose that as their English spelling.^[7] More information about Russian family names can be found here.

Kournikova received her first tennis racquet as a New Year gift in 1986 at age 5.^[7] Describing her early regimen, she said, “I played two times a week from age six. It was a children’s program. And it was just for fun; my parents didn’t know I was going to play professionally, they just wanted me to do something because I had lots of energy. It was only when I started playing well at seven that I went to a professional academy. I would go to school, and then my parents would take me to the club, and I’d spend the rest of the day there just having fun with the kids.”^[7] In 1986, Kournikova became a member of the Spartak Tennis Club, coached by Larissa Preobrazhenskaya.^[8] In 1989, at the age of eight, Kournikova began appearing in junior tournaments, and by the following year, was attracting attention from tennis scouts across the world. Kournikova signed a management deal at age ten and went to Bradenton, Florida, to train at Nick Bollettieri‘s celebrated tennis academy.^[8]