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Contemplating Kournikova

By Joel Drucker

It's easy to forget but before all the glitter, Kournikova was a player of merit. She was the world's best junior in 1995 and reached a career-high singles ranking of number eight.

Anna Kournikova. Now what the heck is she doing here? Shouldn't we be writing about tennis players who spend more time generating headlines with their racquets than other attributes? Alas, even after this article was conceived, news had just flashed that Kournikova is being sued by her parents for ownership of their Miami condo.

But I want to address Kournikova's oncourt tragedy. For once upon a time, she was a player of merit. Seven years ago this summer, she became the first woman since Chris Evert to reach the Wimbledon semis in her debut year. That in itself is a commendable achievement. In 2000, she reached what's likely her career-high singles ranking of number eight in the world. Since then, we've heard constantly, Kournikova has been struck with various injuries that have kept her from competing with the rigor that made her the world's best junior in 1995.

So what's so tragic about a 22-year-old who's earned more than $3 million oncourt and at least ten times as much off it? Here: It's sad to see Kournikova let herself be trotted out onto the street corners of the marketplace and pedal her flesh when so much of her life was dedicated to becoming as good a tennis player as she possibly could be. For make no mistake. She didn't create her looks, but she did work extremely hard to make herself a world-class player. No doubt she grew up in a Moscow residence smaller than many of the hotel suites she's occupied around the world. Getting out of that rough environment was less a matter of choice than one of desire. To her credit, she succeeded. And then, like virtually every great East European since Martina Navratilova, once given the freedom to choose - Kournikova's by now probably spent more of her life in Florida than Russia - she opted for style over substance.

These days Kournikova is far more likely to pop up in a sexy swim suit pose than on a tennis court.

Perhaps, consider this notion: Anna Kournikova is a Communist conspiracy, a Trojan Horse for Russia, sent to America to illuminate and showcase the inherent decay - the flabbiness - of the West. She was conceived after all, at the height of the Cold War, weeks after Soviet-US relations were strained by America 's boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Since attaining success, she has done little but become a literal poster child for the decadence of our culture.

Naturally, she has had a full retinue of handlers ready to generate as much revenue as possible. First it was sports marketing leader IMG. Over the last half decade, she's been managed by the equally-formidable Octagon. God forbid either should ever have the cojones to say, we're no longer going to pursue any offcourt deals for you until you show you're fully-committed to tennis. The agents would respond to my suggestion by citing how if they weren't selling Anna, someone else would. They'd argue that it's simply the power of the marketplace. As the old saying goes, a cynic is someone who knows the price of everything - and the value of nothing. Constantly Kournikova is hostile to inquiries and invariably defensive about her tennis. And yet, occasionally word surfaces that she truly wants to return to the courts - if only her body would let her.

Anna has to choose tennis over celebrity if she's too have any chance at a comeback.

So here's what I would do were I managing Kournikova: Ditch all the endorsements. No more calendars. No more fashion shoots. No appearances at restaurants or parties. Instead, I'd love her to show up at her next tennis event - such as when she plays World Team Tennis this summer -- with this statement: I want you all to know precisely where I stand with tennis. First, I want you to know I grew up in a small apartment in Moscow , and have worked very hard to provide a comfortable lifestyle for my family. Now that I've done that, I want to completely devote myself to tennis.

And then, she'll go about that with all the intensity she brought to the game in her teens. If Kournikova has any hope of at least competing on the WTA Tour, she'll need to take a long look at what makes her effective - and what she should scrap. She must scrap efforts to try and outhit players. Instead, she should take advantage of her courtspeed and hands to build a game based on fitness, movement and smart advances to the net.

It's not an easy style to develop, much less master, and I doubt Kournikova has the intelligence or willingness to pursue it, but if not, she should admit once and for all that she truly isn't eager to be the best tennis player she can possibly be. Then again, I don't know if I'd want to work that hard if I'd made tens of millions. So perhaps the tragedy is watching someone work so hard so young only to watch it all dissipate by her early 20s. We await Kournikova's future - but it's more likely to be seen on E! than ESPN.

Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think about Joel Drucker's article by emailing us here at TennisOne .