Former tennis star Anna Kournikova is back in the spotlight after the Russian ace made a rare public appearance in Florida.

The 43-year-old was spotted in a wheelchair and an orthopaedic boot while out in Miami – the first time she has been seen in public since 2023.

Amid renewed interest in the former teen sensation, we look back at her short-lived career and her post-retirement life.

Injury-affected career

Kournikova remains one of the most famous tennis players of recent decades, though her career lasted less than a decade, retiring from the sport in 2003 aged only 21.

The Russian was just 15 when she made her Grand Slam debut at the US Open in 1996, famously reaching the Wimbledon semi-final as a 16-year-old in 1997.

She would also reach the Australian Open quarter-final in 2001 and peaked at world No 8 in singles, though lost all four of her WTA singles finals.

Kournikova found more success in doubles, forming a hugely successful partnership with Martina Hingis – nicknaming themselves the ‘Spice Girls of Tennis’.

Alongside the Swiss, she won the Australian Open in 1999 and 2002 and was the Roland Garros runner-up in 1999, and she would spend 10 weeks as the doubles world No 1.

Kournikova won 16 titles in doubles but her career started tailing off in 2001, missing three of the four majors that season due to a left foot stress fracture – dropping down to 74th in the singles rankings.

She made it back inside the top 40 in 2002 but continued to be plagued by a back issue and an abductor injury, and ultimately played her final career match at a 25K event in Charlottesville in May 2003.

Personal life and relationship

After previous relationships with Russian sports stars Pavel Bure and Sergei Fedorov, Kournikova began dating singer Enrique Iglesias in 2001 after starring in his music video for ‘Escape’.

Though it is believed the two have never got married, the relationship between the tennis star and the pop icon is still going strong almost two and a half decades later.

Kournikova and Iglesias welcomed fraternal twins, Nicholas and Lucy, in December 2017 before a second daughter, Mary, was born in January 2020.

The couple’s three children have largely been kept out of the public spotlight, though Kournikova has shared pictures of them on her Instagram in the past.

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Post-career endeavours

In the years after her retirement, Kournikova remained a high-profile figure in the world of tennis.

She appeared at a string of exhibitions across the mid-2000s, appearing with the likes of John McEnroe, Chris Evert, and Martina Navratilova at a range of events.

Kournikova also famously reunited with Hingis to play the invitational doubles event at Wimbledon in 2010, winning two of their three matches in the exhibition event.

The Russian also used to play World Team Tennis for the St. Louis Aces, though the team folded in 2011 – and WTT stopped running in 2021.

Once one of the most visible athletes in the world due to a range of sponsorships – most famously her Berlei’s sports bra campaign – her public appearances have been few and far between in recent years.

Kournikova was a coach on Season 12 of The Biggest Loser in 2011, though did not return for any future series.

Before being sighted in Miami this week, her last public appearance came at an Iglesias concert back in 2023.

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