During the time tennis was still considered a male dominated sport, a young girl with incredible talent started winning this sport’s courts and people’s hearts.

Anna Kournikova, born in Moscow on June 7, 1981, fell in love with tennis when she was still just a little girl. It was around the age of five when she first held a tennis racket in her hand and felt that was it.

As years went by, the entire world learned of this blonde prodigy who won every single junior tournament there was to be won. Not only that, but Anna became the prime interest of a number of sport companies who wanted a piece of her and were eager to be part of her successful story.

In the book Chicken Soup for the Soul: Extraordinary Teens: Personal Stories and Advice from Today’s Most Inspiring Youth, Anna wrote: “I played well and I enjoyed the sport so my parents challenged me some more. Two years later, I began taking lessons at a professional tennis club where a lot of the current Russian tennis players were trained.

“Sure enough, tennis quickly became my life, my outlet, my circle of friends and my community. My coach was basically my second mother,” she continued.