Six Hours of Practice
It was at age 5 when Kournikova had picked up her first tennis racket and found her way around the tennis courts. While her parents were more than pleased to know she had found a way to keep herself entertained and happy, they signed her up for a weekly children’s tennis program.
They also had her practice her tennis talents and sharpen her skills for about six hours a day each day. Talk about intense! But after years of learning the sport, all her hard work was about to pay off, as she eventually made the transition from playing for fun to playing professionally at the young age of 10 years old.
Apples and Bananas
In February 1992, Anna made her very first trip to her new tennis training program at the Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
“I moved to Florida when I was 9 years old, and it was such a shock. But I was literally a kid in the candy store… it’s really cold in Russia, and here I came to Florida and I saw bananas, and apples, and everything,” Anna shared with Jimmy Fallon.