ANNA KOURNIKOVA REACHES 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF RETIREMENT IN MAY

Anna Kournikova was forced to retire from her professional tennis career in May 2007 at the age of 25 after serious spinal and back problems, including a herniated disk made it impossible for her to continue playing.

2007 till 2017 makes it 1o years since she retired from the sport, May to be precise. Yet it seems like just yesterday that she was finding it hard to win singles titles yet still capturing the imagination of the tennis world due to her beauty.

Unfortunately, since 2004, the Russian has not played in the WTA and even though she is widely celebrated in the tennis world, she never won a singles title. The closest she came to winning one was in 1997 when she reached the Wimbledon Semifinals.

Since the days of Kournikova, women’s tennis has been reduced to a race to be Vanna White with a racket. In recent times, a female tennis player’s worth is now tied to how many products she can push and no longer how well she can play.

Thus, the Russian became the standard bearer for making much more money off the court than on the court. Reports emanating back in 2002 had it that Kournikova was making about $10 million a year in endorsements, despite not having won a professional singles tournament.

With her came an era where a new type of tennis star was ushered in. Here, women could easily reach stardom in the tennis world by looking good and playing good enough instead of playing hard and conquering the courts.

However, to be fair to her, she was a great doubles player, going on to win 16 WTA titles and ranking No. 1 in the tennis world in 1999. Occasionally, she still participates in charity matches.