Interview by Inside Sport
December 1999

IS: Who were your heroes as a young girl?
Anna: I admired many players. Monica Seles, Boris Becker, Andre Agassi.

IS: Is it starting to concern you that you haven't won a tournament on tour?
Anna: No, not really. All I can do is play my best. I feel I always have a chance in every tournament and that my time will come.

IS: Which grand slam title would you say you have the best chance of winning?
Anna: I think I have a chance in all of them. Not one in particular. I just need to play my best.

IS: What would mean more to you: winning a grand slam title or an Olympic gold medal?
Anna: A grand slam title.

IS: We hear a lot about rivalry among the top women players. Who do you most enjoy beating?
Anna: I enjoy every win that I have. Every win gives me satisfaction, because all the girls are competitive and the tour is so even and tough.

IS: Do you still call Russia home?
Anna: Of course. It's where I was born, where I grew up. But I love America, too.

IS: If you had to lose either your tennis ability or your looks, which would go?
Anna: Ah, I would keep both.

IS: Do you think you would ever go out with another tennis player?
Anna: Why not? I wouldn't say that couldn't happen. I would have to go with my heart, you know?

IS: Do you feel other women players resent your beauty?
Anna: No. I haven't felt that.

IS: Do you feel other players try harder against you because of all the attention you attract?
Anna: No. I feel all the players try their hardest against everyone, every match they play.

IS: You seem a very happy person. Do you have enough killer instinct to reach the top?
Anna: Oh, definitely. I want very much to do well. I have always been very competitive. I smile, yes, but that doesn't mean I don't want to win.

IS: Is there time for a boyfriend in your life?
Anna: There's time. But he would have to be understanding. He would have to understand that often I will be travelling and playing.

IS: What qualities do you appreciate in a man?
Anna: Honesty, strength, blond - oh no, then all the boys will dye their hair. He just has to be gentle but strong, with a big heart. He has to know what it takes, how hard it is to succeed.

IS: What are your main interests away from tennis?
Anna: Shopping, the beach, eating - especially chocolate.

IS: Who are your favourite bands?
Anna: Really I just love to hear music on the radio, the music of the moment.

IS: Do you believe men's tennis is boring?
Anna: No.

IS: What's your favourite TV show?
Anna: Friends.

IS: When you were in Australia two years ago, you apparently asked to meet "the blond one" - Shane Warne. Why did you want to meet him and what was he like?
Anna: He was very nice. The whole cricket team was nice. But I don't think it was that I had to meet "the blond one". I think somebody asked ME to meet him.

Taken after the 3rd Round of US Open
September 2, 2000
Justine Henin of Belgium defeated 12th seed Anna Kournikova 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
in their Third Round match at the 2000 US Open in New York, USA.

Q: What happened?
Anna: What do you mean?
Q: Why did you lose?
Anna: Well, I think that I didn't play well, first of all, made too many mistakes, didn't use my chances.

Q: You were down a couple of breaks. You were down early in both sets, got right back in. Did you feel a lot of momentum? Did you feel like you were on the way to winning both sets or did you not really have it all together today?
Anna: Yeah, it was kind of a strange match, up and down always. I had chances, and I didn't use them. I made too many mistakes, just didn't play aggressive enough.

Q: How disappointing is it?
Anna: Well, of course it's disappointing.

Q: But how much? How do you feel?
Anna: Disappointed.
Q: Are you in shock at all?
Anna: I'm just disappointed.

Q: Would you ever consider playing in a smaller tournament just to win a title?
Anna: Well, I think I've answered this question many times already. If I'm going to play a smaller tournament, like really smaller, and beat somebody in the finals that ranks 100, I don't think it's going to bring me a lot of confidence.

Q: Is this the kind of a loss that makes you start to think, "I have to make changes"? How significant is it?
Anna: I know I can play well. I played well the two matches before. I played well a couple weeks before here. It was just a bad day for me. I didn't make the connection between points, between shots today at all. It was pretty windy. She played well. I just made too many mistakes.

Q: This lack of aggressiveness that you speak about is kind of a recurring theme in your game. Is this something that you're consciously working to be more aggressive? What are you doing to try to be more aggressive out there?
Anna: I think I was just very defensive today, playing very defensive. I gave her too many short balls. She was taking advantage of it.

Q: As you review the four Slams you played this year, not getting past the Round of 16 in any of them, is it possible that all of your outside interests are taking away from your focus on your tennis and causing a decline in your performances?
Anna: I don't have any outside interests.
Q: No outside interests at all?
Anna: No.

Q: Go back to talking about being defensive again out there today. I'm sure you didn't go out there with that plan. I'm sure you probably said to yourself that you had to go out and play aggressive. Why, when you went out on the court, did you find yourself hitting short balls?
Anna: It was kind of a match where I was maybe, like I said, making too many mistakes. She was serving good, then hitting some good shots in the beginning. I failed to, like I said, make a connection between shots and points. Just to make her work and run more, I should have done that. I should have made her play more shots, play out the point more. We had too many quick points. The person who won the point was whoever hit it -- made a short ball first. The other one just had to attack or approach.

Q: Is your serve consistent enough right now for you to get back in the Top 10 and maybe into the Top 5?
Anna: Well, if I'm playing well, my serve gets better. It wasn't just because of my serve I lost today. It was overall everything, kind of.

Q: Will you play the Invitational in Vienna?
Anna: Yeah.
Q:What do you expect from this tournament? Have you been to Vienna before?
Anna: Yeah, I have, but I haven't thought about it yet.

Q: Obviously you played Ashe Stadium today. Lindsay, the No. 2 seed, had Armstrong. CBS covered your match, not Lindsay's. When Lindsay came in, there were just a handful of reporters. Now there are many of us. Why do you think that occurs?
Anna: I don't know. You should ask the people who made the schedule for TV, not me.
Q: What are your thoughts on that?
Anna: I don't have any thoughts on that.

Q: What will it take for you to get to the top?
Anna: Right now, I just have to go back and work and prove my consistency. I know that I can play well. I've shown it before. I've beat a lot of players, all five No. 1's in the last 10 or 15 years. Just have to go back out there and work on my consistency.

Q: As well as you played this summer, you go out today and you lose to a player who is obviously very good, but has less experience than you. You're not going to get a chance to play Lindsay. Are you pretty stunned about that?
Anna: Well, just like I said in the beginning, I'm disappointed because I lost. Of course it matters to who, but it's just the way you lose. If you play well and you lose, it's okay. I just didn't play too good.

Q: Could you have imagined coming in here, as well as you played this summer, and going out in the fourth round to a player like Henin?
Anna: Well, like I said, this is a Grand Slam. Everybody are going to fight till the end. Nobody's going to give you nothing. You can see that a lot of players are having tough matches. It definitely shows the depth, that you have to get ready for anybody, if it's No. 1 or 100. Doesn't matter.
Q: You're saying you weren't ready?
Anna: I didn't say that. I said that you have to get ready and prepare, that everybody are going to fight to play and win.

Q: The Open marks the cooling down of the season. How would you assess your year?
Anna: For me, it's not a cooling down. It's one of the beginnings after the break after Wimbledon. I've got about maybe ten more tournaments until the season finishes, so it's a lot.

Q: How would you analyze your year to date?
Anna: Well, I wouldn't want to say it's been a year, like I said. But I played good after Wimbledon. I played good before April. That was good.

Q: Do you ever consider retiring from tennis to pursue a full-time career in, say, modeling or the movies or something?
Anna: I told you already that before. I don't have outside interests.

Q: Not now. But would you consider, perhaps, considering that?
Anna: I don't have outside interests.

Q: Are you just a little concerned that maybe you're on a treadmill right now, where you don't feel you're improving as much as you can? Is there concern that you're not as far along, you're sort of stuck in the same spot?
Anna: No, I think I'm improving the way I'm playing. It's always easy to play first or second year on the tour because nobody knows you. The players don't know your game. Players don't know what to expect. You just have to be steady. If you're there for a long time, then that shows how good of a player you are.

Q: You said that players come to play against you every match.
Anna: Not just against me. It's a Grand Slam. Everybody wants to win here.

Q: Do you feel players should try a little harder because you're so popular and there's a little resentment there?
Anna: No. Like I said, this is a Grand Slam. Everybody wants to win as many matches as possible. This is where you get the most points. It's the US Open.

Interview with Adidas in 1997
just after she goes  professional

Why are you so mentally tough?
"Am I?" she shoots back.

Aren't you?
"That's a tough question."

That's your reputation.
"Really?" she says somewhat incredulously. "I guess I just don't think about it. I just try to mentally play every point."

Why did you decide to go pro?
"Why? Because I felt I was ready for it, and I couldn't stay in the juniors anymore." In other words, it was too easy.

Was there one specific thing that happened?
"No."

Do anyone try to talk you out of it?
"No."

Who are your heroes?
"Don't really have any."

No tennis heroes?
"No."

When you go into matches, do you feel like the underdog?
"Which way?"

Like the fact that a lot of tennis fans don't know a lot about you…
"I think they do know a lot about me." she says firmly.

How long are your days when you're training?
"I play three hours of tennis and do one hour of general workout."

You travel a lot. How do you manage to have fun?
"Traveling is fun." she explains.

Where's your favorite place so far?
"Paris."

Did you go shopping already?
"No, not yet. I just arrived yesterday." It figures that in a world where typical teenagers go to the mall, Anna goes to Paris. Then again, typical teenagers don't go pro at 14.

Do you have a driver's license?
"No, my birthday is in one week!" Anna turns 16 on 7 June. She plans to get her license after the French Open. And, no, she doesn't know if she'll get a car yet.