By
Bryan Rosenbaum
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Anna Kournikova is a marketing genius.
She has passed herself off as a tennis player for the last few years and is now reaping the rewards, all because she's really a beauty queen.
Sure, being No. 13 in the world took some effort. But it was just a little sacrifice she had to take so she could launch a world-wide modeling career.
Flirting with every Russian hockey player and ogling male watching her play in those tiny little outfits, Kournikova has become the most photographed person in the world since Princess Di, the most downloaded athlete on the Internet and the cover girl for virtually every magazine in the world, even when it had to do with her tennis ability.
And speaking of her tennis ability, have you seen her serve?
Venus Williams is out there blasting 120-plus mph serves that would give Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi fits, while Anna is daintily placing the ball right at her opponent's forehand - if she can even get it in the service area in the first place.
She hasn't won a tournament in her pro career and probably never will.
She won't even play a smaller tournament to boost her confidence because it's not important enough for her, then she gets hammered in the first round of Wimbledon or the French Open.
Heck, she just might be out of the U.S. Open singles tournament by the time you read this.
But that doesn't matter, does it? When Anna makes her one-day appearance at an event in Oklahoma City, it's smiles all around - the tournament organizers are happy, the fans were able to sneak a glimpse at her, the players have one less opponent to worry about and Kournikova has made her impression.
Why does she need tennis?
Judging by recent photos of her in Cosmopolitan, she can do just fine on her own as a model. She'd basically be doing the same thing - traveling around the world and getting pictures taken of her, without the embarrassment of losing to a no-name player in the first round of a tournament.
The last three or four years, Kournikova has gone from being a tennis prodigy to a worldwide sex symbol - not bad for somebody who is only 19 years old. Now she must take it up to another level.
After gracing us with her presence on the tennis circuit the last couple of years, it's obvious that Anna isn't going to make any money or be successful playing this sport.
Come January 2001, it'll be the perfect time for her to launch Anna Kournikova Enterprises.
Anna! Cosmetics, Anna! Clothing, Anna! Magazine, Anna! Nutritional Supplements, Anna! TV, Anna! Cruise Lines and, oh yeah, Anna! Tennis Products - all of which help to promote her company's slogan, "Beauty may only be skin deep, but it's all that really matters!"
