The opening day crowd cheered and cat-called the pin-up girl in her encouraging 6-2, 7-5 win against Hantuchova, which was followed by 10 minutes of signing posters, programs and tennis balls. 8 that January.īut she had gone 0-3 in WTA finals and her lack of titles was a regular question at press conferences, along with queries about how provocative she was prepared to be with her clothing. Getty ImagesĮven Lleyton Hewitt, who was dating Kim Clijsters and would win the first of his two major titles at the US Open later that year, had to concede his splashy five-year, $22 million deal with Nike was several tiers below what the Russian bombshell was commanding.ĭespite struggling in the slams in 2000, Kournikova had enjoyed her most consistent year on tour and boosted her world ranking to a career-high No. Anna Kournikova signs autographs during the 2001 Australian Open. It was the first year equal prize money was on offer in Australia and there was a perception the ladies’ game - packed with champions like Venus and Serena Williams, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport and Monica Seles - was more appealing then a men’s field clinging to the glory days of Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. She remained the most marketable figure in an era of women’s tennis that couldn’t have been stronger. It didn’t matter that Kournikova had failed to make it past the fourth round since her sensational run to the semis at Wimbledon four years earlier. The apparel provider was reportedly paying around $7 million of the $13 million she was pulling in annually from endorsements and certainly made a splash with the eye-catching top and shorts combo. Kournikova, 19, strode on to the court in a bright yellow top made especially for the year’s opening Grand Slam by Adidas. “Everyone just bolted for the court she was playing on,” he told the Herald Sun. Jamie Cole, a 20-year-old from Bundoora, was in the thick of the fray. match against then little-known Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova. Their target? A seat at show court one for Anna Kournikova’s 10 a.m. The 2001 Australian Open began with a stampede.Īs the gates opened on a sunny Monday at Melbourne Park, thousands of fans stormed in like a Black Friday crowd at a retail outlet.
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