"Anna Kournikova hasn't won a tournament yet, so it's hard to admire her" - When Maria Sharapova pushed back against 'Baby Kournikova' nickname
Maria Sharapova was once considered the successor to fellow Russian tennis star Anna Kournikova. However, Sharapova wasn't fond of such comparisons even as a young teenager, admitting she didn't hold her compatriot in high regard.
When Sharapova made a name for herself on the junior circuit, Kournikova had already established herself on tour. Kournikova had won the women's doubles title at the 1999 Australian Open, attained the doubles World No. 1 ranking, and recorded a career-high ranking of World No. 8 in singles. She also recorded her best singles result at a Major when she reached the quarterfinals of the Melbourne Slam in 2001.
Meanwhile, Maria Sharapova had followed in Anna Kournikova's footsteps and enrolled in celebrated coach Nick Bollettieri's renowned IMG Sports Academy after moving to the United States with her father Yuri when she was seven years old.
As she began to make waves under Bollettieri's tutelage, comparisons to Anna Kournikova emerged. However, Sharapova didn't appreciate people drawing such parallels even at 14 years of age.
In a 2001 interview with the New York Post, Maria Sharapova rejected the 'Baby Kournikova' label, explaining that she struggled to admire Kournikova because she hadn't yet won a singles title.
"It's pretty funny -- sometimes they call me Baby Kournikova. But she hasn't won a tournament yet, so it's hard to admire her," Sharapova said.
Maria Sharapova: "I often ended up with Anna Kournikova's hand-me-downs... The first thing my mom did was throw all that in the trash"
In her memoir 'Unstoppable: My Life So Far,' Maria Sharapova expressed her frustration over the constant comparisons to Anna Kournikova, revealing her growing irritation with them.
The former World No. 1 also disclosed that she often ended up with Kournikova's hand-me-downs at Nick Bollettieri's academy, admitting her dislike for her compatriot's preference for "skintight" and "animal print" styles.
"Anna Kournikova was a standout at the academy, and I was compared to her from the very beginning because we were both Russians, because we were both blond," Sharapova wrote.
"In those early years, and I’m not exactly sure why, when I needed clothes, I often ended up with Kournikova’s hand-me-downs, which—well, skintight animal prints are not usually my thing. These comparisons only increased as I got older, along with my dislike of these comparisons," she added.
When her mother Yelena finally reunited with Sharapova and her father Yuri in the United States after being separated for two years due to visa issues, she immediately went through her daughter's closet and discarded all of Kournikova's hand-me-downs.
"The first thing my mom did when she finally arrived in America was go through my closet and throw all that stuff in the trash," she said.
Maria Sharapova has credited her mother for broadening her horizons beyond tennis by introducing her to cultural activities like the ballet, disclosing that Yelena wanted her to "stay curious and humble."