Anna Kournikova: child prodigy, doubles champion ... Famous Loser

People tend to remember Anna Kournikova as overhyped, and it's not entirely off-base. Kournikova, thanks in large part to her marketable sex-symbol status, became way more famous than some much more accomplished athletes. But even if that simple label takes root in reality, it flattens Kournikova's path to receiving it. It neglects how Kournikova hit the tour as a child prodigy, how her image received attention long before she could control it, and how her career included both genuine success and premature disruption. Anna Kournikova might have been overhyped, but she was a lot of other things, too.