Anna Kournikova 1998 at the WTA tournament in Linz attracted a great deal of attention when she emerged as one of the greatest talents of her generation. Although she was denied a tournament victory in Linz, her presence and style of play quickly made her a crowd favourite. Even at a young age, she was one of the most recognisable faces in women's tennis and reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 1997.

In the course of her career, Kournikova also excelled in doubles, where she won several Grand Slam titles together with Martina Hingis and was world number one at times.

Despite frequent injuries and an early end to her career, she remained closely associated with the sport. She also developed into one of the first global tennis icons to achieve fame far beyond the sport.