Former tennis star Anna Kournikova finally appeared in public after two years away from the spotlight. Despite her return, fans quickly went from delighted to worried as the athlete is now in a wheelchair.
The 43-year-old, who shares three children with her longtime partner, Enrique Iglesias, was spotted at the Bal Harbor Shops in Miami last Saturday (January 25). She was wearing an orthopedic boot and dressed in a black sweatsuit.
Kournikova was accompanied by her two daughters, 7-year-old Lucy, and 4-year-old Mary, as well as an unidentified woman who was pushing her wheelchair.
“Omg, what happened to her!?” one reader wrote, echoing the sentiments of many of her fans who were dismayed to see the new photos.
Tennis legend Anna Kournikova was spotted for the first time in two years in a wheelchair, leaving her fans worried
While the cause of the athlete’s injury is unknown at the moment, some netizens felt the photo was an invasion of privacy and argued her status should not be made public without her consent.
“Leave her alone! She’s trying to be low-profile, and not bothering anyone,” one user stated, pointing out how the celebrity has made a conscious effort to be out of the limelight in recent years.
“I wish her a speedy and full recovery, but please let them be a private family,” another replied.
Kournikova and her husband met just one year before she retired from tennis due to a number of ongoing injuries. Iglesias was filming the music video for his single Escape in 2001.
The couple bonded over the hardships of growing up in the spotlight, with the experience allowed them to understand each other in ways no other partner could.
“When we met — although she came from the sports world — in a way, we kind of got each other. She knew what my world was like. I kind of knew what her world was like. So that understanding helped a lot,” the singer said, recounting their meeting.
“[The video changed my life] in ways that I didn’t even think about.”
Kournikova may have retired from tennis early, but her career included many remarkable achievements
At just 14 years of age, the athlete won both the European Championships and the Italian Open Junior tournament, instantly becoming one of the most promising contenders in the sport.
Two years later, she reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 1997, proving her doubters wrong and rewarding the faith of her earliest fans.
In one of her biggest accomplishments, Kournikova won two Grand Slam doubles titles with Martina Hingis in 1999 and 2002, becoming the world’s nº1 female tennis player in the category.
As a singles player, she reached her career-high ranking of Nº8 in November 2000.
Kournikova, over the course of her career, earned an estimated $3.5 million in prize money, not to mention the earnings she made after becoming a model and worldwide icon.
A fracture on her left foot made her 2001 season a painful one, forcing her to retire two years later
Kournikova endured a difficult 2001 season due to a left foot stress fracture that forced her to withdraw from a whopping 12 tournaments, including high-profile ones such as Wimbledon and the French Open.
Determined to keep going, she underwent surgery in April, and after rigorous training and rehabilitation exercises, she was able to keep competing.
However, her performance had started to diminish, dropping her rank to nº74 in singles, and nº26 in doubles.
Her determination never wavered, and she was able to mount a comeback in 2002, climbing to nº35 in singles, and nº11 in doubles by the end of that year.
Kournikova kept competing, but a back injury, coupled with the aforementioned foot fracture, made it impossible for her to perform at the level necessary to maintain her ranking, forcing her to retire.
The athlete kept participating in exhibition matches in the following years. On December 16, 2017, she and Iglesias were blessed with twins, Nicholas and Lucy, with Mary joining them on January 30, 2020.
Tennis Star Anna Kournikova Seen In Public For The First Time In 2 Years… In Wheelchair Bored Panda
