Anna began playing tennis when she was only five years old. When Anna was nine years old, she was spotted playing in the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, by IMG Agents. They took her to the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida.  When Anna was only 13 years old she made it to the final in the Rolex Orange Bowl tournament. There she unfortunately lost to 18 year old Spaniard Marion Ramon, 7-5,6-4. If Anna had won the match she would have been the youngest winner in the tournament's history. But the revenge for Anna would come as soon as the next year. Then Anna made it all the way to the final again and there she defeated Sandra Nacuk of Yugoslavia, 6-3,6-2. The same year, Anna also won the European Championships, and the 1995 Italian Open Juniors. She made it to the semi final in the juniors Wimbledon, and Anna also was a French Open Juniors quarter finalist. She ended 1995 as the ITF Junior world Champion ranked No. 1. With a terrific play through the all of 1995, Anna really showed what a great tennis player and big talent she was. In 1996, Anna turned professional and it didn't take long time before Anna stood as the champion of her first tournament as a pro. This happened in a ITF Women's Circuit Satellite event in Midland, Michigan, USA, where she qualified in to the tournament and then went all the way to a terrific win over Lindsay Lee in the final. Later on the same year Anna took her second tournament win as a pro. As the fifth seed, she earned the win of an ITF Women's Circuit Satellite event in Rockford, Illinois, USA. Anna also made her Grand Slam debut in 1996. This was in the U.S. Open. After winning her first three qualifying>matches in the tournament, Anna made it to the fourth round where she unfortunately lost to number one seed, Steffi Graaf, which later on won the whole tournament. Anna ranking at this time was 144.  But with a lovely tennis so in 1997, Anna moved up to the top 25 on the world ranking list. In 1997 a simi-finalist in Wimbledon boasted Anna ranking even high. Other good showings have put her rank at 11. And her coach Bollettieri predicts her to be a future top 10 player. And that don't seem to far away. And with that talent that Anna has, in the future she will be a serious contender to the number one spot in the women's tennis. I wish her all of luck in the future as if she needs it.