Love match ends in tears for tennis pin-up Kournikova

RUSSIAN tennis beauty Anna Kournikova is divorced and no longer talks to her husband, it was confirmed yesterday.

Detroit Red Wings forward Sergei Fedorov has admitted that he and Kournikova were married but are now divorced.

The 33-year-old, rated as one of the top players in the NHL, confirmed his relationship with 21-year-old Kournikova in the Hockey News.

"They are true," said Fedorov, when asked about rumours concerning their wedding.

"We were married, albeit briefly, and we are now divorced."

Fedorov has had a long-running relationship with the Russian dating back to when she burst on to the tennis scene as a teenager.

His mother told reporters back in 2001 that they had been married in a Moscow registry office.

Kournikova, who has also been linked with several other high profile athletes and entertainers, including NHL sniper Pavel Bure and singer Enrique Inglesias, has suffered a decline in her tennis fortunes since reaching eighth in the world in 2000.

She is now ranked a lowly 67th in the WTA rankings and is still looking for her first singles title.

Things reached a new low in the second round of the Australian Open in January when she was thrashed 6-0 6-1 by Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne her heaviest defeat in a grand slam tournament.

Kournikova was not available for comment yesterday.

When she reached the Wimbledon semi-finals weeks after her 16th birthday, everyone assumed it was merely a matter of time before Koournikova won her first Grand Slam title.

Several years down the line, the question is will she ever even win a regular Tour event?

One of the most famous faces in women's sport, she is in danger of being remembered for her looks rather than her tennis-playing ability.

When she first came to public prominence as a 14-year-old with an exceptional junior record, it was expected she would embark on a long rivalry with fellow prodigy Martina Hingis.

But while Hingis went on to claim a hatful of titles, Kournikova has yet to break her Tour duck.

Three runners-up spots, the last of which was in 2000 along with several major scalps earlier in her career are the sum total of her singles achievements.

But Kournikova has always maintained that all she wants to do is play tennis and says she is convinced the titles will eventually come.