Kournikova No Match for TV Reporting

Tue., Sep. 2, 2003 11:15 AM PDT by Julie Keller

It looks like Anna Kournikova's telejournalism career will be just about as successful as her tennis career.

The raquet-wielding Russian hottie--who has never won a major tournament in her eight years on the circuit--backed out of her gig as a roving reporter for the USA Network during the 2003 U.S. Open, which is now going on in New York.

After three days of work, the 22-year-old tennis diva said she decided to retire her microphone over the weekend, opting not to continue a second week with the network. She told tennisreporters.net she was uncomfortable grilling her court peers during interviews.

But more importantly, the job was making her fat--she said she was spending too much time eating--and it kept her so busy she had to miss the MTV Video Music Awards last week. (But she did make one of the all-important after-parties.)

Kournikova, who was sidelined from the tournament due to a back injury, was hired by USA to be a roving "entertainment" reporter. Though critics were skeptical about her skills (the New York Post sniped "Anna's TV gig makes her tennis look good" after her first day on the job), she generated serious buzz.

For Day One in front of the camera, she showed up in a miniskirt, red bra and fur-trimmed boots and scored props (and drool) from both USA and her fans as she interviewed players backstage in the players lounge.

"It's her first time on TV, and she's working hard," USA Network spokesman Tom Caraccioli told the Associated Press. "She is generating loads of excitement around the grounds. It's rock-star-like proportions."

Even now, USA isn't holding anything against the tan, blonde tennis siren--network execs claim she fulfilled her end of the bargain. "We'd only contracted for her to work three days, and that's the way it went down," Caraccioli said. "Then again, who knows what opportunities will arise for her in the future."

Though her near future apparently won't include this particular TV gig, it also won't include much tennis either. Kournikova told tennisreporters.net that she has decided to take the rest of the year off to give her back time to heal.

No matter--she's keeping herself busy. In the past week, she has been sprawled across one magazine cover above the headline "In Bed with Anna," she threw out the first pitch at a Yankees-White Sox game, and she helped launch a new line of sports videogames for Microsoft.

She's also probably on the prowl for a new boyfriend. Enrique Iglesias, her supposed love match of more than a year, told Sunday's Parade magazine, "I hate saying this, but I haven't found a girlfriend I want to be with more than a week at a time."

Just like Anna's feelings toward her TV gig.