Kournikova Flames Out Quickly

The numbers are dazzling. Russian tennis diva Anna Kournikova is said to earn more than $10 million a year, mostly in off-court endorsements.

Here is another eye-opening figure: She has gone 68 tournaments without a championship.

She reached that number Wednesday at Wimbledon and achieved another dubious distinction. She made her earliest exit at this event, as unheralded Anne-Gaelle Sidot of France defeated Kournikova, 6-3, 6-4, in the second round.

Three years ago, at 16, Kournikova made a splashy Wimbledon debut, reaching the semifinals, accompanied off the court by hockey star Sergei Fedorov. She since has failed to advance past the fourth round of a Grand Slam event. Her one-dimensional game--flat groundstrokes with little topspin--has been surpassed by the power of Venus and Serena Williams.

In 2000, she has slipped more, losing to the likes of Nathalie Dechy (Indian Wells), Sylvia Plischke (French Open), and now, Sidot, who had won only one match at Wimbledon in four trips.

“She’s the kind of player that one day everything can go absolutely right, one day it can go wrong,” Kournikova said. “Today, she was just playing too good.”

Sidot gained confidence after reaching the quarterfinals on grass in Birmingham, England, and countrywoman Nathalie Tauziat told her that she had the game to succeed.

Sidot said players are often overwhelmed when they face Kournikova because of the crowd support for the 19-year-old Russian. “This time, it was different,” said Sidot, who wasn’t intimidated by the fans. She finished the 69-minute match with an ace.

French Open finalist Conchita Martinez of Spain was the only seeded player on the women’s side to exit. Sonya Jeyaseelan of Canada defeated the fourth-seeded Martinez, 6-4, 6-1.

Tournament favorites, top-seeded Martina Hingis of Switzerland, fifth-seeded Venus Williams and eighth-seeded Serena Williams, all won easily. Serena looked particularly convincing, defeating qualifier Yvette Basting of the Netherlands, 6-1, 6-0, serving nine aces.

She has been away from the tour since April because of a knee injury.

She was asked about several of her colleagues dating male players on the tour. “It’s really hard if you get involved in a relationship,” she said. “Next thing you know, your game goes down.”

Hingis, who has been dating Magnus Norman, did not agree with that comment.

“I don’t know if she’s had any experiences, so how can she talk about that?” Hingis said. “I don’t think my game went down so far. I’m happy with my relationship.”

*

Martina Navratilova, returning to Wimbledon for the first time in four years for the doubles competition, and Mariaan De Swardt of South Africa won in the first round against Amanda Hopmans of the Netherlands and Lubomira Bacheva of Bulgaria, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a long time,” said Navratilova, whose last appearance at Wimbledon was in mixed doubles in 1996. “Once you get out there, you bask in the applause for 30 seconds, then you have to play a match. Of course, it was fantastic to be out there again. That’s what I’ve been waiting for.”

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Today’s Featured Matches

CENTRE COURT

* Tim Henman (8), Britain, vs. Arnaud Clement, France

* Magui Serna, Spain, vs. Mary Pierce (3), France

* Todd Martin vs. Andre Agassi (2)

COURT 1

* Elena Likhovtseva, Russia, vs. Lindsay Davenport (2)

* Yevgeny Kafelnikov (5), Russia, vs. Thomas Johansson, Sweden

* Arnaud Di Pasquale, France, vs. Mark Philippoussis (10), Australia

COURT 2

* Todd Woodbridge, Australia, vs. Patrick Rafter (12), Australia

* Monica Seles (6) vs. Els Callens, Belgium

* Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde (1), Australia vs. Jan-Michael Gambill and ScottHumphries

* Anna Kournikova, Russia, and Natasha Zvereva (5), Belarus vs. Nannie de Villiers and Jessica Steck, South Africa