ANNA KOURNIKOVA

WIMBLEDON, June 25: She has just played her first match at Wimbledon, but the newspapers have already spent innumerable columns on this 17-year-old, now described as a marketing man's delight, ready to take over from Gabriela Sabatini -- the ex- darling of the advertisers.

Anna Kournikova, the Russian who was transplanted from post-perestroika Russia to sunny Bradenton in Florida -- the land where the man with the Midas touch Nick Bollettieri reigns, may not have the perfect face when compared to Sabatini. But she has the perfect figure which has been made all the more prominent with the clothing, provided by Adidas along with millions of dollars.

Ranked 44 in the WTA computer, Kournikova was on centre court on Tuesday and played the kind of tennis which should become the norm in the years to come. She demolished American Chanda Rubin in 44 minutes giving away just two games. Unlike World No 1 Martina Hingis or Venus Williams, whose sole claim to fame is the brand of tennis they play, the Russian is often in the news for matters not necessarily concerning the game.

After her first round match, the questions at the press conference veered around her boyfriend Sergei Federov, 10 years older than her, and the star striker of the Detroit Redwings ice hockey team which won the Stanley Cup.

Saying ``I'm single,'' she stonewalled all queries regarding him. ``You're not going out with him ?'' ``I'm single,'' she repeated. Since then, those three words have become the most important for Anna.

For a player ranked 44th in the world, the attention she gets, however, is all due to her personality. Her clothing was sponsored ever since she was 10 and cosmetic majors have been vying with each other for a slice of her face. Ever since she was discovered during a warm-up exhibition for the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, she and her parents have been wined and dined in the best of New York restaurants by agents seeking her contract.

Yet, nobody is talking about how well or badly she plays. But, it seems, that is immaterial. Actually, a title or two should do her good or add a couple of zeroes in her bank account but she has already been converted into a marketing icon by the best in the marketing business. Managed by the International Management Group, Kournikova will have none of the problems that normally plagues teenagers like her.

She has no qualms about telling the world that she loves to be an actress. That should be heady stuff because she will have the licence to reveal more than she normally does on a tennis court. Revealing has been one of the most recognisable facets of Kournikova's character. Last year, at 15 years of age, she entered the first Grand Slam press conference in a shorts shorter than what the Daily Telegraph would describe as ``shorter than a Rusedski-Philippoussis rally.''

Like other women stars, Kournikova is also a mother-driven star. Her mother, Alla, wearing equally skimpy clothes, was in the VIP box watching. Alla is the one who was quick to realise her daughter's potential and put her in Bollettieri's care. But even he had problems keeping the mother in check and had to ban her from the practice courts because she had a sharp tongue.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.