The name's Kransnoroutskaya and the game's tennis

The name's Kransnoroutskaya and the game's tennis
REUTERS

PARIS, MAY 31: A new name Krasnoroutskaya is all set to enter the women's tennis tour. She is a Russian who has more than one blond, athletic, photogenicteen-ager on the tennis tour. And if Anna Kournikova doesn't become the first Russian woman to win a Grand Slam, Lina Krasnoroutskaya could do it.

"I can see her becoming a tough opponent in the future," tour veteran Mary Pierce said after watching Krasnoroutskaya win an exhibition in Hong Kong earlier this year.

Krasnoroutskaya was 15 at the time. She's 16 now and hoping to make a splash this week at the French Open, where she's the youngest player in the tournament.

Krasnoroutskaya's first-round match and 63 others were postponed yesterday when rain washed out an entire day's schedule at Roland Garros for perhaps the first time in history. Kournikova, Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams and Andre Agassi also had matches postponed until today.

All will draw bigger crowds than Krasnoroutskaya, who has yet to attract much international attention. But in 1999 she was the world's No. 1 junior, won the US Open junior championship and reached the semifinals in her first WTA Tour event at Luxembourg.

With two years of school remaining, Krasnoroutskaya has already climbed to 120th in the women's rankings. The native of suburban Moscow said she was destined for a tennis career from the start because both her parents liked the game.

"I started to play tennis when I was in my mom's stomach, Krasnoroutskaya joked.

Actually, she took up the game at 3 and had a sponsor at 9, which provided money for her to pursue a career as a touring professional.

Such financial support is vital in Russia because one hour on an indoor court can cost $30, which is a lot of money there, Krasnoroutskaya said. Her grandmother lives on $15 a month

"We don't have much money for the player development programme in Russia," Krasnoroutskaya said.

Nonetheless, the sport there is on the rise, and Krasnoroutskaya is part of a wave of talented players. Five Russians are ranked in the top 60 on the women's tour, led by Kournikova at No. 15. On the men's side, Yevgeny Kafelnikov is a former No. 1, and 20-year-old Marat Safin is considered a potential future Grand Slam champion.

Tennis has become the most popular sport in Russia, Krasnoroutskaya said, surpassing even soccer.

"We have so many people who play tennis well," she said. "When the young children watch TV, they can see it's very interesting."

That's especially true when Kournikova takes the court. The 18-year-old Moscow native is as big a celebrity back home as everywhere else.

"She's very beautiful, and she's playing tennis very good," Krasnoroutskaya said. "All the girls say, `I want to be like Anna'."