Anna Kournikova's former coach insists she needs more discipline if she wants to finally win her first singles tournament.
The Russian pin-up is the cynosure of women's tennis despite her unenviable record of never having won a singles title.
Her former coach, Dutchman Eric van Harpen, told Der Speigel magazine that Kournikova is a victim of her own marketing success.
He said: "She has sufficient talent to be in the world's top five and stay
there for a long time. But she doesn't do everything she can to get
there. She's not disciplined enough in her work.
"When she reached her career best of ninth I thought she would
come and tell me: 'That's it, we've made it, nobody can knock us out
of the top 10. But nothing happened."
The 19-year-old Kournikova did in fact haul herself back into
the top 10 last week after a final appearance in Moscow, where she
went down to doubles partner Martina Hingis.
Little queen
But van Harpen insisted that she was too liable to allow the
trappings of fame to distract her.
"Here she gets a limousine, there a pair of gold earrings, then
a house. Everywhere she is treated like a little queen. That's why
there's one word which remains foreign to her: discipline.
"Because a little queen only does what she wants. Some days she earns more money than a coach does in a year but
despite that she has to be reasonable and follow instructions. But
for that she has to have a certain degree of maturity.
"Anna hasn't got to that stage yet. When things aren't going the
way she wants she gets stubborn."
Impatience
He accused Kournikova, now coached by her mother, of "lacking a
capacity to concentrate, impatience in long rallies and ignoring my
tactical advice."
Asked about Kournikova's talent for drawing publicity to herself
and the events in which she plays and noting that some 90% of
her estimated US$14m a year in earnings come from
marketing contracts, van Harpen said that could only harm her.
"That comes into conflict with her sporting interests. She is
the victim of her perfect marketing campaign."
Asked if she sometimes received preferential treatment at some
events despite failing to win any tournaments van Harpen said that
"sometimes tournament directors meet up and draw up a list of the
most popular players.
"In Europe, in the United States and Asia, Kournikova is top of
the list."
