Kournikova withdraws

Tennis: Anna Kournikova has confirmed she will not play next week's Wimbledon championships, organisers said yesterday.

As expected, the Russian has failed to recover from the "chronic lumbar complaint" that prevented her from playing in two warm-up events she had initially entered.

Kournikova joins former men's champion Goran Ivanisevic and Monica Seles as high-profile names to miss Wimbledon through injury.

The 22-year-old also missed last week's grasscourt tournament in Birmingham and this week's Eastbourne championships.

"They said my injury is chronic because it keeps coming back. It's the same problem I've had since after the Australian Open and it gives me referred pain in other areas, but it all comes from my back," Kournikova had said when she withdrew from Birmingham.

A semi-finalist at Wimbledon the first year she played the event, 1997, Kournikova has been plagued with injuries over the past two seasons.

Without a WTA title after spending more than seven years on the circuit, the Russian pin-up's off-court exploits have heavily overshadowed her tennis career. Having reached those Wimbledon semis in 1997 as a precocious 16-year-old talent, the Russian has since failed to deliver the goods on court.

Now ranked outside the top 70 in the world, Kournikova is no longer considered a serious title contender on the WTA tour although she remains the most photographed woman in sport.