08/03/2013 00:00
TW
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By Humphrey Carter FORMER world top ten tennis player Anna Kournikova is going to be promoting the Pula Golf Mallorca Golf Classic 2006 and the Balearics at next week's ITB tourism fair in Berlin. The ITB is the first of the major global tourism fairs of the year and the Balearic government confirmed yesterday that Kournikova, who has used Majorca as a tennis training camp and also enjoyed holidays at the luxury Pula complex in Cala Ratjada, is the latest high profile member of the Balearics' team of tourism ambassadors which already includes Claudia Schiffer, Boris Becker, Rafa Nadal, Carlos Sainz and Michael Douglas. The 24-year-old, who turned professional in 1995 after being declared Junior World Champion, first captured the world's attention in 1997 when she reached the semi-finals of her first Wimbledon tournament - since then she has gone on to become a global phenomenon on and off the court. In 1998, People Magazine named her as one of the “50 most beautiful people” in the world, one of only two athletes on the list, and two years later, she was one of five female tennis players named to the Forbes magazine Power 100 in Fame and Fortune list at number 58. Apart from tennis, Russian Kournikova loves playing golf and she also includes the sea and the beach as two of her many hobbies the Balearics offers her, and millions of other people. All of those attractions and more and her presence on the Balearic stand is going to attract global interest. Throughout her tennis career and thanks to her long-lasting relationship with her sponsor Adidas, she has not only graced the front covers of scores of sports and fitness magazines, but also hundreds of leading fashion and celebrity publications. She also plays a very active role in raising funds for charities all over the world and is considered a publicity and marketing “dream” by many of the world's top companies and organisations. The Balearics are fortunate to have managed to secure her services. The ITB opens in Berlin next week, on March 9, and is one of the big three travel trade fairs along with London and Milan. Nadal appeared at FITUR in Madrid in January.