After years of enriching others -- the WTA, the paparazzi, the cast of \"Me, Myself and Irene,\" the staff of Page 2 -- Anna Kournikova has finally decided to invest in herself.

The stakes are low, but the pressure is still on Anna.

Rather than accept a wild-card berth into the $1.2 million German Open in Berlin, which is this week's big-money stop on the women's tour, the top model in tennis is slumming it at a USTA minor league tournament in Sea Island, Ga., where the grand prize is a piddling little $3,000.

Kournikova, whose world ranking has slipped from No. 8 to No. 72, has flopped in the first round of her last three WTA tournaments. In an effort to rebuild her patchy game and sagging confidence, she's dropping down to the minors -- much as top-ranked Andre Agassi did after his ranking slipped to No. 141 five years ago.

A thigh injury forced Anna Kournikova to withdraw from the Cloister Cup before her semifinal match.

Kournikova quit the tournament Saturday after a practice earlier in the day. The withdrawal advanced fellow Russian Maria Sharapova to the final, where she beat Australian Christina Wheeler 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday.

Kournikova was first injured April 9 at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, S.C.

She struggled through her quarterfinal match against Sunitha Rao on Friday, which she won 6-3, 6-3. Kournikova's tightly wrapped thigh gave her problems throughout the match, and she was limping by the end.

The Cloister Cup was Kournikova's first event since she was first injured.

Speaking of USTA events, for the second week in a row, in an effort to apply the defib paddle to a dying game, Anna Kournikova played a $25,000 Challenger. For the second week in a row, she fell deeper into despair. Two weeks ago in Sea Island, Ga., Kournikova abruptly withdrew with an, ahem, injury shortly before she was to take the court to play Maria Sharapova in the semifinals. Last week in Charlottesville, Va., she didn't get out of the first round, falling in three sets to a player ranked No. 384 in the world. Adding insult to (reputed) injury, during the match at the Boar's Head Sports Club, hecklers drove by blaring Enrique Iglesias tunes from their stereos. After the match, Kournikova's conqueror, the formidable Bruna Colosio, exclaimed that Kournikova's serve was so weak, \"I could almost hit an overhead off of it.\" (As a rule of thumb, when you're a former top-10 player and you're getting dissed by the No.384-ranked player, it's generally not a good sign.) Afterward, Kournikova skipped out on the mandatory media session, earning her a whopping $250 fine. Lots of you wrote in trashing Anna, but I think we have to give her some credit for swallowing her considerable pride, admitting her game isn't WTA Tour-level right now and beating the bushes. (What adidas thinks of lavishing millions on a player who is performing at the Boar's Head Sports Club is, of course, another matter.) At the same time, something obviously has gone dreadfully wrong here and Kournikova's career clearly is at a dire crossroads.

In the latest issue of French sports daily L'Equipe, agent Phil De Picciotto admitted that the 22-year-old ravishing Russian may be forced to dramatically cut back her playing schedule -- if she is able to return to action.

\"Considering the state of her back, Anna is unable to to feature in tournaments regularly,\" De Picciotto told L'Equipe. \"The past six months have proved that she has a real desire to play, but even if she feels better, she is not fit enough to play as much as she used to.\"

George_vikingfan:
...her nagging back injury may force her out of tennis for good.

Joe in Philly:
 if her back hurts so much, maybe she should stay off it.    wink