It was never fair to mention Anna Kournikova's name in the same sentence as Danica Patrick's, but Patrick understood.
Kournikova was all about failed potential and commercial appeal and, even worse for women's sports, sex appeal. The now-retired Russian tennis player never won a singles title even though she was more than capable, but she drew the attention befitting a champion and didn't seem to be the slightest bit sheepish about it.
Patrick, who became auto racing's first female winner in IndyCar history on Sunday in Japan, is none of that, never was. But she also knows that for all the attention she had drawn over the first three-plus years of her pro career, much of it because she was the only woman driver and much of it because she also happens to be beautiful, there was a downside no one ever talked about much.
Read Article