Washington (ANI): Retired Russian professional tennis player Anna Kournikova loves to exercise as it gets all the negative energy out of her system. Kournikova does have to keep in shape for her job as a tennis pro, but the main reason she loves exercising so much is because it helps her to remain positive.

"I feel great when I sweat and get all the negative energy out," People mag quoted her as saying on Wednesday Mar 12 night at the opening of KSwiss's new store in Santa Monica, Calif. As an athlete, it is important to focus on doing the "weights and machines to keep the muscle mass on", but she finds that exercising has other benefits too.


"It's all about building muscle and feeling good about yourself," she said. "I do some cardio but very little, just to relieve the stress and sweat," she added. Anna, who has had to face some of the world"s top-ranking tennis players, revealed that she has also had to face some tough battles off the court, such as the time of Internet speculation about her weight loss, which she says, "really doesn't affect me."

"You know that you're a public person. You know what you're getting yourself into and you just have to be okay with yourself," she said. "It's just somebody's opinion and you just can't focus on that," she added. When asked about her relationship with longtime boyfriend Enrique Iglesias, Anna said: "everything is good."