She was the best German tennis player behind Steffi Graf, a nationally known star and face of an advertising campaign that is still remembered by millions of fans today.
Today she leads a new life, largely away from the public eye – but not entirely either.
What has become of Anke Huber, who today celebrates her 47th birthday?. Birthday celebrations?
Anke Huber celebrated great victories with Steffi Graf and Boris Becker
Huber, born on 4. December 1974 in Bruchsal near Karlsruhe, was considered in the nineties as the crown princess of the century player Graf, who had risen at the end of the previous decade to the great dominator of the scene.
In 1990, at the age of just 15, Huber won her first WTA tournament in Schenectady/USA, and the following year she caused a sensation with her first of two home victories in Filderstadt – where she defeated none other than the legendary Martina Navratilova in the final.
In the course of her career, Huber won 12 tournaments and also set highlights in various team competitions: In 1992, she won the Fed Cup with Graf, Barbara Rittner and Sabine Hack, laying the foundation for the final triumph with a victory over Conchita Martinez. In 1995, she won the Hopman Cup mixed competition with Boris Becker against the Ukrainian brother and sister Natalija Medwedjewa and Andrij Medwedjew – the latter was also her life partner at that time.
Huber lost her biggest match against Graf in 1995
Huber never really hit the big time on the Grand Slam stage, losing her only Grand Slam final to Monica Seles at the 1996 Australian Open. Shortly before, she had missed a coup against Steffi Graf in the 1995 Masters final by a hair’s breadth, losing in five sets in the final – which was considered the match of her life.
After her most successful year in terms of sports, 1996 – in which she advanced to No. 4 in the world rankings – came a bend and three years without trophies. Martina Hingis also thwarted Huber’s chance of a second major final in the semifinals of Melbourne 1998.
It was not until the year before her career ended in 2000 that two final tournament successes rounded off Huber’s record.
"Milk Duds" shaped her life
The fact that Huber had her zenith in the Graf-Becker era ensured that even her early rise as a teen sensation was always overshadowed by the two uber-figures. On the other hand, she also profited from the tennis boom that the two had triggered in Germany.
Huber earned around $4.75 million in prize money over the course of her career, and her fortune also grew through a partnership with food giant Ferrero: Huber became the face of the "Milchschnitte" bar through TV commercials, which Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, among others, later promoted prominently.
"As I evolved from a girl into a woman, the milk slice image was already getting on my nerves," Huber later reported in the Tennis Magazine: "But all in all it was a great advertising partner. I have become quite famous by it."
Two children with star consultant Roger Wittmann
Although Huber repeatedly emphasized that she looks back on her career with satisfaction, she made a significant cut afterwards and lived her new life as a mother largely in seclusion.