Of the seventy-one years of life, 66 are given to sports. Alexander Iraklievich Metreveli is the most titled Soviet tennis player, whose talent Nikolai Ozerov called God’s gift. His name is associated with the entry of domestic tennis into the world arena after, in 1956, the All-Union Federation became part of the international. What is known about this legendary athlete and television commentator?
Biography Pages
A Georgian boy, born in Tbilisi in November 1944, has been very athletic since childhood. He ran fast, hopped excellently, reaching for his elder brother, the first to pick up a tennis racket. Parents - Irakli Petrovich and Anna Tikhonovna - encouraged sons. Time was such that it was possible to break through only with one's own labor and talent. When Alexander was 10 years old, his brother brought him to his coach - Aram Khangulyan. He not only taught tennis, but also raised his personality from the pupils.
Metreveli Alexander, for whom tennis has become a matter of life, by today's standards started late, but he already had many achievements in other sports. At Khangulyan, he was the youngest in the group, so from the very beginning he had to correspond to a certain level. In tennis for the youth everything that he succeeded in came together: the speed of the sprinter, the endurance of the styer and the speed of thinking of the chess player. Later, he himself will divide his life in sports into three periods. The first (1955 - 1960) is the time of acquaintance with the basics, when he firmly decided to connect his life with tennis.
Sporting success
Alexander Metreveli considers the second period 1960 - 1965, when he managed to enter the all-Union arena. Already in 1961 he became the winner of the USSR among young men, and since 1962 he was included in the Top 10 best tennis players of the country. Beginning in 1966, the third stage follows, during which serious victories in the international arena over stars of the first magnitude appear in his assets. Five times in singles, he will receive the title of winner of the tournament and six times will reach the final, including in Wimbledon (1973). Twice he will be close to the title of Grand Slam in doubles.
He did not have enough experience to win at Wimbledon. Due to possible rain, the tournament organizers scheduled the postponement of the final match between Metreveli and Jan Kodesha from Czechoslovakia the next day. With such a development of events, the male and female finals should have passed simultaneously, which is not entirely convenient. Therefore, it was decided not to cancel the game, but the Soviet athlete had already lost the necessary mood. He fought fiercely, losing the second set with a score of 8: 9, which indicates a stubborn duel between two equal rivals. In a year, Davis Metreveli Cup will be able to take revenge, but that will be another story.
The best tennis player of the USSR
Since 1972, an ATP rating has been introduced in professional sports , which allows you to determine the best tennis players on the planet, ranking them among themselves. Alexander Metreveli in 1974 will take the 9th line of the world ranking table, which will be his best achievement in his career. Playing until the age of 35, in his country he will remain undefeated. 29 victories in the national championship, including 17 in singles - this is the result of his athletic longevity. The absolute champion of the USSR Spartakiad, multiple European champion will consider the games in the Davis Cup for the main team of the country to be the main matches in his life.
In an interview, he will describe those special feelings that he experienced on the eve of team starts: a combination of pride and awe. It was impossible to fail his country, for which he would fight 105 times. Honored Master of Sports, he will be one of the first to enter the NTV + Tennis Hall of Fame.
Prize money of Soviet tennis players
Today, fans are used to the fact that tennis players from the first hundred are quite wealthy people. Their prize money for winning tournaments allows them to live comfortably throughout the rest of their lives. Published earnings for the sports career of current leaders. So, Roger Federer earned $ 90.9 million, Novak Djokovic - 79.4. The situation is no worse in women's tennis: Serena Williams has $ 69.7 million in prize money, Maria Sharapova - 35, 1. And how were things in the 70s, especially among Soviet athletes, because professional sports did not officially exist in the country? Alexander Metreveli says that even for reaching the Wimbledon finals, he did not receive anything, since the athlete had a choice: prize or daily allowance.
Tournament organizers provided athletes with equipment, and this was already a great success, because domestic balls, rackets and uniforms could not compete in the international arena. The sports committee did not know what to do with the prizes when they really had to be received. Such a problem arose only among chess players and tennis players. From Rome Metreveli had to carry money across the border in a suitcase because there was no money transfer system. The officials of the Sports Committee bargained for a long time how much money can be left for the athlete, as a result they allocated 30%. These were his first prize, for which he bought the “Volga” of the latest model.
Commentator profession
Before the collapse of the USSR, the great athlete lived in Georgia, where in 1968 he was educated as a journalist after graduating from Tbilisi State University. Immediately after completing his sports career, he worked in the Ministry, and then the Sports Committee of Georgia. His debut coincided with the great victory of the Dynamo football team in the international arena, which inspired him to work. There he married Vardosanidze Natella Grigoryevna, with whom he raised two sons - Herakli, born in 1967, and Alexander, born in 1976. Now in the third hundred of the world ranking plays the young Alexander Metreveli (tennis). Commentator Metreveli Sr. is brought to him by his grandfather, this is the son of his eldest Heraclius.
After the collapse of the USSR, Anna Dmitrieva, a former mixed-race partner, suggested that Alexander Metreveli try herself on television as a sports journalist. So he and his family moved to Moscow. Now he has over 10 thousand ethers. Metreveli tried to comment on various sports, including football, but this did not bring satisfaction, because there was not enough professional knowledge. But tennis is his element. While working on NTV, he often had to comment on tournaments paired with Anna Dmitrieva. Their duet is known as ADAM. They argued on the air, defending their view of what was happening on the court, making the reports lively and exciting. In these disputes, Alexander Metreveli was often more convincing.
Commentator on the problems of modern tennis
The great athlete assesses the state of modern tennis as crisis, believing that there are no conditions for its development in the country, including weather, and a financial base. World-class stars, such as Safin, Davydenko, Sharapova, are luck, which is always temporary. A two-year disqualification of the latter may affect her decision to return to the big sport, but there is no adequate replacement for Maria Sharapova today.
Alexander Metreveli is a well-known critic of women's tennis, reminiscent of show business. He considers it rather primitive, inexpressive, lacking a variety of arsenal. Watching matches of girls outside the top ten is boring and uninteresting. A fan of Roger Federer, he finds men's tennis fascinating in the face of fierce competition, where top players demonstrate excitement, struggle and unexpected combinations.
In an interview, Metreveli said that after retirement he would be engaged in gardening. But given his passion for his favorite sport, I somehow do not really believe in it.