Evgeny Kafelnikov is an outstanding tennis player of the era of the nineties and the beginning of zero. According to many fans, he is the best Russian tennis player in history. In Russia, not only tennis fans heard about him, but also everyone who is even a little interested in the country's sports life. What did a remarkable athlete remember so much, what is Evgeni Kafelnikov doing now?
Childhood and youth
Evgeny Aleksandrovich Kafelnikov was born on February 18, 1974. His small homeland is the city of Sochi, Krasnodar Territory, where his parents still live. According to the stories of Eugene, he had a completely normal childhood: parents kept the child under control, but were not excessively strict.
Kafelnikov’s father, Alexander Nikodimovich, was professionally involved in volleyball, and his mother, Valentina Fedorovna, did not have a serious relationship with sports.
A friend of Alexander Kafelnikov, Valery Peschanko, for the first time proposed to give a five-year-old Eugene a racket in his hands and, observing how the boy performed the exercises, noted a good ball feeling.
After working out with a child for several weeks and making sure that he had talent, Peschanko handed over Eugene to coach Valery Shishkin. Under the leadership of Shishkin, Eugene successfully performed at domestic competitions, at one of which he was noted by Shamil Anvyarovich Tarpishchev, captain of the USSR national tennis team, as a promising player. Thanks to the help of Shamil Anvyarovich, Eugene got the opportunity to travel to tournaments abroad.
In 1991, after an internship in the United States at the Nick Bolletieri Academy, Eugene considered it necessary to part with a coach. Anatoly Lepeshin became the new mentor for Kafelnikov, who led the talented junior to great achievements in the adult tour.
Career
The first match in the tournament of the ATP series, Eugene won in 1992 in Moscow.
In 1993, the athlete won the first challenge in the Challenger category.
In early 1994, on the eve of the twentieth birthday, in Adelaide, a young tennis player finally won the ATP championship cup, albeit not yet the most prestigious. After this success, Kafelnikov convincingly spent the first part of the season on hard surface and confidently entered the top 100 of the world ranking. Throughout the year, the tennis player progressed, at the end of the year being on the 11th line.
A consistently good game over the next season made it possible to gain a firm foothold in the first echelon of players, but 1996 was a truly triumphant event for Eugene. At the Roland Garros tournament he won a brilliant victory. For the first time in history, a tennis player from Russia won such a prestigious competition. They managed to win in two categories at once: singles and doubles. A similar achievement could not be repeated by any player.
In 1999, tennis player Yevgeny Kafelnikov topped the ranking of professional tennis players, having won his second singles Grand Slam tournament in Australia.
In Sydney in 2000, a Russian athlete became the champion of the Olympics.
And in the 2002th, the Russian team managed to win the Davis Cup, which Eugene previously called the main of the missing trophies. Although, in the final against the national team of France, Kafelnikov did not bring the team points, he, like Russian fans and specialists, considered the victory deserved, since he had been the leader of the national team for a long time.
A year later, Kafelnikov announced his retirement at the age of 29. He explained his decision by the fact that new young players appear on the tour, including from Russia, with whom it is becoming increasingly difficult to compete with older tennis players.
Victory
In singles:
- Adelaide, Hard, 1994.
- Copenhagen, Carpet, 1994.
- Long Island, Hard 1994.
- Milan, carpet, 1995.
- St. Petersburg, carpet, 1995.
- Gstaad, Grunt, 1995.
- Long Island, Hard, 1995.
- Adelaide, Hard, 1996.
- Prague, soil, 1996.
- Paris, Ground, 1996 (Grand Slam Tournament).
- Lyon, carpet, 1996.
- Halle, Grass, 1997.
- New Haven, Hard, 1997.
- Moscow, carpet, 1997.
- London, carpet, 1998.
- Halle, Grass, 1998.
- Moscow, carpet, 1998.
- Melbourne, Hard, 1999 (Grand Slam Tournament).
- Rotterdam, carpet, 1999.
- Moscow, carpet, 1999.
- Sydney, Hard, 2000 (Olympic Games).
- Moscow, carpet, 2000.
- Marseille, carpet, 2001.
- Moscow, carpet, 2001.
- Halle, Grass, 2002.
- Tashkent, Hard, 2002.
In doubles:
- Barcelona, ground, 1994, with David Rickle.
- Munich, Ground, 1994, with David Rickle.
- Italy, ground, 1994, with David Rickle.
- Lyon, carpet, 1994, with Jacob Glassek
- Oeiras, soil, 1995, with Andrei Olkhovsky.
- Hamburg, Ground, 1995, with Wayne Ferreira.
- Montreal, Hard, 1995, with Andrei Olkhovsky.
- Lyon, carpet, 1995, with Jacob Glassek.
- St. Petersburg, carpet, 1996, with Andrei Olkhovsky.
- Prague, ground, 1996, with Daniel Wacek.
- Paris, ground, 1996, with Daniel Waceck (Grand Slam tournament).
- Basel, Hard, 1996, with Daniel Wacek.
- Vienna, Carpet, 1996, with Daniel Wacek.
- Paris, ground, 1997, with Daniel Waceck (Grand Slam tournament).
- Gstaad, ground, 1997, with Daniel Wacek.
- New York, Hard, 1997, with Daniel Wacek.
- Antwerp, Hard, 1998, with Wayne Ferreira.
- Vienna, Carpet, 1998, with Daniel Wacek.
- Barcelona, ground, 1999, with Paul Harcheis.
- Monte Carlo, Ground, 2000, with Wayne Ferreira.
- Vienna, Hard, 2000, with Nenad Zimonich.
- Indian Wells, Hard, 2001, with Wayne Ferreira.
- Rome, Ground, 2001, with Wayne Ferreira.
- St. Petersburg, Hard, with Denis Golovanov.
- Paris, ground, 2002, with Paul Harcheis.
- Indian Wells, Hard, 2003, with Wayne Ferreira.
- Washington, Hard, 2003, with Sargis Sargsyan.
In a team:
Davis Cup, 2002, with Marat Safin and Mikhail Yuzhny.
Activities after sports
After leaving tennis, Eugene took up golf seriously: in 2011, a former tennis player won the Russian championship. In 2005, he showed himself several times in poker tournaments.
Since 2009, takes part in veteran tournaments. He won the Grand Slam tournament "Roland Garros" category under 45 years old, paired with Andrei Medvedev.
He is vice president of the Russian Tennis Federation.
Political Views
Evgeni Aleksandrovich Kafelnikov was an active supporter of the policy of Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin. This position is largely due to the fact that Yeltsin made a huge contribution to the development of tennis in Russia.
After Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin came to power, Kafelnikov continued to support the president, considering Putin the successor of Yeltsin.
In later interviews, Kafelnikov’s views changed dramatically, he repeatedly publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the current leadership of the country.
Personal life
In 1998, the model of Maria Tishkova became the wife of Evgeny Kafelnikov . In the same year the couple had a baby. The marriage broke up three years later. The daughter of Maria and Eugene was raised by her father.
The athlete no longer entered into marriage. Rumors are constantly appearing in the press about new novels of the ex-first racket of the world, but Yevgeny Kafelnikov himself practically does not tell about his personal life.
Eugene’s daughter, Ales Kafelnikov, works as a model, often attends social events. The girl repeatedly emphasized in an interview that she would not want to be in the eyes of others only the daughter of a famous tennis player.
Opinion of fans and experts
Fans remember Yevgeny Kafelnikov as the most titled athlete. And also as one of the most striking tennis players in Russia, who for the first time in the history of the country won the Grand Slam tournament and led the ATP rating.
Biographies of Yevgeny Kafelnikov are devoted to several books, the most famous of which is "My Kafelnikov" by Oleg Spassky. In the book, Eugene is described as a controversial personality and a talented athlete.