5 Best Russian Tennis Players

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5 Best Russian Tennis Players

The Russian Union Lawn Tennis is one of the oldest sports’ unions in Russia, it has existed since 1908 when it was first registered.

It was registered on the 3^rd of June and it marked the birth of Russian tennis. Lawn tennis, football and rowing were the three sports were common in those days.

The first championship to be held in Russia was done at the Krestovskiy tennis club grounds in 1903. It was later followed by a lawn tennis championship in 1907

Arthur Davydovich MacPherson who was the chairman of the sports union was awarded for his achievements in developing sports in Russia. The evolution of tennis in Russia made it excluded in the Olympic gamed because it was thought to be preferred by the elite in society.

This did not last for long and tennis is one of the sports that Russians excel in. that said, here are the 5 best Russian players.

1. Daniil Medvedev

By Dacoucou – Wikimedia

Daniil Medvedev is currently ranked at number 4, his career-best a position he has held previously after having a phenomenal season.

He won his first three ATP tour titles in 2018 and scaled up the ranks of the top 10 and top 5 best players in 2019.

As a teen, he moved to France in search of better facilities and coach. He settled in Cannes with his sister. He, later on, got Gilles Cervara as his coach temporarily from 2015 to 2017 when he became his permanent coach.

He was able to reach the six successive tour-level finals at Washington, Montreal, Cincinnati, the US Open, St. Petersburg and Shanghai, as the fifth active player; he joined the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray.

He became the final competitor when he reached the 2017 Next Gen ATP finals as his 9^th, more than any other player in the tour. He finished his year by taking the 65th  position in 2018.

Daniil is multilingual; he speaks French, English and Russian.

2. Karen Khachanov

By si.robi – Wikimedia

Karen Khachanov is a Russian tennis player of Armenian descent. He has several ATP singles titles on his belt and was once ranked as world number 8 in 2019 after reaching the quarter-finals during the French Open.

His passion for tennis started when he was 3 years old, his parents introduced him to this sport he has come to excel in.

He was coached by Igor Bitsenko while he was in Moscow and later by Vedran Martic while he was in Croatia.

He later joined the 4slam Tennis Academy that was led by Galo Blanco in 2014. He left the academy in 2017 and went back to training with his previous coach, Vedran Martic.

An interesting fact about Karen Khachanov is that he is among the tallest players in the top 100 and his height comes as an advantage in the sport making him win most of his championships with ease.

He was able to play against Rafael Nadal and proved to be a force to be reckoned with in the tennis world and was ranked among the best male tennis players.

Growing up, Karen looked up to some of the best in the game at the time such as Marat Safin and Juan Martin del Potro.

Other than tennis, he loves football and basketball his favourite teams being Real Madrid and Miami Heat respectively.

His playing style has been compared to that of Marat Safin and he got nicknamed baby Safin.

Time has however shown that his style is unique and has earned him a place among the top players in the history of Tennis.

3. Andrey Rublev

By robbiesaurus-Wikimedia

Andrey Rublev is a Russian professional tennis player and reached his career-high ranking of number 14.

He began playing tennis at age 3 and was coached by his mother. He grew up inspired by Marat Safin.

In his career, he has played and won against the best in the game of tennis the likes of Roger Federer, Dominic Thiem, Stan Wawrinka, David Ferrer, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Grigor Dimitrov, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and David Goffin.

In 2014, He won the French Open junior singles competition-beating Jaume Munar at the finals. Later on during the Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing in 2014, he was awarded a bronze medal for the singles category and silver under the doubles category.

Andrey together with his teammate Dmitry Tursunov won the doubles title in 2015 during the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. He also won four singles title at the Croatia Open Umag in 2017, the Kremlin Cup in 2019, Qatar Open in 2020 and the Adelaide International 2020.

Andrey is quite athletic and has interests in other sports such as boxing and basketball, his favourite boxer is Mike Tyson, his favourite television shows are action-packed. He also loves music his favourite band being Metallica, AC/DC and Nautilus Pompilius.

He is also multilingual; speaking fluent Russian, English and Spanish.

4. Anna Kournikova

Anna Kournikova with Martina Hingis, a double.
By TwoWings -Wikimedia

Anna Kournikova is a retired professional tennis player now a television personality in America.

She became interested in tennis as a child and was gifted a tennis racket on her 5^th birthday.

She is one of the famous tennis stars known in Russia and America courtesy of her celebrity status and appearances. She became one of the most searched for celebrity on google.

During her active years as a professional tennis player, she was ranked at number 8 in the world in 2000 although she has never won s singles title.

Anna was however successful in the doubles category and was ranked as the number 1 player.

Together with her teammate Martina Hingis they won the Grand Slam titles in Australia in 1999 and 2002. They also won the WTA championships in 1999 and 2000. The duo identified themselves as the spice girls of tennis.

She retired from professional tennis at 21 after suffering from serious back and spinal complications, she had a herniated disk.

She has made few appearances in sporadic exhibitions and doubles for the St. Louis Aces of World Team Tennis before the team was dissolved in 2011.

She took part in a reality television show, the biggest loser, as trained during its 12^th season.

Anna is also a global ambassador for the Population Services International advocacy program.

5. Vera Zvonareva

By si.robi -Wikipedia

Vera Zvonareva started playing tennis when he was 6 years old. She became a professional player in 2000 and within 10 years, she achieved his world number 2 ranking in the WTA world ranking.

Vera took part in the 2008 Beijing Olympics by representing Russia, she won the bronze medal after losing to her fellow Russian Demieeva. She has made it as a Grand Slam finalist twice in the Wimbledon championships and the US Open in 2010.

She has won 12 WTA tour Singles titles and the Indian Wells Masters in 2009.

In her double’s competitions, Vera won four Grand slam titles, two from the women’s doubles during the US Open and Australian Open and the other two from the mixed doubles at the Wimbledon Championship.