A motley crew of male Russian tennis players strive for the sucess their female counterparts have enjoyed in recent years.
Tennis has no dearth of Russian success stories on the women’s side. With three different Grand Slam winners in 2004 and a gaggle of players jockeying for position inside the top 10, the “Kournikovazation” of the sport is well documented.
But the Russian Revolution is no longer just long-legged blondes. In March, Russia placed five male players in the top 50 for the first time in the Open era, and things have only gone up from there. The country had two representatives in the semifinals of the US Open in September, and the Russian Davis Cup team handed the Americans a memorable defeat this weekend to reach the final of the event.
”We got sick and tired of the women stealing our show,” quips No. 22 Dmitry Tursunov, who with No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko, No. 24 Mikhail Youzhny, No. 39 Igor Andreev, and No. 72 Marat Safin is one of six Russians in the Top 75.
“I've played a few of them,” says American James Blake. “They're very impressive.”
Many of the same forces that brought names like Kournikova, Sharapova and Kuznetsova to the fore have shaped the rise of the men. A tradition of past success (think of top-10 players Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Andrei Chesnokov, Andrei Medvedev), relaxed restrictions on travel following the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the inclusion of tennis in the Olympics, and the proliferation of tennis academies have all played a role.
“Why improving?” says two-time Grand Slam semifinalist Davydenko in his fractured English. “Because we get open everything to Europe.” Not surprisingly, this bumper crop of players took very different paths to the pros. Dogged baseliner Davydenko, born in the Ukraine, moved to Germany at 15 to join his brother, Eduard, who was a teaching pro there. Two-time Grand Slam champ Safin left Moscow to train in Spain as a teenager. Ditto Andreev, who fled Moscow’s bitter winters and followed Safin to Spain.
The fast-improving Tursunov, 23, took off for the U.S. 11 years ago to join his Russian coach, and trained most of his life in Northern California.
“I don’t feel any more Russian than I feel American,” says the blond, blue-eyed Tursunov, who speaks with only the slightest of accents and seems more surfer dude than Cold War byproduct.
Only Youzhny spent his entire youth living and training in Russia at Moscow’s famed Spartak club – the place, not coincidentally, where Safin, Andreev and Tursunov also got their starts.
The players themselves – none of who is older 26 – discount the idea that the women have provided motivation. They point to increased experience on tour, competing together in Davis Cup, and a smidgeon of internal competition for their rankings run.
“We are a new generation,” says 23-year-old Andreev, who won a career best three ATP Tour titles in 2005 and beat Andy Roddick at Indian Wells this spring before injury halted his rise.
“More Russians will come out because they see that it’s possible – they see the progress.” There’s also the large economic carrot, which compels parents and coaches to push kids hard at a young age and take bigger risks, players say. “The Third World sees sports as a way to get out of poverty,” says Tursunov, though political scientists might quibble with that categorization of Russia.
Even if you fail, Tursunov adds, “you’re not going to end up any worse.”
In contrast the sometimes-icy relations among the Russian women, this group gets along well. Andreev and Tursunov often team up for doubles on tour, as do Davydenko and Youzhny. Making fun of Safin, another frequent doubles partner, is one of the ways Tursunov has been making a name for himself as a blogger.
But unlike their feminine counterparts, only 26-year-old Safin has reached the winner’s circle at a major. Are the men jealous at all of their female brethren?
“No,” says Tursunov. “Our girlfriends are cuter.” Anna, eat your heart out.