by Pete Bodo
Alex Bogomolov Jr., who moved from Russia to South Florida at age 11, sometime around 1994, is having a career year—and a great deal of credit for that goes to the USTA and its player development program. Bogomolov is already 28, but he's spent almost his entire career outside the Top 100 (he made brief breakthroughs into double-digit territory three times, once in 2003, in 2007, and in April of this year).
For years, while Bogomolov was busy mostly spinning his wheels, the USTA supported him. He was awarded direct financial aid by the organization (an estimated $50,000); he also frequently worked out at the USTA National Training Center in Boca Raton, and he's benefited from untold hours of free coaching and advice from USTA staff. He also was a member of various USTA traveling squads in his youth.
It only makes sense that Bogomolov wants to play Davis Cup. He's got a lot to be thankful for, right?
The only problem is that he wants to play Davis Cup for Russia.
Yep. The Russia from which his father, well-known coach Alex Bogomolov Sr. (who worked with, among others, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Andrei Medvedev), fled over two decades ago in order to find greater opportunity and a more prosperous way of life. The Russia to which the older Bogomolov returned (leaving his family behind) in 2003, because he didn't find happiness amid the palm trees and abundant tennis courts of south Florida. Alex and son have had a strained relationship; it's better now, partly because Bogomolov's present ranking (a career-high No. 33) gained him direct entry into two ATP events in Russia in recent weeks—nice work from a guy who couldn't survive qualifying to make the main draw of the Australian Open at the beginning of this year.
Bogomolov Jr., who has dual citizenship, did well in his homeland—he was a quarterfinalist in Moscow (l. to Viktor Troicki) and a semifinalist in St. Petersburg (l. to Janko Tisparevic). He also re-connected with his dad, although Bogomolov admits that he still won't speak with his dad after a loss—only if he wins. You might think Bogomolov Jr. would see the way all the help and support he received here has been instrumental in his success, especially after his father left. And you'd think he'd be aware of the role that help played in this apparent semi-reconciliation with his dad. In fact, there may not be a more appropriate way for Bogomolov to quietly close this somewhat strange and painful narrative than by representing his adopted homeland on some tennis court.
Which is why Bogomolov's intentions just don't make sense to me. All I can think is that Junior wants to play Davis Cup for Russia because, in some bizarre way, he still wants craves the approval of his dad (what better way to earn it than by playing Davis Cup for Russia?), or perhaps he just wants to one-up his dad, rub his nose in the success he's enjoyed without support from his semi-famous father—what better way to demonstrate that Senior made a big mistake abandoning his family and giving up on Junior? But the Bogomolovs' family issues are of lesser interest to me than the fact that he's brazenly gaming the system. All other things aside, the word "ingrate" comes to mind.
Bogomolov has already submitted paperwork to the ITF, asking the Davis Cup administrators to allow him to play for Russia—hopefully, as early as the squad's next tie vs. Austria in February. Russia also must petition the ITF to allow Bogomolov to play for that nation, at least three months in advance of the tie. Bogomolov is currently the second-ranked Russian, just one ranking place below Mikhail Youzhny. But Dmitry Tursunov and Nikolay Davydenko are also Top 50 players. I would think the Russian players and captain Shamil Trapischev would look upon Bogomolov as something of an interloper and thus a threat to the chemistry of the Russian team. But I'm less concerned with the camaraderie on the Russian team than the resources wasted by the USTA on an ingrate.
I understand the sentiments at play here. I'm also the son of a man who immigrated to this country to find a better and more rewarding way of life, and I value my European roots (my own dad stuck it out and died here). Maybe that's just what makes Bogomolov's attitude so puzzling and disappointing to me; how can he not feel thankful and indebted to the USA? Why would he want to go back and represent a nation his father had to leave in order for Alex to become who he is? Incidentally, I have no particular problem with Russia, or anywhere else. People everywhere are fate-buffeted victims—or beneficiaries—of circumstances. But shouldn't everyone do the math on just where he is, how he got there, and what debts and obligations he accumulated along the way?
This kind of decision isn't new, or even rare in—or exclusive to—tennis. Maria Sharapova continues to reap the rewards of living and earning in the western world while soulfully declaring how deeply Russian she is. She loves Russia so much she lives not far from a Wendy's and a Bed, Bath and Beyond in Bradenton, Fla. Greg Rusedski, once as high as No. 4 on the ATP rolls, exploited his dual Canadian-British citizenship to leave North America (where he grew up), hoping to give British tennis fans something to cheer about—and to take advantage of the implicit commercial opportunities. Jelena Dokic, harbored and developed into a player in Australia, suddenly got religion, or at least patriotism, and became a Fed Cup player for Serbia (she's gone back and forth more than once, but that's another story).
I know there's room for debate in many of these cases, and that powerful emotions and unusual circumstances contribute to the individual attitudes here. But the underlying theme most of the time is that of loyalty, or the lack thereof. Whom do you owe? Tennis players seem to be pretty good at following their feelings, desire and ambitions, regardless of any real or imagined indebtedness. I suppose it comes with the territory in an individual sport.
But still. The Bogomolov case seems to me egregious.
There are various mechanisms by which the USTA might prevail upon the ITF to slow the process, should the Russians actually petition the governing body to allow Bogomolov to play. The USTA also could shrug and look the other way; it's not like Bogomolov is going to figure large in the future of American tennis. The USTA also could ask the ITF to make Bogomolov wait three years before he can play for Russia. And here's a further, interesting twist. Bogomolov cannot represent Russia in the Olympic games in London next year—he did not "make himself available" for Davis Cup in Russia during the required time period. But as the fourth-ranked American, he's eligible to be on the USA squad. Perhaps he'll have to settle for representing the U.S. in the Olympics. Bummer. For him—and me.
I assume Bogomolov has a conscience, so I have a solution if he really feels the tug of homeland so heavily in his heart. He should ask the USTA to write up the bill for what the institution has invested in him, and then pay it out of his own pocket—or present it to the Russian federation, if it's so keen on recruiting him for Davis Cup. It would be the honorable thing to do. Then Bogomolov would be entited to feel he owes nothing to the USTA or anyone else—that he made it on his own, in exile from his beloved homeland.
Heck of a story, that would be. I doubt it's going to work out that way.