Russian tennis strides across Australia – Sport – Kommersant
Australia is in full swing for the January ATP and WTA Series ahead of the Australian Open on 17 January. Russian tennis players successfully compete in them. Karen Khachanov reached the final in Adelaide, Veronika Kudermetova – in Melbourne, and in Sydney, at the ATP Cup team competition, the national team Russia, weakened by the absence of three players at once, only slightly lost to the Canadian team in the semifinals.
Reaching the semifinals of the reigning champion is considered trivial. However, in the case of the Russian national team at the current stage of the ATP Cup, the situation, of course, was different. The result she showed in Sydney was not the main sports sensation in the first week of the new tennis season. Its main unsportsmanlike sensation, of course, should be considered the scandal with which the first racket of the world Novak Djokovic was not allowed at the Australian Open, who, despite the protests of Serbian officials, including President Aleksandar Vucic, remains isolated until Monday, awaiting a court decision. At the same time, the Serb, as it is known today, had had a coronavirus during December, and now, in theory, vaccination is contraindicated for him. This paradoxical situation arose after first three Russians withdrew from the tournament due to the coronavirus – Andrei Rublev, Aslan Karatsev and the playing captain Yevgeny Donskoy, and Roman Safiullin, who, in theory, had to sit in a deep reserve, showed himself brilliantly. helping your mates as a sparring partner in training.
24-year-old Safiullin is far from a newcomer to the ATP, although in terms of fame he is significantly inferior to three representatives of his generation – Medvedev, Rublev and Karen Khachanov. The fact is that after winning the 2015 Australian Junior Open, there were no notable achievements on his account. For a breakthrough at least in the first hundred with good physical data, the Russian did not have enough ball flight speed, and most importantly, problems with his right shoulder, on which he had to undergo surgery, interfered. And while compatriots, one after another, made their way into the first hundred of the world ranking.
The milestone for Safiullin was a victory at the “Challenger” (low category ATP tournament) in Cherbourg, France in February 2020, allowing him to rise from 231st to 174th place. But soon the coronavirus pandemic began, stopping the further progress of the tennis worker who was trying to make his way into the top tennis world. By the beginning of January, Safiullin had only 3 wins in 9 matches played at the ATP Tour level. With such statistics, of course, it was difficult to count on something serious in a match against opponents who have much richer experience in major tournaments.
However, in some such cases, it is usually called a miraculous transformation. Safiullin’s contribution to the success of the Russian team in the group stage was equivalent to the contribution of the first number. In matches against the French, Australians and Italians, he, like Medvedev, brought two points in singles.
But, perhaps, an even greater revelation was the performance of Safiullin and Medvedev in a pair, where before that they together, and without much success, tried to play only in two junior tournaments.
After all, if it were not for three doubles victories, the Russian team under the leadership of French captain Gilles Servar, personal trainer of Medvedev, would not have been able to reach the playoffs, beating 2: 1 – France, 3: 0 – Australia and 2: 1 – Italy, which in Sydney were represented by two representatives of the top ten Matteo Berrettini and Yannick Sinner.
After such an impressive streak, the Russians turned from outsiders into real contenders for victory in the tournament. Moreover, in the semifinals they got the Canadian national team, whose first number Felix Auger-Alyassim does not feel very comfortable against Medvedev, who confidently dealt with him in the semifinals of last year’s Open. In Sydney, the Russian leader was again noticeably stronger. He won – 6: 4, 6: 0. True, before that Denis Shapovalov broke the resistance of Safiullin – 6: 4, 5: 7, 6: 4, although the Russian, according to the Canadian, showed simply incredible tennis at the level if not the top ten , then certainly the first twenty.
The decisive pair combination turned out to be absolutely unpredictable. The first set remained for Medvedev and Safiullin, who took Auger-Alyassim’s serve in the third game, but at the end of the second game, the opponents made their break and the balance was restored. And the Canadians celebrated victories at the super tie-break – 4: 6, 7: 5, 10: 7. The ray of them that day was Shapovalov, who parted with Russian coach Mikhail Youzhny after the end of last season, but continues to work with Thai physiotherapist Yotsaphol Prommon , whom he introduced to his team.
However, also for Russian tennis players.
Medvedev, who will now prepare for the Australian Open, received excellent playing practice, and Safiullin – a stock of confidence before the start of this qualification for this tournament. In addition, on Monday, he will be among the top 150 players in the world for the first time, which is also a major step forward.
Meanwhile, in Melbourne, where the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) category 250 competition is coming to an end, the events for the 31st racket of the world, Veronica Kudermetova, are developing very successfully. Having scored three difficult victories – over the Czech Victoria Kuzhmova, the American Madison Brengl and the Russian Anastasia Potapova, she reached the ex-first racket of the world Japanese Naomi Osaka in the semifinals, who was holding her first tournament since September, but she was unable to enter the court. In her third WTA final in her career, 24-year-old Kudermetova, who holds the title she earned last year in Charleston, will play with another world-ranked tennis player Simona Halep. They met twice – last season at the Australian Open and the Kremlin Cup – and both times the victory went to the Romanian tennis player, who has not yet given a single game to Kudermetova.
And in Adelaide, at the ATP category 250 tournament, Karen Khachanov reached the final, who at first did not plan to play in the ATP Cup, and then could not be included in the Russian application according to the rules. The 25-year-old Muscovite was “seeded” under the second number, entered the fight from the 1/8 finals, beating American Steve Johnson and Belarusian Yegor Gerasimov, defeated Croat Marina Chilich in the semifinals, to whom he had previously lost, twice, including last fall on St Petersburg Open. Khachanov played all four break points available to his opponent and won in 1 hour 54 minutes – 7: 6 (7: 3), 6: 3. This is the greatest success of a Russian in five months, who won a medal at the Tokyo Olympics this season , but until the finals of the ATP competition was not received since November 2018, when in the decisive match of the most prestigious tournament in Paris, he left no chances to Serb Novak Djokovic. Thanks to this result, Khachanov retained his place in the top thirty, which he could have lost at the end of this week. And in the final, his opponent will be the 21st racket of the world, Frenchman Gael Monfils.