Sports nickname of Russian tennis player Evgeny Kafelnikov. Evgeniy Kafelnikov about fabulous fees, a personal plane and Maria Sharapova’s doping. Childhood and family of Yevgeny Kafelnikov

Yevgeny Kafelnikov is an outstanding tennis player of the nineties and early 2000s. According to many fans, he is the best Russian tennis player in history. In Russia, not only tennis fans have heard about him, but also everyone who is even slightly interested in the sporting life of the country. What is so memorable about this wonderful athlete, what is Yevgeny 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 Evgeniy’s stories, he had a completely ordinary childhood: his parents kept the child under control, but were not overly strict.

Kafelnikov’s father, Alexander Nikodimovich, was a professional volleyball player, his mother, Valentina Fedorovna, was not serious about sports.

A friend of Alexander Kafelnikov, Valery Peschanko, first suggested giving five-year-old Evgeniy a racket and, after watching the boy perform exercises, noted a good sense of the ball.

After working with the child for several weeks and making sure of the talent, Peschanko handed Evgeni over to coach Valery Shishkin. Under the leadership of Shishkin, Evgeniy successfully performed at domestic Russian 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, Evgeniy got the opportunity to travel to tournaments abroad.

In 1991, after an internship in the USA at the Nick Bollettieri Academy, Evgeniy considered it necessary to part with his coach. Anatoly Lepeshin became Kafelnikov’s new mentor, who led the talented junior to great achievements on the adult tour.

Career

Evgeniy won his first match at an ATP series tournament in 1992 in Moscow.

In 1993, the athlete won the Challenger category competition for the first time.

At the beginning of 1994, on the eve of his twentieth birthday, in Adelaide the young tennis player finally won the ATP Championship cup, albeit not the most prestigious one yet. After this success, Kafelnikov convincingly spent the first part of the season on hard surfaces and confidently entered the top 100 of the world rankings. The tennis player progressed all year, ending up in 11th place at the end of the year.

Stable good game Over the course of the next season, it allowed him to firmly gain a foothold in the first echelon of players, but 1996 was truly triumphant for Evgeniy. He won a brilliant victory at the Roland Garros tournament. For the first time in history, a tennis player from Russia won such a prestigious competition. We managed to win in two categories at once: singles and doubles. Not a single player could repeat such an achievement in the future.

In 1999, tennis player Yevgeny Kafelnikov topped the ranking of professional tennis players, winning his second Grand Slam singles tournament in Australia.

In Sydney in 2000, the Russian athlete became the Olympic champion.

And in 2002, the Russian team managed to win the Davis Cup, which Evgeniy had previously called the main missing trophy. Although, in the final against the French team, Kafelnikov did not bring the team any points, he, like Russian fans and experts, considered the victory deserved, since for a long time was the leader of the team.

A year later, Kafelnikov announced his retirement at the age of 29. He explained his decision by the fact that new young players are appearing on the tour, including from Russia, with whom it is becoming increasingly difficult for older generation tennis players to compete.

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, ground, 1996.
Paris, clay, 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, clay, 1994, with David Rikl.
Munich, ground, 1994, with David Rickl.
Italy, soil, 1994, with David Rikl.
Lyon, carpet, 1994, with Jakob Glasek
Oeiras, soil, 1995, with Andrey Olkhovsky.
Hamburg, ground, 1995, with Wayne Ferreira.
Montreal, hard, 1995, with Andrey Olkhovsky.
Lyon, carpet, 1995, with Jakob Glasek.
St. Petersburg, carpet, 1996, with Andrey Olkhovsky.
Prague, ground, 1996, with Daniel Vacek.
Paris, clay, 1996, with Daniel Vacek (Grand Slam tournament).
Basel, hard, 1996, with Daniel Vacek.
Vienna, carpet, 1996, with Daniel Vacek.
Paris, clay, 1997, with Daniel Vacek (Grand Slam tournament).
Gstaad, ground, 1997, with Daniel Vacek.
New York, hard, 1997, with Daniel Vacek.
Antwerp, hard, 1998, with Wayne Ferreira.
Vienna, carpet, 1998, with Daniel Vacek.
Barcelona, clay, 1999, with Paul Harhuis.
Monte Carlo, dirt, 2000, with Wayne Ferreira.
Vienna, hard, 2000, with Nenad Zimonjic.
Indian Wells, hard, 2001, with Wayne Ferreira.
Rome, ground, 2001, with Wayne Ferreira.
St. Petersburg, hard, with Denis Golovanov.
Paris, ground, 2002, with Paul Harhuis.
Indian Wells, hard, 2003, with Wayne Ferreira.
Washington, hard, 2003, with Sargis Sargsyan.

In a team:

Davis Cup, 2002, with Marat Safin and

Activities after sports

After leaving tennis Evgeniy took up golf seriously: in 2011 former tennis player won the Russian championship. In 2005, he performed well several times in poker tournaments.

Since 2009, he has been taking part in veteran tournaments. Won the Roland Garros Grand Slam tournament in the under 45 category paired with Andrei Medvedev.

He is the vice-president of the Russian Tennis Federation.

Political Views

Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Kafelnikov was an active supporter of the policies of Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin. This position is largely explained by 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 to be Yeltsin's successor.

In later interviews, Kafelnikov’s views changed dramatically; he publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the current leadership of the country several times.

Personal life

In 1998, the model became the wife of Yevgeny Kafelnikov. The same year the couple had a child. The marriage broke up three years later. The daughter of Maria and Eugene was raised by her father.

The athlete never remarried. Rumors constantly appear in the press about new novels of the former first racket of the world, but Yevgeny Kafelnikov himself practically does not talk about his personal life.

Evgenia’s daughter works as a model and often attends social events. The girl repeatedly emphasized in interviews that she would not want to be seen only as the daughter of a famous tennis player in the eyes of others.

Opinion of fans and experts

Fans remember Yevgeny Kafelnikov as the most titled athlete. And also as one of the brightest tennis players in Russia, who won the Grand Slam tournament for the first time in the history of the country and topped the ATP rankings.

Several books are devoted to the biography of Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the most famous of which is “My Kafelnikov” by Oleg Spassky. In the book, Evgeniy is described as a controversial personality and a talented athlete.

Biography Evgenia Kafelnikova

The future tennis player was born in the warm city of Sochi; it is known that his father was a volleyball player. It was he who discerned suitable sports inclinations in his little son. It was he who taught five-year-old Evgeniy how to hold tennis racket and feel the ball. Then professional trainers took over the child’s upbringing and prepared Kafelnikov Jr. for participation in tournaments. At the age of 6, Evgeniy first appeared on the court, and at the age of 7 he was already enrolled in the group Olympic reserve Soviet tennis team. Good reaction and acquired skills allowed young athlete by the age of 11, develop your own intellectual style in the game. Soon the first victory at the Youth World Cup came. After which Kafelnikov was taken to Moscow, to the VFSO Dynamo. Coach Anatoly Lepeshin personally looked for sponsors to pay for the young tennis player’s education and his trips to prestigious tournaments. Together with his ward, he went to competitions, at the same time instilling in him iron discipline. Diploma of higher education Kafelnikov received it at the Kuban Academy of Physical Education, in absentia.

Evgeniy’s sports career developed rapidly; in 1991, he managed to enter the top 100 tennis leaders in the world. And in 1992 he became one of the top ten. The athlete confidently held this position for several subsequent years. He competed with the most famous opponents and often emerged victorious in tournaments. 1996 brought Kafelnikov the first among Russian athletes to win the prestigious Roland Garros. In 1999, he received the status of the first racket of the world, following this he became Olympic champion at the Olympic Games in Sydney and a little later won the Davis Cup. By this time, the Russian tennis player’s fortune was already estimated at $15 million.

Gradually, Kafelnikov simply stopped participating in tournaments. But, having reached the top, he could not completely leave the sport. Evgeniy began to take part in veterans' tennis tournaments and also became interested in golf, in which he also excelled. In addition, the famous tennis player pilots planes, plays excellent poker and is involved in charity work. He also holds the post of vice-president of the Tennis Federation in the Russian Federation.

Personal life of Yevgeny Kafelnikov

At the age of 23, the athlete married model Maria Tishkova, who, until the birth of their common daughter Alesya, accompanied her husband on all trips to tournaments. Maria had another daughter from her first marriage to singer Christian Ray. After Alesya was born in 1998, the couple’s travels together ended. In addition, Maria fell under the influence of sectarians and began to donate huge sums to this organization. Because of this, family relationships went wrong and led to divorce. Evgeniy sued his daughter from his ex-wife and for a while took her to be raised by his parents in Sochi. The girl received a good education, both in Russia and abroad. At the age of fifteen she began her modeling career. From time to time, father and daughter share problems and disagreements on social networks. Recently it became known that, whose name is the same as his daughter.

Awards and achievements of Yevgeny Kafelnikov

1996 - Roland Garros champion in singles
1996, 1997, 2002 - Roland Garros champion in doubles
1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 - winner of the Kremlin Cup
1997 - US Open doubles champion
1999 - champion Australian Open in singles
2000 - gold medal at the Sydney Olympics
2002 - Winner of the 2002 Davis Cup as part of the Russian national team
2000 - medal “For outstanding contribution to the development of Kuban”
2001 - special award Fair play from Olympic Committee Russia
Recognized in Russia as the best tennis player of the century

Despite all the hardships, Yevgeny Kafelnikov is an extraordinary person and a great athlete. Zhenya loves not only tennis - since childhood he has liked fishing, in adulthood he began to fly an airplane, and recently he has become interested in golf. Behind professional career he won 24 singles tournaments and 25 doubles, became the champion of the French and Australian Opens, and in 2000 he won gold at the Sydney Olympics.

On February 18, 1974, newborn Sochi resident Zhenya Kafelnikov, nicknamed “prince” for his five-kilogram weight, did not yet suspect what awaited him in the future: tennis courts, millions of fans around the world, victories at the most prestigious competitions. Of course, all this did not come to him immediately and took many hours of intense training.

Zhenya’s love for tennis was instilled in him by his father, a former volleyball player, who placed little Evgeni in the care of coach V.B. Peschanko. We went through our first training sessions, learned basic techniques, and it became clear that Zhenya has a feel for the ball. It was decided to transfer five-year-old Evgeniy to mentor V.V. Shishkin. The coach immediately fell in love with Zhenya, loved him as a tennis player and a person, considering him his most promising student. They worked together for about 12 years. Under the leadership of Valery Shishkin, Evgeniy developed as a player. Already in 1981, Zhenya was included in the “Olympic reserve” group of the USSR national team. The first significant successes of Kafelnikov

advanced in doubles, becoming European champion twice (under 14 and under 16 years old) paired with Andrei Medvedev. In 1989, 1990 he won the World Cup as part of the USSR national team - with Medvedev, Rybalko and Ogorodov. In the spring of 1991, he attended an internship at Nick Bolliteri's academy, where he played several sets with Pete Sampras for the first time. After a trip to the USA (in the fall of 1991), Shishkin and Kafelnikov broke up.

Anatoly Lepeshin became Zhenya’s new coach. The mentor initially did not believe in Evgeniy, considering the young athlete no different from others, although even then Shamil Tarpishchev saw Zhenya and appreciated him well. He wrote: “Yevgeny Kafelnikov, a talented tennis player, broke into the elite - at the age of 12-14 he was rated higher than Andrei Medvedev.”

Forgetting about the initial differences, Lepeshin and Kafelnikov worked together. The coach turned out to be a strong psychologist and strong-willed person. He helped Zhenya a lot, disciplined him, and forced him to take the matter seriously. And who knows, I would have achieved the same

He would not have achieved such success if he had been coached by another person at that moment. And the successes were truly amazing: victories on the professional tour, winning the Grand Slam tournament - Roland Garros, both in singles and doubles. Before Zhenya, no Russian had conquered such peaks!

However, in 1998, Lepeshin and Kafelnikov diverged. Since 1999, the best Russian tennis player began to be coached by Larry Stefanki, a very famous coach who gave impetus to potentially untapped talent. And Zhenya won another Grand Slam championship, the Australian Open! And then again and again Evgeniy won various tournaments. Under the leadership of Stefanka, Kafelnikov became the first racket of the world and an Olympic champion. It would seem like an ideal duet. Apparently, something was still wrong: Larry and Zhenya broke up. Things didn’t work out for Zhenya and his wife Masha - he was left alone with his daughter Alesya. Some kind of evil fate - parting with loved ones!

Despite all the adversity

odes, Yevgeny Kafelnikov is an extraordinary person and a great athlete. Zhenya loves not only tennis - since childhood he has liked fishing, in adulthood he began to fly an airplane, and recently he has become interested in golf. During his professional career, he won 24 tournaments in singles and 25 in doubles, became the champion of the French and Australian Opens, and in 2000 he won gold at the Sydney Olympics. However, Zhenya has one unrealized dream - the Davis Cup. All that remains is to wish Evgeniy that it will come true: we want to look at Zhenya with the “Silver Salad Bowl” raised high above her head!

general information

Height: 190 cm. Weight: 84 kg. Playing right hand.

Professional since 1992

Other achievements

Wins/Losses (ATP): 556/261.

Singles titles: 24.

Doubles titles: 25.

Yevgeny Kafelnikov was born on February 18, 1974 in the city of Sochi. WITH early childhood the boy played tennis. Zhenya’s first coach was Valery Borisovich Peschanko. In 1981, the young athlete was included in the Olympic reserve.

Evgeniy’s first successes came in doubles with Andrei Medvedev, with whom they won the European Junior Championships twice, and won the World Cup as part of the national team in 1989 and 1990 Soviet Union. Evgeny Kafelnikov, training with Anatoly Aleksandrovich Lepeshin, becomes the first Russian to win the Grand Slam tournament, Roland Garros, both in singles and doubles.

Then, in 1999, Lari Stefanki became Evgeniy’s coach. It was during this period that Kafelnikov won another Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open, and became the first racket in the world. And in 2000, the tennis player won the Olympic Games in Sydney. For my sports life Yevgeny Kafelnikov won 26 singles tournaments and 27 doubles tournaments.

In December 2002, as a member of the Russian national team, he won the long-awaited Davis Cup. The famous tennis player waited for this victory for ten years.

Honored Master of Sports of Russia, the most titled tennis player in the history of Russia, Kafelnikov was awarded the Order of Honor, the medal “For Outstanding Contribution to the Development of Kuban” and the special Fair Play Award of the Russian Olympic Committee.

In 2003, Kafelnikov completed his sports career. Two years later he began working as a full-time employee. sports commentator television company NTV-plus. But after leaving tennis, he did not leave the sport and, having reached the age of thirty-five, since 2009 he has been taking part in tennis tournaments veterans.

Since that time, he has been playing golf professionally, becoming the Russian champion in this sport in 2011. Yevgeny Kafelnikov is also an honorary member of the Russian Golf Association, first vice-president and member of the Presidium of the Russian Golf Association.

Evgeniy Aleksandrovich was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, UK on January 21, 2019. Kafelnikov became the second Russian to receive such an honor. Marat Safin was the first there.

Sports Achievements of Yevgeny Kafelnikov

1996 - Roland Garros champion in singles
1996, 1997, 2002 - Roland Garros champion in doubles
1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 - winner of the Kremlin Cup
1997 - US Open doubles champion
1999 - Australian Open champion in singles
2000 - Golden medal at the Sydney Olympics
2002 - Winner of the 2002 Davis Cup as part of the Russian national team
2000 - Medal “For outstanding contribution to the development of Kuban”
2001 - Special Fair play award from the Russian Olympic Committee

In 2000, he entered the top ten most titled all-rounders in the world: he became the tenth player in the history of the Open Era since 1968 to win at least 20 titles in both singles and doubles.

The best Russian tennis player of the century, winner of the Grand Slam tournament, Yevgeny Kafelnikov today is a businessman and an active Twitter user. His statements online gave rise to a couple of scandals, but this is not where to start a story about a great athlete. Russia's most decorated tennis player, nicknamed "Kalashnikov", won 26 ATP tournaments and gold at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Evgeniy left tennis quite quietly, which cannot be said about the years when he was in business.

Victories of Yevgeny Kafelnikov

Yevgeny Kafelnikov was born in Sochi in 1974. His father was a famous volleyball player and instilled in his son a love of sports from childhood. The boy first picked up a racket at the age of 6. They didn't have high hopes for him, which now seems quite strange. At the age of 11, Kafelnikov went to Moscow, where he honed his skills, and within three years he became the winner of the European Championship. Only after this did coaches Peschanko and Shishkin pay attention to young tennis player. Since 1991, Evgeniy trained with Anatoly Lepeshin, who, according to the champion, turned him into a professional.

In the early 1990s, Kafelnikov was only 275th on the list, and by the middle of the decade he had risen to sixth place. Thanks to Lepeshin's support, he eventually won the long-awaited Davis Cup. The tennis player performed equally successfully in both singles and doubles. In 1995, he won Roland Garros, defeating and, and a year later he distinguished himself in a pair with Daniel Vacek at the same Open Championship in France. With him, Evgeniy became the champion at the US Open. At the end of the 1990s, the tennis player won the singles at the Australian Open, beating Thomas Enqvist. At the same time, Evgeniy received the title of first racket of the world.

The most memorable match for the athlete himself was the final 1996 World Championship:

“Eight best tennis players on the planet, final, Becker - Sampras. To this day, I consider this the most brilliant tennis match. Five sets, 7:6 in the fifth game Sampras wins. The level of tennis itself was simply sky-high.”

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Tennis symbol with the best contracts

Evgeniy has two champion titles under his belt Grand Slam, 23 – ATP tournament and gold olympic medal. Incomprehensible to Russian athlete success in tennis promised Kafelnikov cooperation with brands. The Italian brand signed its first Russian contract with Evgeniy. This happened back in 1995, the amount of the contract was not disclosed. According to some reports at that time, the cooperation became one of the largest in the history of tennis. The terms were compared to the contracts of Pete Sampras. The next successful agreement was working with Fischer. However, at that time, advertising still brought less income to the athlete than prize money from victories. In 1999, Evgeniy’s fortune totaled $13 million.

A real hunt has begun for Kafelnikov. Companies offered him lucrative contracts one after another. The tennis player has become a symbol of world tennis. He also worked with Lotto and was a Nike ambassador. Evgeniy is still with the American company a good relationship. But on this moment he doesn't spend as much time on advertising. The athlete invests his funds in the construction of residential buildings and office buildings in Moscow.

Personal life of Yevgeny Kafelnikov

Back in 1998, Yevgeny Kafelnikov married Maria Tishkova, and they had a daughter, Alesya. It was because of her that a scandal broke out in 2017. Kafelnikov wrote a strange message on Twitter hinting at the drug addiction of his daughter, who by that time worked as a model and actress. Readers reacted ambiguously to the news. The conflict was soon resolved, but it was never fully revealed what really happened to Alesya.

At the moment, Evgeniy is divorced from his wife, his daughter is under the guardianship of her father. The athlete is quite a media personality, so his new relationship is often discussed in the press. On social networks, Kafelnikov’s daughter has photographs of a flight attendant, whose name is also Alesya. The tennis player currently lives with her.

As for sports, Yevgeny Kafelnikov also enjoys golf and plays poker. He sometimes takes to the court in veterans' tournaments. In 2010, at a meeting at Roland Garros, Kafelnikov, paired with Michael Stich, beat him.

The main passion of the newly-minted businessman remains football and his favorite Moscow team “Spartak”. He flies to matches on a private plane. Evgeniy, as always, is silent about the amounts he spends on flights and services. In one interview, he only said that he bought his first plane because of his daughter:

“In 1998, my daughter was born, I really wanted to spend time with her. It took me the whole day to get from one tournament to another. If, God forbid, I lost somewhere: in Prague, Rotterdam, Marseille, I could call and say: “Will you fly for me?” I arrived at the hotel, packed my things and was already home in a couple of hours.”