Russia’s magic year

On Sunday, Russia capped off a truly magical year for its tennis by winning the Davis Cup for the third time. A 2021 that closes with 11 individual titles (only Spain with 12 won more), three for teams and three Olympic medals between men and women. Daniil MedvedevWorld number two champion at the US Open, Marseille, Mallorca and Canada, and a finalist in Australia, Paris-Bercy and the ATP Finals, he is the leader of a brilliant generation of male and female players who have dominated the circuit this season.

Close to him is Andrey Rublev, fifth in the ranking, winner in Rotterdam, runner-up in Monte Carlo, Halle and Cincinnati, and gold in mixed doubles at the Tokyo Games with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Another Russian mainstay is Aslan Karatsev, who exploded as a semi-finalist in Melbourne, won his first ATP trophy in Dubai, repeated in Moscow and brushed against it in Belgrade. In January it was 112 and now it is 18. One of the four top-30 of Russia in the men’s classification in addition to the aforementioned Medvedev and Rublev, and Karen Khachanov (29th).

Together they are an almost invincible machine that swept the ATP Cup in February and triumphed again in the Davis Cup. And success follows them wherever they go. In the Laver Cup, Medvedev and Rublev won all their matches to facilitate the European team title. In addition, the relationship with his female compatriots is magnificent. They won the first Billie Jean King Cup Finals against the mighty Czech Republic. They formed a team with five top-40: Pavlyuchenkova (11th), finalist at Roland Garros; Daria Kasatkina (26th), champion in the Phillip Island Trophy and Saint Petersburg; Veronika Kudermetova (31st), winner at Charleston; Ekaterina Alexandrova (33rd), finalist in Moscow; and the great revelation, Liudmila Samsonova (39th), who triumphed in Berlin.

“We probably have the most cohesive team in history. There was not a single conflict anywhere, both the girls and the boys had everything resolved, the equipment was completely interchangeable. And such a friendly emotional background brought success, “says Shamil Tarpischev, president of the Federation, captain of Davis and promoter of tennis in the Putin era, when large infrastructures were built. “In team competitions we are together almost every day, we eat, have breakfast and spend time together,” says Rublev.

Future

The best thing for Russia is that the average age of the nine mentioned tennis players is 25 years old and that there is more behind. In junior, Yaroslav Demin, Maxim Zhukov and Danil Panarin, 16, won Junior Davis; and Elena Pridankina, Yaroslava Bartashevich and Anastasiia Gureva, of the same age, were semifinalists in the Billie Jean King Cup.

Spanish influence

The influence of Spanish has a lot to do with the success of Russian tennis. Many tennis players in this country have been interested in the formula for the success of the Navy. Currently, Fernando Vicente trains Rublev, Pepo Clavet to Khachanov, and Carlos Martínez Comet to Kasatkina.