On February 18, 1974, the newborn Sochi resident Zhenya Kafelnikov, nicknamed the “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 sense of 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. Kafelnikov achieved his first significant successes in doubles, twice becoming European champion (under 14 and under 16 years old) together with Andrei Medvedev. In 1989, 1990 he won the World Cup as part of the USSR national team - with Medvedev, Tomashevich 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, Zhenya would 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 tournament, 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 Olesya. Some kind of evil fate - parting with loved ones!
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. During his professional career, he won 26 singles tournaments and 27 doubles, became the champion of the French and Australian Opens, and in 2000 he won gold at the Sydney Olympics. And in 2002, another dream of Zhenya came true - the Davis Cup. Together with Marat Safin, Mikhail Yuzhny and Andrey Stolyarov, Evgeniy won the most prestigious team tennis trophy. After the victory of the Russian team in the Davis Cup, Evgeniy planned to leave tennis. However, he stayed and spent the entire 2003 on tour. Reached the final in Milan, was in the semi-finals at the Masters in Rome, won 2 tournaments in pairs - Indian Wells and Washington.
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 a tennis racket correctly 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 Olympic reserve group of the Soviet tennis team. A good reaction and developed skill allowed the young athlete to develop his own intellectual style in the game by the age of 11. 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. Kafelnikov received his higher education diploma from 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, after which he became the 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 donating 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 - Australian Open singles champion
- 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 Fair play award from the Russian Olympic Committee
- Recognized in Russia as the best tennis player of the century
On February 18, 1974, the newborn Sochi resident Zhenya Kafelnikov, nicknamed the “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 sense of 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. Kafelnikov achieved his first significant successes in doubles, twice becoming European champion (under 14 and under 16 years old) together 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, Zhenya would 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 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. 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!
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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 the 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 Grand Slam titles, 23 ATP tournament titles and an Olympic gold medal under his belt. Incomprehensible for a Russian athlete, success in tennis promised Kafelnikov cooperation with brands. The Italian brand Diadora 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 an ambassador. Evgeniy still has good relations with the American company. But at the 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.”
Yevgeny Kafelnikov - Soviet, Russian tennis player; the first winner of a Grand Slam tournament in the 1st category in the history of Russian tennis. Winner of the Russian title of the best tennis player of the 20th century.
Evgeny Aleksandrovich Kafelnikov was born on February 18, 1974 in Sochi. As soon as he saw the boy, he was “christened” a prince: the baby was 61 cm tall and weighed 5 kg! Then it was impossible to imagine that in the future this strong newborn would become a famous athlete, about whom the whole world would know. The price of this fame is daily hours of training, which took place over weeks, months and years of hard sports work.
According to his mother, Valentina Kafelnikova, “Zhenya was a lazy person as a child.” However, the father of the future celebrity “took” his son decisively and made the right decision. The path to tennis began for Evgeniy when he was barely 5 years old. His father, a former volleyball player, brought him to classes with coach V.B. Peschanko.
After the first few training sessions, in which the young tennis player demonstrated mastery of the first basic techniques, it became clear: the boy felt the ball. So five-year-old Evgeniy was “handed over” to a new mentor - V.V. Shishkin. The boy immediately developed a trusting relationship with the new coach. Valery Vladimirovich considered little Kafelnikov the most promising of his students.
Having worked with Shishkin for 12 years, Kafelnikov developed as a tennis player. Seven-year-old Evgeniy was already in the Olympic reserve group of the Soviet Union national team.
Kafelnikov achieved his first serious successes in doubles (playing paired with Andrei Medvedev), twice “taking” the European champion title in the under-14 and under-16 categories. And 1989-90 brought the USSR national team, which included Kafelnikov, Medvedev, Tomashevich, Ogorodov.
The spring of 1991 opened up new sporting horizons for the hopes of Russian tennis: Evgeniy went on an internship in the USA. At the Nick Bolliteri Academy, Kafelnikov took to the court several times with. In the fall of the same year, the matured tennis player broke up with his coach V. Shishkin.
Anatoly Lepeshin becomes Evgeniy’s new coach. At first, their relationship was far from ideal: Lepeshin did not consider Kafelnikov’s athletic abilities to be anything particularly outstanding. But the legendary Shamil Tarpishchev gave Evgeni a “bull’s-eye” assessment, calling him “a talented tennis player who quickly broke into the sports elite.”
Nevertheless, Kafelnikov and Lepeshin worked well together. A strong-willed person and a strong psychologist, the coach successfully set his ward “on the right path”, discarding the “tinsel” of the first, to some extent “crazy” successes; taught him discipline and a truly serious attitude to business.
The results were not long in coming: under the wise leadership of Anatoly Lepeshin, Yevgeny Kafelnikov won the Roland Garros Grand Slam tournament in singles and doubles. This victory instantly inscribed the name of the young athlete in the history of Russian tennis as the only one who conquered this double peak.
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In 1998, Kafelnikov and Lepeshin broke up. Evgeniy’s new coach, American Larry Stefanki, masterfully carved out another bright spark of his talent from Kafelnikov: the tennis player’s track record added another victory in the Grand Slam tournament - the Australian Open.
Then there were more and more victories: the ideal duet Stefanka/Kafelnikov produced impressive results. The first racket of the world, Olympic champion... But... Evgeniy breaks up with yet another coach. He is also “covered” by failure in his personal life: having separated from his wife Masha, the tennis player is left alone with his daughter Olesya.
Kafelnikov's professional career includes victories in 26 singles tournaments and 27 in doubles. Kafelnikov is the champion of the open championships of France and Australia, and the year 2000 brought the famous tennis player Olympic gold at the games in Sydney. In 2002, E. Kafelnikov, together with M. Safin, M. Yuzhny, A. Stolyarov, “took” the most prestigious team tennis award - the Davis Cup: his old dream came true.
Kafelnikov's professional career ended in 2003. Today Evgeniy is vice-president of the Russian Tennis Association. Recently, Kafelnikov has been participating in veteran tennis tournaments. He is the ideological inspirer and one of the organizers of the “Legends of Tennis in Moscow” tournament.
In everyday life, Evgeniy is an avid fisherman, car enthusiast and golfer. I recently learned to fly an airplane. Lives in Sochi and Karsruhe, Germany. Works on the NTV+ TV channel, covering sports news. By the way, other people famous for their past sporting achievements often come to television from sports, for example, or another one, who, after leaving tennis, became a commentator on the NTV Plus Tennis channel.
